Many restaurants now only offer reservations with time slots. For restaurateurs, this is an opportunity to serve more customers – often a nuisance for guests.
Munich – If you go out to eat in a restaurant, you usually expect a few cozy and carefree hours with friends or family. But more and more often, this time is limited. Especially in large cities, time slots for reservations are increasingly becoming common practice. But it's rather less comfortable.
Time slots also in Munich restaurants – reservations only for a certain period of time
In Munich, too, there are already restaurants that work with time slots for reservations. For example, the "Fesch" in Munich's Glockenbachviertel. There are two different times to reserve here in the evening. Either from 17.30/18.00 for two hours or from 19.45, but then for the whole evening.
New York, Los Angeles and London: Time windows already common practice
In more expensive cities, this has been the order of the day for some time. In New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm, tables are sometimes occupied up to three times in one evening. For many people, the time slots are a nuisance: "I then feel driven and like a money machine that should go fast" or "I find that somehow unsympathetic" are sentences that you often hear.
Reservations are increasingly limited in time. © Imago/Seeliger
But there are also positive things to be gained from the time-limited reservations. After all, these prevent food and drink from becoming even more expensive than is already the case. Multiple occupancy rates can help restaurateurs in the current difficult situation and ease the situation, because the current high energy and raw material costs are also a major risk for them.
Time slots for reservations in restaurants are "legally unobjectionable"
There is also little to criticize about the concept from a legal point of view. "The reservation time window is legally unobjectionable," explains Julia Zeller, a lawyer at the Bavarian Consumer Center. It falls under the freedom of contract, the innkeepers can set the time frame for the visit of the guests as desired, according to Zeller.
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Time slots in restaurants: The end of coziness?
However, it remains to be questioned whether the time frame in the restaurant is conducive to satisfaction and, above all, the cosiness of a restaurant visit. At the request of the German Press Agency, Ingrid Hartges, Managing Director of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association, explains: "This is definitely not the end of German cosiness. Good food, friendly service and a feel-good atmosphere are the decisive factors for sustainable success."
No one is forced to visit a restaurant with time slots. Because there are still restaurants without time slots and also those where you can find a place without a reservation, says Hartges.
And there is another novelty when it comes to restaurant reservations: Because if you make a reservation and don't come, you can now expect heavy fines from some catering establishments. (alk/dpa)