Booking Terms for Your Restaurant
Two questions: which party sizes do you take, and what does a guest spend here? The tool works out per party what you ask for up front, how late they may still cancel and how long you hold the table — and writes the text for your booking page while it is at it.
How it works
- 1
Tick the party sizes you take
From a table for two to a party of thirty. What you do not take leaves the sheet instead of standing there as a rule nobody ever uses.
- 2
Say what a guest spends here on average
That is how the tool knows what is at stake per party. At a £19 lunch and at a €95 tasting menu you do not start asking for money at the same table size — which is exactly why every free sample policy you find online is wrong for half your room.
- 3
Write down what you say on the phone
One sentence per party. That is the part nobody ever writes down, and precisely why the answer depends on who picks up.
- 4
Print the sheet and copy the text
One A4 next to the phone, and the same rules as ready-to-paste text for your booking page and confirmation e-mail. Same model, so your wall and your website can never claim different things.
Four rules, derived from one fact
Everything on this sheet follows from one thing: how long it takes to sell that table again. A table for two that rings off at six o'clock refills itself. Twelve chairs that ring off at six o'clock stay twelve empty chairs — and no policy, fee or apology changes that.
The cancellation window IS the refill time
You ask for exactly as much notice as you need to resell the table, rounded to something you can say down a telephone. Ask for less and you give the table away for free. Ask for more and you are asking the guest for notice you have no use for — which is the rule your host quietly stops enforcing.
What you ask up front follows the money
Not the party size but what that party is worth: covers times your average spend. Past a first threshold you ask for card details, past a second for a deposit. So a bistro only reaches that point at a group, where a fine-dining room is already there at six people.
The grace period runs the other way
You release a table for two quickly, because somebody at the door can use it. You do not release a table of twelve, because nobody is waiting for it and releasing it wins you nothing — there you telephone. That is why one flat "fifteen minutes for everyone" is wrong for half your room.
What contradicts itself goes on paper
If guests book five days ahead and you ask for two weeks' notice, your window has already expired the moment the booking comes in. That rule never bites, or it reads as a trap. The tool names the parties it happens to instead of leaving it unsaid.
The words on your booking terms
Five terms that come up in every reservation argument, and that most hospitality websites use interchangeably.
- No-show
- A booking that neither turns up nor cancels. Different from a late cancellation: with a cancellation you know, and can still do something; with a no-show you are standing there looking at an empty table.
- Grace period
- How long you hold a booked table past the agreed time before giving it to somebody else. Only worth having where you can actually seat somebody else — which is why it is short for small tables and long for big ones.
- Cancellation window
- How far in advance a guest may cancel free of charge. Sensibly chosen, that is exactly the time you need to resell the table — not a round number you found somewhere else on the internet.
- Deposit
- An amount paid in advance and deducted from the bill. It is not a fine and not extra revenue: it is the reason somebody rings to move the booking instead of simply not coming.
- Card guarantee
- You hold card details without taking anything, so you can charge a no-show afterwards. Lighter than a deposit, which is why it is the middle step: you are asking the guest for a guarantee rather than for money.
Frequently asked questions
Is this booking policy free?
Yes, completely free, no account and nothing to install. You fill it in, print it and copy the text straight out of your browser.
Why not one rule for everybody?
Because one rule for everybody is wrong at both ends. The same "48 hours' notice" is far too strict for a table for two you resell without noticing, and far too loose for a party of twenty you could not refill with a week's warning. Here every window hangs off how long that table takes to refill.
May I actually charge for a no-show?
That differs per country, per payment provider and by how you communicated it beforehand, so this sheet deliberately says nothing about it. What it does do is decide the amount and the party size at which making that arrangement is worth it — the legal side belongs in your own terms and with your payment provider.
Is fifteen minutes right?
For a table for two, yes: somebody is at the door and those fifteen minutes cost you a cover. For a table of twelve, no, because nobody is waiting for it. Releasing it wins you nothing and losing the guest costs you everything — there you telephone after ten minutes instead of waiting.
What if I do not want to take deposits?
Tick that box and the tool drops the whole guarantee column. What you see instead is the amount you carry on trust per party, so it is a decision rather than an oversight.
Does this replace my terms and conditions?
No. This is a house document: what we do, in the words your host can say down the phone. What a guest can legally demand belongs in your own terms.
Are my terms saved?
Yes, on this device, in your own browser. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
This is a house document, not consumer law. What you may charge for a no-show, whether a deposit is refundable, how card details may be held and what a distance contract obliges differ per country and per payment provider — put that in your own terms and conditions, not on this sheet.