Cutting no-shows: what actually works

Bad faith exists. But before you take it for the rule, look at the other causes: a no-show is often an accident. The guest forgot, is no longer sure of the exact time, something came up and they did not dare cancel, or did not know how. Each practice below tackles one of those causes.

The most effective lever is also the simplest: the moment you validate the reservation, the guest receives a text message with the date, the time, the number of people and the name of the restaurant.

• It anchors the commitment: a reservation in writing exists more solidly than a word on the phone.
• It clears up the misunderstandings over time and date, the first cause of ghost tables nobody intended.
• It gives an obvious point of contact for cancelling or changing.

It sounds back to front, but a guest who can cancel in thirty seconds does cancel, and frees the table. A guest for whom it is complicated does nothing, and the table dies. The aim is not to prevent cancellations: it is to turn no-shows into cancellations, which you can sell again.

In practice: a number that answers 24 hours a day, a change that can be made without having to call back during opening hours, and not an ounce of guilt-tripping at the other end of the line.

For groups and busy evenings, one simple rule announced when the reservation is taken changes everything: for tables of eight and over, we ask for confirmation the day before. Said naturally on the phone, the rule goes down well. Printed in small type on a website, far less so.

• Set the threshold that really costs you, often 6 or 8 covers.
• Have it announced every single time by whoever takes the reservation, person or assistant.
• Keep card guarantees for the extreme cases, private hire and set menus: in French-speaking Switzerland they still put part of the clientele off.

• The aggressive blacklist. Turning away someone flagged over a misunderstanding costs more in reputation than three no-shows.
• Systematic double-booking. Overbooking like an airline always ends in a Saturday evening when everybody turns up.
• Punishing everyone. A card guarantee from two covers upwards, repeated reminders that lay on the guilt: you are treating your reliable guests like suspects.

Everything above asks for one thing: that somebody picks up, confirms, writes it down and answers, including at half past ten on a Sunday evening. That is exactly the work of a phone assistant: a confirmation text message every single time, changes by reservation code at any hour, group rules announced on every call, and a reservations book that is always up to date.