View Full Version : Restaurant reservation confirmations?



TheTravellers
12-31-2015, 11:22 AM
Made an online reservation a few days ago with The Drake for tonight at 6:00, they called and left a voicemail and wanted a callback confirming it. Uncool, IMO, restaurants should never ask for a callback - we made the reservation, we're adults, we'll be there, and if for some reason, we can't make it, we'll call and let you know (they don't know that, though, but still). Asking for a confirmation callback on NYE is ridiculous - if we don't show, there will most likely be quite a few people ready to take our table at a moment's notice...

Do many other restaurants around here do that? I've had some leave voicemails, but haven't ever been requested to call back to confirm.

I actually left 2 dentists that pulled that, and I ask any new doctors if they request a call back for appointments and don't use them if they do.

sooner88
12-31-2015, 11:43 AM
That's pretty standard for most restaurants.... especially on a busy night like NYE where they will be completely booked all night.

Mr. Cotter
12-31-2015, 11:51 AM
That's not surprising for any night, but especially tonight.

TheTravellers
12-31-2015, 12:30 PM
Really, it's standard? Never had a restaurant request a callback before The Drake, and we've made *lots* of reservations at *lots* of places here in the past 6 years, some on busy nights like tonight. Oh well, guess it's one of those YMMV things, still annoying...

Admin
12-31-2015, 12:31 PM
I booked with them last week and they didn't call for confirmation.

I suspect this is NYE only type thing, and you can't blame them as it's likely their biggest night of the year and they want to make tables available if people decided to change their minds after reserving.

TheTravellers
12-31-2015, 12:40 PM
I booked with them last week and they didn't call for confirmation.

I suspect this is NYE only type thing, and you can't blame them as it's likely their biggest night of the year and they want to make tables available if people decided to change their minds after reserving.

Hmmm, OK, kind of makes sense, I guess they don't have the pedestrian traffic that would just stop in and try to get a table and if a party didn't show up, they'd give the walk-ins that table. Dunno if it'll be their biggest night of the year, though - I don't think they're doing anything special and appear to not be open 'til midnight, just regular hours and menu (which is actually why we picked them - not a fan of limited/prix-fixe menus :) ).

Jeepnokc
12-31-2015, 08:26 PM
I have eaten at two different Morton's in different cities over the last two months and noticed both times they called to confirm and asked for call back. It is annoying. I am on their VIP list so I am tracked in their computer system and do should be easy to see that we have never no showed for a reservation. This is new for them as they have never done it in the last tens years I have been patronizing them all over the country.

stile99
01-01-2016, 07:25 AM
Asking for a confirmation callback on NYE is ridiculous - if we don't show, there will most likely be quite a few people ready to take our table at a moment's notice...

And that is *precisely* why they did it. If you know you're still going to be there but it is possible you might be a couple minutes late, they hold the table, knowing you will be there. If you're not there at the reserved time of 10pm, they have no idea if you're stuck in traffic, trying to find parking, trying to get past the crowd at the door, or just not coming at all. So they'll give you some time as a courtesy, say maybe half an hour (probably less on such a busy night), and if you don't show that's half an hour they could have had someone who actually showed up at that table. How to avoid this? Well, a call saying "Hey, we know plans can change, we just want to confirm we're still good" would be a good idea. I know you said you're an adult and would call if plans had changed, but can you honestly tell me everyone would? In today's "Me first screw the rest of you" world, can you honestly tell me the average person would?

tuck
01-01-2016, 09:43 AM
As a company, we had about 200 guests actually no-show last night alone. These are real dollars as only a few of these slots get filled with walk-ins. The restaurants that we own that accept reservations don't get a large number of walk-ins on busy nights like NYE, Valentine's Day, etc...

On the confirmation call, we ask for a call back, but if that doesn't happen, we don't cancel your reservation. Some restaurants tell you that if you don't call back to confirm, your reso is cancelled...we will never take that stance.

To Traveler: I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you had a great night at The Drake. If you will send me your name in a PM, I'll make sure we don't call for confirmation in the future. I understand how this can be frustrating.

TheTravellers
01-01-2016, 05:30 PM
As a company, we had about 200 guests actually no-show last night alone. These are real dollars as only a few of these slots get filled with walk-ins. The restaurants that we own that accept reservations don't get a large number of walk-ins on busy nights like NYE, Valentine's Day, etc...

On the confirmation call, we ask for a call back, but if that doesn't happen, we don't cancel your reservation. Some restaurants tell you that if you don't call back to confirm, your reso is cancelled...we will never take that stance.

To Traveler: I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you had a great night at The Drake. If you will send me your name in a PM, I'll make sure we don't call for confirmation in the future. I understand how this can be frustrating.

Wow, 200, that *is* a lot of dollars if they were in any way comparable to what we spent last night, and yes, definitely understand about no walk-ins... No worries about the call-back, and actually am going to post in the "Best Service" thread about last night, it was spectacular, they really went above and beyond (which is why I like your places).