How to Reduce No-Shows at Your Restaurant

A no-show costs more than an empty table. It costs the food prepped for it, the staff rostered for it, and the diner you turned away because the table was taken.

No-shows are not one problem. There are roughly three kinds of diner who do not turn up, and each needs a different fix.

1. People who forgot — by far the largest group
2. People whose plans changed and did not get round to cancelling
3. People who book several places and choose on the night — a small but costly group

Start with the cheapest fix and work up.

1. Remind people

A reminder the day before is the single most effective thing you can do. It costs almost nothing and it catches the largest group outright.

A second reminder a couple of hours before helps too, particularly for bookings made weeks in advance. And asking people to confirm they are still coming turns the reminder into a small commitment.

2. Make cancelling easy

This sounds backwards and it is not. A diner who finds cancelling easy cancels at 5pm, and you have a table to fill. A diner who would have to ring during service and wait on hold does not bother, and becomes a no-show.

• Put a cancel link in every confirmation and reminder
• Never make cancelling feel like a confrontation
• Never penalise someone for cancelling, however late

Cancellation is the behaviour you want. Reward it.

3. Refill the tables that do free up

A late cancellation is only a loss if the table stays empty.

• A waitlist for nights that are already full, so a cancelled table goes to somebody who wanted it
• A last-minute listing, so a cancellation two hours before service becomes a booking for someone searching for a table tonight
• Letting a diner pass their booking to a friend, so "we can't make it" becomes a table that still gets sat

4. Use deposits selectively

A deposit is the strongest signal there is. Someone who has put money down turns up. But a deposit on every booking also puts some diners off booking at all.

Use them where the cost of a no-show is highest:

• Large parties, where one no-show is six empty seats
• Peak nights — Fridays, Saturdays, December, bank holidays
• Specific slots you know are hard to refill

For a small table on a quiet Tuesday, a reminder is usually enough.

5. Consider a card hold instead of a charge

A card hold asks the diner to authorise their card, and only charges them if they do not turn up. Most diners find it far less off-putting than paying in advance, and it protects you just as well.

6. Deal with the habitual no-show

A very small number of diners no-show repeatedly. The fair way to handle this is to ask them — and only them — for a deposit, rather than making everybody pay for a few.

7. Know your real rate before overbooking

Some restaurants overbook to cover expected no-shows. It can work, but only if you know your actual no-show rate by day and party size. Guess wrong on a night everybody turns up and you have a queue of angry people with bookings. Fix the causes first; overbook last.

Set a clear, fair policy and say it up front

Whatever you decide, write it down and show it at the moment of booking — not in small print afterwards.

A good policy says, in plain words:

• When a deposit applies, and how much
• How late someone can cancel and get it back
• What happens if they do not turn up

For example: Tables of six or more on Friday and Saturday pay a €10 deposit per person, deducted from the bill. Cancel up to 24 hours before for a full refund.

Diners rarely object to a clear, reasonable policy. They object to being surprised by one. A policy stated at booking also makes the conversation afterwards much easier, because nobody is arguing about what was agreed.

Track the rate, not the anecdotes

One bad Saturday with three empty tables feels like an epidemic. Count your actual no-show rate over a month, by day and by party size, before deciding how far to go. Most venues find the problem is concentrated — large tables on weekend nights — and can be fixed there without adding friction everywhere else.

How Mosey handles each layer

• Reminders: a 24-hour reminder on every tier, including free. Starter adds a two-hour and a two-week reminder, plus attendance confirmation.
• Easy cancellation: a cancellation never counts against a diner, however late.
• Refilling tables: the waitlist on Starter, cross-date matching on Host, a cancellations page for last-minute tables, and booking transfers to a friend.
• Deposits: per cover or per booking, applied to every booking, large parties, peak nights or specific slots. 0% commission on deposits at every tier.
• Card holds: on Host, instead of a charge.
• Habitual no-shows: on Host, a trust score flags a diner with a repeated pattern so they can be asked for a deposit. The diner is never shown a count or a number.

Reservations is free up to 75 bookings a month. Starter is €79.99 a month and Host €169.99, with no per-cover charge.

What it connects to

• Restaurant reservations, deposits and no-show protection
• Floor plan and no-show protection
• Restaurant waitlist for fully booked nights
• How to set up online reservations
• What Mosey costs — every rate on one page