Table bookings for Australian restaurants: handling no-shows
A booking is more than a line in a book. It is a specific table, chosen on the floor plan, and a guest who may or may not arrive. This guide sets out how table bookings work and how to cut no-shows, with steps you can apply this week.
How it works (short answer)
- Enter the booking with the date, time and party size.
- Check the floor plan for free tables at that time.
- Choose a table of the right size for the party, not just a number of seats.
- Confirm the booking with the guest by phone or email, and state your cancellation policy.
- Check the day's list at the start of service, and release any table a cancellation has freed.
What helps with no-shows
- A phone call or message on the day to confirm evening bookings.
- A way for guests to cancel early, so the table is freed rather than left empty.
- A clear cancellation policy for large parties and busy nights, if you have one.
- A cancellation policy written clearly and shown before the booking is confirmed.
- A record of guests who do not turn up, so you can see repeat no-shows.
- Different terms for guests who often miss bookings, set by you.
Table: where bookings come from
Where bookings come from, and what to watch on each channel
| Channel | What works well | The main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | Special requests and large parties | Lost if the booking is not entered straight away |
| Website enquiry form | Bookings sent directly by guests | Double bookings, if the floor plan is not checked |
| Social media messages | Younger guests and last-minute bookings | Chats that never reach a phone number |
| Third-party booking sites | Visibility with new guests | Commission, and guest details held by the site |
| Walk-in | Fills gaps left by cancellations | Takes booked tables if the list is out of date |
A worked example, with your own figures
Hypothetical example: a 60-seat restaurant with two sittings a night and 25 bookings. If some guests do not turn up, those tables stay empty and the seats cannot be sold again that night.
Work it out with your own figures: empty tables per night, multiplied by your average spend per cover, then by trading nights in a month. That shows what one cause costs you.
Confirming in time, a clear cancellation policy and noting empty tables after each service are things you can track yourself, month by month.
What to check legally
- Names, phone numbers and emails in a booking are personal information. Keep them only as long as you need them, under the Privacy Act 1988 where it applies to your business.
- A message about an existing booking is not promotional. Marketing needs consent and an unsubscribe option (Spam Act 2003).
- State your cancellation policy before you confirm, so guests know the terms.
- Check any deposit or no-show fee with your accountant or a lawyer before you charge it.
Common mistakes
- Confirming by seat count instead of by table, then finding no free table for six.
- Sending one confirmation and nothing after it, so a guest who forgot gets no reminder.
- Not recording guests who did not turn up, so the same mistake is repeated.
- Not stating the cancellation policy before confirming, which is both a legal and a commercial risk.
- Not checking the floor plan after cancellations, so a table stays empty until 9pm.
How 4restaurants.net helps
- The floor plan shows which table is free and which is booked at a given time.
- Each booking is recorded per table, per room and per time, so the host sees the whole evening.
- Bookings sit in the same application as the menu, table orders and stock.
- A booking can be entered for any date, so future nights are planned on the same floor plan.