With my train to London running late, I decided to cancel a restaurant reservation which I had made a few days earlier. I rang the restaurant a full five hours before my family and I were due to take our seats, so I thought that everything was OK. But then, a few days later, I looked at my bank statement and saw that a cancellation fee of £25 for each person had been charged to the credit card whose details I’d given when making the reservation. 

It turns out that I was the unwitting victim of current reservation rules that a significant proportion of restaurants have now adopted in the UK. If you cancel your booking too late or don’t show up, you will be charged a fee. That fee can be as high as a full meal. And a cancellation fee can, in some top restaurants, apply as far in advance as two weeks before the booked date. 

Of the 100 venues listed in the latest edition of National Restaurant Awards, more than 90 charge this fee. The amount which has to be paid ranges from £20 to £375. And it is not just high-end places – local venues where you can get well fed for £30 are also imposing such penalties. 

The process of booking a table has changed significantly in recent years. With apps allowing multiple reservations for the same time on the same night, unscrupulous diners can make a final choice of venue less than 3 hours before their visit or even at the very last minute. The introduction of fees for no-shows, deducted from debit or credit cards required at reservation, is a consequence of this practice, say restaurateurs, who face significant losses if they have empty tables. Paul Foster, the owner of the restaurant “Salt” in Stratford-upon-Avon says that his restaurant charges £30, half the price of its dinner menu, if the table is cancelled less than 48 hours beforehand. Restaurants with fewer tables typically charge less, usually with a one-day cancellation period.