Skip to content
Slotora for restaurantsTell me at launch

Guide · no-shows

No-show fees for UK restaurants: what the fair-loss rule allows

There is no law in the UK written for restaurant no-shows. There is general consumer law, and it says one thing clearly: a charge for an empty table has to be fair, known in advance, and no larger than what the table really cost you. A small deposit is the exception: told clearly at booking, and kept only in narrow circumstances, it may be kept in full.

Published · A practical guide, not legal advice.

Most of the top end already charges

In 2023 the Observer looked at the hundred restaurants on the National Restaurant Awards list and found that ninety of them charged for non-attendance. Charging is normal at the top of the market. Getting it wrong is what costs money, in chargebacks, complaints and guests who do not come back.

The rule underneath comes from the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which makes unfair terms in consumer contracts unenforceable, and from the Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on unfair terms (known as CMA37). Which? summarises it for consumers in one line: a cancellation charge or a kept deposit has to be fair and reflect the business's actual loss.

What CMA guidance means at your tables

  1. Say it before the guest commits

    CMA37 expects the customer to be told at the earliest opportunity that money is involved and exactly when it will not be refunded. On a booking page that means beside the button, not in terms behind a link.

  2. Keep the circumstances narrow

    “No-show, or cancelled less than 24 hours before” is clear. “At our discretion” is not. The narrower and plainer the trigger, the safer the term.

  3. Size it to the loss, not the bill

    A charge is more likely to be unfair if it ignores what you saved or your chance to resell the table, or if it is more than a reasonable pre-estimate of your loss. A set menu bought in for a party of twelve is a real loss; a two-top on a Tuesday that a walk-in filled is not.

  4. Treat a resold table as a smaller loss

    If the table was taken by someone else that evening, most of the loss is gone. A fee that does not account for that is the kind CMA37 calls more likely unfair.

Where a fee is worth having, and where it is not

The fair-loss rule pushes towards the same place good practice does. A fee is easiest to justify where the loss is obvious and you can show it: tasting menus, large parties, pre-ordered Christmas set menus, the few nights a year when every table could have been sold twice. It is hardest to justify on a quiet weeknight, where the honest loss of a no-show is often small.

Between those, much of what reduces no-shows costs nothing: knowing which guests have not turned up before, asking larger parties to talk to you rather than book online, and keeping the booking easy to cancel so that a guest who cannot come tells you in time.

Ireland is not the same

We found no Irish guidance written for restaurant no-show fees. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission explains deposits in general, and lists catering booked for a specific date among the exceptions to the 14-day right to cancel a contract made at a distance. If you trade in Ireland, take Irish advice on wording before you charge.

And the bookings you carried over from Quandoo

  • Those guests agreed to Quandoo's terms, not to a fee of yours. Charge nothing for a carried-over booking that you did not clearly agree with the guest yourself.
  • Ring them instead. A guest who knows you still hold the table is far less likely to leave it empty.
  • In Slotora, no-shows and late cancellations are marked and counted on each guest's card, and you can require parties above a size to send a request instead of booking straight in.
  • Slotora can take a deposit, a card guarantee or a no-show fee through your own Stripe account once it is connected, but whether a fee is fair is still the law's question, and that is what this guide is about.

Hear when Slotora opens

No-show fees: short answers

Is it legal for a UK restaurant to charge a no-show fee?

Yes, if the guest was told clearly before booking and the amount fairly reflects the restaurant's real loss. An unfair term cannot be enforced against a consumer.

Can I keep the whole fee if I resold the table?

That is the risky case. CMA guidance treats a charge that ignores your chance to find another customer as more likely unfair.

Does the 14-day cooling-off period apply to a table booking?

For a booking made online, catering for a specific date is generally an exception to the 14-day cancellation right. Your own cancellation terms decide the rest.

Sources

What happens to your Quandoo bookings · The Quandoo switch page · All guides

Deposits and card guarantees in Slotora · Slotora for restaurants in Ireland