It's becoming more and more common: Restaurant tables remain empty because guests have let a reservation expire.
Regensburg innkeepers are increasingly charging a fee for no-shows.
Regensburg - When Katharina Neumeier walks through the old town of Regensburg at the beginning of March, there is little going on in the bars and restaurants.
This is normal for the low season.
In the evenings and at weekends, however, the gastronomy is booming.
Going out to eat spontaneously is hardly possible.
"Even finding a table for two will be difficult," says Neumeier, district chair of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association in Regensburg.
It's all the more annoying when a couple looking for a seat in a restaurant sees a free table but doesn't get it.
Because the table was actually reserved, the guests didn't show up and the landlord isn't sure whether to give up the seat.
"The problem of guests reserving a table and then not showing up is not new," emphasizes Neumeier.
But it has increased.
Many Regensburg hosts - as well as more and more restaurateurs throughout Germany - are therefore reacting.
And ask guests to pay if they have reserved a table and do not show up.
If you don't come, you have to pay.
Reservations in Regensburg not kept: Then the credit card will be charged
Matthias Kreutzer was the first innkeeper in Regensburg to ask guests to pay who had let their reservation expire.
He owns "Kreutzer's Restaurant" in the east of the city.
With him, reservations are made by telephone or via the online tool “Open Table”.
When booking, the guest must provide a credit card number or, if they do not have a credit card, an EC card number.
The guest has the option to cancel up to one hour before the reservation.
"We're lucky that we have a good reputation and we can get a table sold again very quickly," explains Matthias Kreutzer Merkur.de from IPPEN.MEDIA.
However, if a guest fails to keep a reservation without prior notice, the card on file will be charged 30 euros.
If a guest lets his reserved table expire, that doesn't happen yet.
The second time, too, the person concerned receives a warning - for example in the "Open Table" app - that he has not kept a reservation.
The third time the 30 euros will be collected.
"But we've never had to charge the 30 euros," says Kreutzer.
When booking via “Open Table”, the general terms and conditions clearly explain to the guest that they have to pay if they fail to keep a reservation.
"Apparently that's a deterrent."
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Gastronomy in Regensburg: Reserved, but the table remains free: this puts hosts in a dilemma
The Vyvu, a Vietnamese restaurant across from Kreutzer's, would also like to work with a reservation system in which the guest has to give their credit card when booking.
However, the restaurant would then also have to work with a computer-aided reservation system in which the card can actually be automatically charged in an emergency.
The guests would have to be able to book a table online and the restaurant would have to formulate the terms and conditions for this.
"The implementation is still difficult for us," explains Toni Tran, head of the very well-known Vietnamese restaurant in Regensburg, to our editors.
But he is also working on developing a system with which he can protect himself against guests letting their reservation expire.
"Because that's a huge loss for me." He plans with staff and food, if tables unexpectedly remain free and Tran has to throw away groceries that he has just bought, the damage is great.
And the dilemma for the landlords is perfect: Should they keep the space free in case the guests still come, or should they release it?
"You don't want to upset anyone."
Guests let reservations expire: "I still have to pay my employees"
The problem is common, says Tran, that people sometimes book five restaurants for one and the same evening, then spontaneously decide on one place and don't cancel the rest.
"A lot of people think if I just let my reservation expire now, that's not so bad," says Tran.
But that is too short-sighted.
"If everyone does that, I can close at some point."
Restaurants like the Vyvu or the "Kreutzer's" depend on full occupancy.
"I have eight waiters, eight people in the kitchen, there's no other way," emphasizes Kreutzer.
If a table of four unexpectedly remains empty, its loss is in the triple digits.
"That's neat."
Years ago there were ten guests a week who unexpectedly stayed away.
"A lot of money is slipping through my fingers, but I still have to pay the employees I hired." Kreutzer doesn't want to offend anyone when he demands that a credit card be given when booking a table.
But he also wants to make it very clear that staying away without canceling is not desirable.
Restaurant guests stay away unexpectedly: this is a problem, especially with large groups
There are even restaurateurs in Regensburg, says Neumeier, who keep a black list of people who have made reservations before and then didn't come.
"Sometimes they don't accept reservations anymore." It is very difficult with large companies that announce that they are going to eat with a large group, says Tran.
A group of a large company turned up to eight, although they had announced to be 35 people.
They didn't give advance notice that fewer people were coming.
"It's a bad habit," emphasizes Tran.
That's why he accepted prepayment for group reservations for a while.
From time to time, Kreutzer also works with prepayment.
If you book for New Year's Eve, you can look forward to a menu that evening, but you have to pay for it per person in advance.
"If someone books for eight people, pays for those eight people, calls ahead and says there are only six of them, they get money back." If the guests don't tell in advance, they still have to pay for eight.
"Otherwise I could easily have given the seats to someone else, especially on public holidays I could fill the restaurant three times," says Kreutzer.
Inflation, energy crisis, staff shortages: the situation for restaurateurs is already tense
"Of course, every restaurateur wants the best possible occupancy," adds Neumeier.
It is bitter for an innkeeper if tables remain free.
The situation is not easy for restaurant owners anyway.
Of course, restaurateurs are also feeling the effects of inflation and the energy crisis.
Then they lack staff, mini-jobbers in particular have reoriented themselves in the corona pandemic and have migrated.
Added to this are the limitations imposed by politics on the immigration of foreign skilled workers.
"It's true that there is a limit," emphasizes Neumeier.
"But we need the influx, it's no longer possible with German specialists alone."
Because of the staff shortage, the hosts sometimes had to take a second day off.
They are all the more dependent on a good capacity utilization during the classic meal times.
"When you book a hotel, it's already common practice that you have to provide a credit card number and that the card is charged in the event of a 'no-show'," says Neumeier.
This system can also help in gastronomy to sensitize guests not to simply stay away, but to cancel if something comes up.
Kreutzer has the impression that the restaurant visitors have actually changed their minds.
"The number of 'no-shows' we've had has dropped by 90 percent in the last three years." Kreutzer's guests have also gotten used to the fact that booking without giving a card number no longer works.
"And 99 percent understand that."
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