Bars and restaurants plead with public to honour bookings as ‘no-shows’ hit profits
As many pubs, bars and restaurants continue to operate on a largely bookings-only basis, owners and staff have pleaded with the public to turn up to bookings or cancel in advance as “no-shows” increase.
East Coast, a seafood restaurant based in Musselburgh, reported 45 “no-shows” yesterday after customers who had made reservations never arrived.
Carlo Crolla, co-owner of the Edinburgh restaurant, took to the restaurant’s Facebook page to show his annoyance.
“Thank you to the 45 no shows so far,” he said. “This is what I think of you!” he added, posing with his thumb down in the attached image.
On Twitter, The Bow Bar in the city centre also criticised the increasing amount of noshows seen at the bar this week.
“What’s with people not showing up for bookings, especially groups?” they asked. “Be a decent human being and let us know.” It added: “We have been knocking back 100s of requests all week.”
With the hospitality industry still struggling to recover after months of lockdown and strict coronavirus restrictions, owners and representatives have called for customers to avoid not turning up for bookings without warning the venue.
Many independent venues across Scotland and indeed the rest of the UK have turned to charging a deposit or holding card details to help limit the likelihood of people not showing up for a reservation.
These are typically around £5-£10 per person or booking, or more for larger groups, and are non-refundable should someone not show up or cancel well in advance.
Sloans, based in Glasgow
city centre, holds card details for a £10 deposit per person for inside bookings and £20 per person for outdoor bookings for those wishing to enjoy alcohol under the city’s Level Three Covid-19 restrictions.
Others, such as Edinburgh folk bar Sandy Bell’s, have decided not to take bookings – it has opted to take walk-ins
only. It said: “Our business is too small to cope with the trend of no-shows that is common throughout the hospitality industry at the moment.”
Whiski Bar & Restaurant on the High Street also posted on Facebook to say that due to experiencing “an exceptionally high number of no-shows since re-opening”, they will
reserve a section of their restaurant for walk-ins on a first come, first served basis.
The trend for taking deposits to combat no-shows had been growing among high-end restaurants before the pandemic, and it seems likely to stay while the problem remains.
Paul Waterson of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association
said: “No-shows are a terrible situation to be in, because people trying to run the places efficiently are operating under reservation systems for the good of the customers.
“It costs a lot of money to premises if people don’t show up, it’s as simple as that.
“I think more and more places are now having to take deposits from people to combat this, especially when they are in a position where capacities have been slashed due to social distancing. I think that’s the outcome of this and that nobody can really blame them.”