Seriously?
Knew this was coming
I don't have a problem with a fee for no-shows. However, 24 hours advance is much too early a deadline.
People may very well not know they need to cancel until well into the day of the reservation. A few hours notice would be more reasonable (say, noon for a dinner reservation?). If a cancelled table cannot be filled by walk-ups or last minute reservations, then it seems likely there would often have been empty tables anyway.
It only applies to reservations made from Oct 31.We've had to cancel on a reservation with only a few hours notice before when we got on I-4 and found ourselves gridlocked in bumper-to-bumper traffic due to an accident or such. I would hope too that they would allow for exceptions to the 24-hour rule given things like that are completely outside one's control.
Also, is this retroactive? Since ADR's can be booked 6 months in advance, if you booked one prior to the October 31st start date, does that mean it still applies to your reservation?
In theory, I think there should be something to help curb double bookings and to free up space for people who could otherwise not get a table, but I worry about the plethora of things that might mean you don't even know you can't make it until less than the 24-hour cutoff.
I have cancelled at current fee ones within 24 hrs and not been charged. If you have a reasonable excuse for cancelling (ie. we had a sick member in our party) they have the discretion to waive the fee. At least that's been my experience.
Most of the "good" restuarants already have the policy...has it been easier to walk in since implemented?Very happy they're finally doing this - it's impossible to get a reservation at a lot of the good restaurants & half the time they have no-shows. I hope this will reduce the amount of reservations made so people who actually show up can get a better chance of getting the time that they want.
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