Should no-show diners have to pay?

You make a reservation for dinner in a week's time, but then something comes up -- the kids get sick, your date cancels -- and you can't make it. Do you call the restaurant or just forget about it?

I mostly fell into the latter category, especially when it was a restaurant that I might never visit again. But recently I've noticed that a lot of places ask for a phone number with my reservation. Knowing I may get a phone call if I'm late or don't show, I usually pre-empt that call with one of my own.

Some high-end restaurants in cities such as New York are taking things a step further, asking for a credit card with every reservation -- and charging diners who don't show or who cancel less than 24 hours before their reservation time.

From the restaurant's perspective, holding an empty table for no-show diners can mean turning away other potential customers and losing out on valuable income. That's not small potatoes in an industry where profit margins can be as slim as 3% to 5%, The Wall Street Journal reports. Even one empty table in a small restaurant can take a big bite out of the night's proceeds. In big cities, as many as 20% of diners might not keep their reservations, the Journal says.

So restaurants have turned to prodding customers where it hurts: their wallets. (Post continues below.)

Some restaurants charge a flat fee per person for no-shows. New York's Eleven Madison Park, for example, charges $75 per person if reservations are not canceled 48 hours in advance. Coi, in San Francisco, started charging $25 about three years ago, but bumped it up to $100 before seeing results, the Journal says.

"Our menu is $165, so we're still losing money," owner Daniel Patterson told the Journal. "It's really not about charging people. It's really more about making sure they're serious about the reservation."

A number of restaurants that serve prix-fixe menus simply require prepayment. San Francisco's two-star Michelin restaurant Saison, for example, now books all of its tables through online service SeatMe, says Inside Scoop SF. Prepaid diner options range from a 16-course weeknight meal for $198 to an all-inclusive (food, wine pairings, service and tax) seat at the Chef's Counter for a whopping $601 per person.

Calling out the culprits

Another restaurant tactic, gaining popularity in Australia, is using social media -- posting deadbeat diners' names on Twitter, for example, to shame them into changing their ways.

"With Twitter, we are given the opportunity to respond in exactly the same manner as our guests respond if they feel we have let them down," Sydney restaurant owner Erez Gordon told the Journal.

True enough, but customers don't necessarily appreciate public shaming any more than restaurants appreciate anonymous online social media reviews. Kansas City Pitch reader  "Nick C." wrote about the practice, "I have never no-showed for a reservation but can be quite certain that I would not consider returning to a business if they posted my name in such a public manner."

Some blame the impersonal nature of online booking for no-shows. When someone can make a reservation without speaking to a real person or even contacting the restaurant directly, they may feel less obliged to honor it. But OpenTable, an online service that takes reservations for more than 25,000 restaurants in North America, isn't letting customers off the hook.

The site tells diners to cancel reservations, either online or with the restaurant, and keeps track of no-shows reported by restaurants. OpenTable's user agreement states:

If you are unable to keep your reservation and you fail to cancel, OpenTable will send you an email letting you know that our records indicate that you were a no-show. . . . Your OpenTable account will be terminated if you no-show for four reservations within the same 12-month period.

Though pay-for-no-show policies are mostly enforced at fine-dining establishments, they are not exclusive to upscale eateries. Credit cards are now required to make a reservation at about 20 restaurants inside Walt Disney World, the Orlando Sentinel reports, and diners who don't cancel at least 24 hours in advance are charged. The fee is $10 to $25 per person, according to Time.

To put things in perspective, it's not a lot different from a hotel charging you if you don't show up, and most people pay in advance for theater or concert tickets. Isn't dinner at a fine restaurant an evening's entertainment?

What do you do when you can't -- or don't want to -- keep a dinner reservation? Do you call and cancel or just not show? Should restaurants be able to charge for empty tables?

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