would you pay a deposit for a restaurant reservation?

[RW99]

Yes. I rarely need to flake on a reservation and it might make more reservations available!

[Enoch Root]

All for it.

Too many people book reservations 'to keep their options open'. You want to book a table - put a deposit on it.

You're asking the restaurant to make a commitment, so you make one too.

[Reggie28]

Absolutely restaurant’s should require a deposit for reservations. I’m a last minute guy, many times I have tried to reserve a table and am told everything is reserved, but may be able to get bar or lounge seating. We go and sit at the bar only to watch the “reserved” tables sit empty the entire time. That has to hurt the restaurants bottom line.

Now the catch is what is reasonable notice to cancel a reservation? 30 minutes, 2 hours, 24 hours?

I have made reservations the day of and had to cancel the same day when plans fell apart. I wouldn’t be impressed with the business if they charged me in that type of situation.

Selfish people suck.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I make restaurants pay me a $50 fee to eat at their establishment.

Tell me you don't eat at restaurants without telling me you don't eat at restaurants.

[The Yen Man]

I'm all for it. It's the same as holding a hotel room. You have a certain time to cancel, or your deposit is forfeited if you're a no show. Seems pretty fair to me. Would really help mitigate restaurants from people who flake out and don't bother to cancel because they're too lazy to.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Reggie28

Absolutely restaurant’s should require a deposit for reservations. I’m a last minute guy, many times I have tried to reserve a table and am told everything is reserved, but may be able to get bar or lounge seating. We go and sit at the bar only to watch the “reserved” tables sit empty the entire time. That has to hurt the restaurants bottom line.

Now the catch is what is reasonable notice to cancel a reservation? 30 minutes, 2 hours, 24 hours?

I have made reservations the day of and had to cancel the same day when plans fell apart. I wouldn’t be impressed with the business if they charged me in that type of situation.

Selfish people suck.

That's tough. Depends on the place. Perhaps around 3 hours is reasonable in most cases.
If you're a small, highly rated place, you might want to go with 24 hours.

I still think it's worth doing, especially as it seems it is a token amount for awareness.

[Amethyst]

Token amounts for awareness are stupid. If it's cutting into their bottom line and they need to do this for business reasons, that's one thing. If it's to condescendingly teach me a lesson, then forget it.

And if they are going to do it, I agree with the idea of doing it like a hotel. Take a credit card and charge a fee if it's not cancelled within X number of hours. Make the number whatever the restaurant wants and I will choose where to book accordingly. Just make sure that cutoff time is clear.

Do NOT charge me when I book and then deduct that from the bill. I usually am in a situation where each diner is paying their own bill and if I get charged everyone's deposit and they get the discount, then I have the hassle of getting it back from each person. If the very unlikely happens and my group just doesn't show, then I will deal with the hassle that one time only, rather than every single time I go out to eat.

Edit to add: But I still don't like it and until such a time as everywhere is doing it, I will avoid places that are.

[Northendzone]

i would have no issues doing this. it makes a lot of sense in areas where there may be limited capacity in restaurants these days

i can see where it is cumbersome if you are meeting friends and you have to pay up front - but once again, i would have no issues emailing someone $10

[Bunk]

For say The French Laundry, yes. For any Edmonton restaurant, no.

[Cole436]

Restaurants in Vancouver have started doing it and I have no problem with it. The money is either refunded at the door or deducted from your bill.

It's of no actual cost to you and it helps protect the restaurant. Anyone who opposes this may just be kind of an ass.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i would have no issues doing this. it makes a lot of sense in areas where there may be limited capacity in restaurants these days

i can see where it is cumbersome if you are meeting friends and you have to pay up front - but once again, i would have no issues emailing someone $10

This is only an issue if you don't show up because your friends are asses. The pain in the ass part of getting the money back might be an indication you don't want to be with those idiots anymore because they don't value yours or anyone else's time.

Kinda like those asshats that want to just do a single bill, split and ride on the coat tails of someone else's tip.

If you do lets say a $60 deposit, it's refunded when you show up, or perhaps split deducted on your bill. Just ask a single individual to give you $30 back. Not $10 from 5 people.

The comment about the deposit concept being condescending is... interesting.

[Elkyiv]

If you were to second guess your decision to book time at a native american community, that would be a reservation reservation reservation. - Brian Regan

[The Yen Man]

I would imagine most restaurants would just do it as a pre-authorization on your credit card, same as when you hold a hotel room or pay gas. It doesn't actually get put through unless the restaurant decides to. They would just cancel the pre-auth when you show up and charge your table the regular bill at the end of the night.

And for people who complain because they don't have a credit card? I guess tough, you're chancing with a walk in rather than a reservation. If your credit rating is so bad that you can't even get a credit card, then I would say not being able to make a restaurant reservation might be the least of your worries.

[Scornfire]

Perfectly reasonable, restaurants take on an opportunity cost when booking reservations. I know several jackwads who cancel last minute or just no show and the restaurant completely loses a table (generally during their busiest hours) with nothing to show for it.

[Hack&Lube]

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I would imagine most restaurants would just do it as a pre-authorization on your credit card, same as when you hold a hotel room or pay gas. It doesn't actually get put through unless the restaurant decides to. They would just cancel the pre-auth when you show up and charge your table the regular bill at the end of the night.

And for people who complain because they don't have a credit card? I guess tough, you're chancing with a walk in rather than a reservation. If your credit rating is so bad that you can't even get a credit card, then I would say not being able to make a restaurant reservation might be the least of your worries.

Yeah, pre-auth not a charge is the way to do this for sure.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

The comment about the deposit concept being condescending is... interesting.

If it's a business decision that it will save money, fine. If it's a token amount to "teach me a lesson," forget it. I'll dine elsewhere. Basically, just that they might want to think how they present the concept.

And taking money from one person and refunding it to someone else just adds a whole extra level of PITA that doesn't need to be there. Do a pre-authorization.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

I have reservations.

Oh, you're going to pay for that!

[Roger]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

If it's a business decision that it will save money, fine. If it's a token amount to "teach me a lesson," forget it. I'll dine elsewhere. Basically, just that they might want to think how they present the concept.

And taking money from one person and refunding it to someone else just adds a whole extra level of PITA that doesn't need to be there. Do a pre-authorization.

You keep saying this as though you're the only customer that the restaurant has to deal with. It's not YOU, it's everyone who they're trying to teach lessons to. The thing is, 90% of us already know the lesson, and we have no problem with restaurants that are trying to weed out the other 10% that have no regard for their limited seating, which seriously affects their bottom line. It baffles me how anyone can be upset about a deposit for a reservation.

Reserving a table and then flaking is terrible. It's as thoughtless as parking your car in front of a car wash bay and then shopping at a different business. Obviously, that's about as stupid of a thing as I can think of, but it's pretty much exactly what you're doing when you flake on a restaurant reservation. Now that business isn't making money on their investment, because some selfish dickhead decided that he's more important.

Most people aren't like this, but there are some, and it's totally fair that restaurants want to mitigate losses with something as simple as this. The only people that should be taking offence to this are the very people it's targeting.

[GGG]

Depends on what the reasonable cancelation period is.

New Years / Valentine’s Day I would be fine with a no changes policy however for a restaurant that say books out Friday/Saturday a month in advance I would like to be able to cancel without penalty with some degree of notice. Say 72hrs??? It still allows a restaurant to fill the vacancy and while giving people some flexibility.