Up to 150 euros per person: First restaurants charge a cancellation fee for reservations

Created: 09/01/2023 19:12

By: Stefanie Fischhaber

More and more hosts are complaining that guests don't cancel reservations.

First restaurants introduce fees.

(Iconic image) © Christoph Soeder/dpa

More and more hosts are complaining that reservations have not been canceled.

Some restaurants therefore charge cancellation fees - up to 150 euros per person.

Munich - With the help of e-mail and numerous booking portals, table reservations in restaurants can be done quickly these days.

Unsubscribing is usually just as quick.

But many hosts complain that their guests do not cancel their reservations at all or not early.

In some restaurants there are now cancellation fees.

Landlords complain about the lack of morale among the guests: reservations are not canceled

Precisely because table reservations are made quickly, they are often done carelessly - and then often go unnoticed.

As the Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association Dehoga explained to

, the complaints of the hosts about the reservation morale of the guests are increasing.

In recent years, especially for groups, it has become increasingly common for reservations to be canceled on the same evening or not at all, said Christian Bär from Dehoga Bayern.

“It has become common to make short-term decisions and not to plan for much longer.

I do think that social media and the digital world have contributed to this,” Bär explained.

But the problem is not only in Bavaria.

Mathias Johnen from the Dehoga North Rhine gastronomy association explained in an interview with

that the complaints of the hosts about losses are also increasing in the Rhine area.

"We finally want to get back into an old commitment," he told the broadcaster.

He therefore demanded that guests cancel their reservations at least reasonably and early.

The first restaurants introduce cancellation fees: Nürnberger Wirt demands 150 euros per person

Especially in higher-priced restaurants with expensive and elaborate kitchens, the lack of cancellations results in high downtime costs.

Some restaurants have therefore already taken measures.

The Nürnberger Essigbrätlein charges its guests 150 euros per person if the reservation is not canceled at least 24 hours in advance.

For star chef Andree Köthe from Essigbrätlein, this has to do above all with respect.

"It's a shame when you have to simply throw away too many things in the evening because we really prepare everything fresh every day.

That wasn't a fulfilled job either," he said to

In the event of a cancellation within 24 hours, it is often difficult to find a replacement.

Cancellation fees in the case of missing cancellations are deducted from the credit card

The cancellation fee will then be debited from the stored credit card.

When making an online reservation at the Essigbrätlein, customers must agree that the landlord may debit the money if the cancellation is too short or missing.

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Things are similar in the “Saigon” restaurant in Bretten, Baden-Württemberg.

Here, owner Toni Kluttig charges 20 euros if a reservation has not been canceled.

The fee is billed to a credit card or invoice, but it only applies to groups of eight or more people.

Due to the lack of cancellations, he also loses sales, the host explained to

.

"Calculated on a monthly basis, that's an immense sum."

For the gastronomy association, the high fees in higher-priced restaurants are justified.

In less expensive restaurants, however, the association assumes that customers could simply forgo reservations if there was a cancellation fee.

A larger-scale implementation of the concept is therefore not planned.