Table bookings for Irish restaurants: how to cut no-shows
A booking is a specific table, chosen on the floor plan for a specific time. This guide sets out how a booking should work from start to finish, and what to do about guests who do not turn up.
How it works (short answer)
- Record the booking with its date, time and party size.
- Look at the floor plan to see which tables are free and which are booked at that time.
- Pick a table of the right size, and check it stays free for the whole sitting.
- State the cancellation policy, then confirm the booking to the guest.
- Review the day’s bookings before service, and confirm larger parties by phone.
What reduces no-shows
- Confirm each booking when it is made, and again by phone on the day.
- Tell the guest how to cancel in good time, so the table is freed rather than left empty.
- A clear cancellation policy for large parties and busy evenings, if you choose to have one.
- A cancellation policy written down and shown before confirmation.
- Confirm the evening’s bookings by phone on the day.
- A short record of guests who did not turn up, so you can apply your own rules to repeat cases.
Table: booking channels
Where bookings come from, and what to watch on each channel
| Channel | What works well | The main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | Special requests and larger parties | Lost if the host does not enter it straight away |
| Email or your website | Bookings from guests who prefer to write | Double-booking, if the list is not checked |
| Social media messages | A younger audience and last-minute bookings | Unfinished conversations with no phone number |
| Third-party booking sites | Visibility with new guests | Commission, and guest details that stay with the platform |
| Walk-in | Fills gaps left by cancellations | Takes booked tables if the list is out of date |
A worked example, with your own figures
Example, for illustration: a 60-cover restaurant with 25 bookings on a Friday. If some guests do not show, those seats cannot be sold again that evening.
Work out your own loss: empty tables on an average night, times your average spend per cover, times the nights you trade in a month.
Track confirmations, cancellations and empty tables month by month, and compare the figures.
What you need to know legally
- Names, phone numbers and email addresses in a booking are personal data under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Keep them only as long as you need them.
- A reminder about an existing booking is not marketing. Promotional messages need separate consent.
- State the cancellation policy before confirming. Check the wording with your adviser, as consumer law expects clear information in advance.
- Keep sales records you can show to Revenue. Check the detail with your accountant.
Common mistakes
- Confirming by seat count, not by table, then finding no free table for six.
- Confirming once and never checking the list again before service.
- Not recording guests who did not turn up, so the same mistake repeats.
- Not stating the cancellation policy before confirming, which is a legal risk and a lost booking.
- Not noticing a freed table in time, so it stays empty until late.
How 4restaurants.net helps
- The floor plan shows which tables are free and which are booked, for each time slot.
- Guest SMS is optional (Plus plan and above, through your own 4notify account), so confirmations can also go out through the channels you already use.
- The day’s list shows the time and party size of each booking.
- Bookings sit in the same application as the evening’s table orders.