Some restaurants impose cancellation charges even two weeks beforehand, if they think they're unlikely to get a fresh booking. They've probably taken your credit card details so they can charge you automatically without contacting you. They'll only waive the charge if there's a good reason for cancelling, like a death in the family.
As far as I know none of our local restaurants take cancellation charges, so maybe people in our area are more conscientious about keeping a booking. Certainly Jenny and I always honour a booking, or we cancel in plenty of time if there's a good reason why we can't make it.
I think cancellation charges are totally justified, given that an empty table means a big loss for the restaurant, on top of the rocketing prices they're already paying for food, energy, equipment and experienced staff.
It doesn't take much to get out your phone and cancel a booking well in advance. I don't understand why people are so arrogant they think it's quite okay to make a booking and then just not turn up.
There are even cases of people making simultaneous bookings at several restaurants, deciding on the day which one to go to and forgetting about the others. Do they really think that's acceptable behaviour? The mind boggles.
Cancellation charges are here to stay, but only because of an epidemic of utterly self-centred individuals.
That’s rare here, unless it’s a booking for an event or a wine tasting. I’ve never had a restaurant ask for my credit card number for a reservation.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: It seems that Americans are more conscientious about keeping bookings. The English are once again tarnishing their reputation.
DeleteI understand the reasoning behind cancellation charges for lower end restaurants which are struggling in the wake of Lockdown and living costs going through the roof.
ReplyDeleteHowever, high end restaurants of the kind quoted in the article usually have long waiting lists. Don't ask why I know this. So, to get bums on seats, fork and knife in hand, front of house would just to call those queuing to be accommodated; make someone happy. Which is why I'd say a £375 cancellation charge (fourteen days in advance? Seriously?) amounts to candle lit robbery.
Corporate businesses making reservations at several restaurants to keep all options open is questionable. But then those very same businesses will not be perturbed by those charges. It's all factored in at the bottom line. Again, don't ask how I know this.
U
Ursula: Indeed, high-end restaurants with long waiting lists presumably don't have a problem. I see Blue Jasmine in Southampton records credit card details on booking and will take £20 per head for a no-show. Likewise La Baronia asks for a deposit and charges a cancellation fee. These conditions seem very widespread now.
DeleteI don't know any restaurants around here that you have to make appointments for, that must be the higher end restaurants that take appointments which I'm not going to pay those kinds of prices. More likely here it would be the doctor's offices or if you don't show up for your appointment they send you a no-show fee that's anywhere from 20 to $75.
ReplyDeleteMary: There's occasional talk here of no-show charges for NHS patients, but it's never followed through.
DeleteCredit card on booking in the top priced restaurants here, otherwise no. Woudn't have thought Blue Jasmine and La Baronia were high end....perhaps they have pretensions.
ReplyDeleteFly: I didn't mean that those two restaurants are high-end. I don't really know what level they're at. I just meant that they charge cancellation fees.
DeleteSorry, got wrong end of the stick.
DeleteFly: Easily done. And my comment wasn't entirely clear in the first place.
DeleteWe haven't been to a restaurant since the beginning of the pandemic. Even then we rarely went to one where you needed a reservation so I have no experience of this.
ReplyDeleteBut, I once woke from a nightmare where someone had made appointments with professional people in my name. I knew nothing until I started getting bills for no shows. I was so glad to wake up.
Linda
Linda: You must have been greatly relieved when it turned out to be a bad dream!
DeleteNick, it's not only restaurants that people may fail to keep a booking for but medical appointments as well. I know there are some offices that will charge a patient who fails to cancel or show up.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, we do not make a restaurant reservation, but just show up early when the place generally is less busy. I can understand a fee being charged for a no-show, but would not myself in such a position.
Beatrice: We prefer to just turn up at a restaurant and take a table, but some restaurants are so popular a booking is essential.
DeleteTourists do that double booking thing in St Ives, Cornwall, and don't phone to cancel. This might be okay in high season, but probably doesn't work so well on a rainy evening when passing trade is staying in the hotel or self catering cottage.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so rude not to phone through and cancel.
Sx
Ms Scarlet: It's more than rude, it's arrogant. They just don't care how the restaurants get by if people don't bother to turn up or cancel their booking.
DeletePeople's sense of entitlement always astonishes me. I have never cancelled a booking unless it was completely out of my control and once or twice I have offered to pay a fee as I know holding an empty table for a restaurant is lost revenue. (It's always been refused and I've been told there's a lineup anyway).
ReplyDeleteFor a really high end restaurant it could be a substantial loss, not least of which is food spoilage and labour.
XO
WWW
www: Good of you to offer a fee to compensate for an empty table. If it's the absence of a large party, that's a huge amount of food probably already prepared and gone to waste.
DeleteEasy to take the phone, call and apologize not to be able to come. A simply question of education.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: And a simple question of not being so blatantly selfish.
DeleteI haven't heard of cancellation charges at any of the restaurants I've been to but I think it's a good idea. As you say it doesn't take much to make a phone call to cancel if something unavoidable crops up. And as for those utterly self-centred individuals who make multiple bookings then decide on the day, they should pay double. The catering industry is really struggling and needs all the support it can get.
ReplyDeletePolly: Yes, a quick phone call is all you have to make. It's not as if you have to walk two miles to the restaurant to cancel.
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