THE "NO-SHOW" PHENOMENON OR “WHEN A CUSTOMER BOOKS AND DOESN’T SHOW UP: HOW TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM? WHAT SOLUTIONS?” IDENTITA’ GOLOSE AND THEFORK INDICATE SIX COUNTERMEASURES

There is a subtle but dangerous threat that hovers among the tables of Italian restaurants, and it is called no-show. What is no-show? It is the expression that indicates a not honored reservation without a timely forewarning, or more often, without any warning whatsoever. It may seem like a small thing, and not consequential, while it really is an economic loss for the restaurant, especially in the medium to high range and small restaurants.
This is the issue that "TheFork", leaders in online restaurant bookings, and "Identità Golose" dealt with at the conference “When the customer books but doesn’t show up at the restaurant: how to deal with the problem and what are the solutions?” that recently took place in Milan. Participants included some of the top, all “starred” players of gourmet Italian cuisine, like Christina Bowermann ("Glass", Rome), Chicco Cerea ("Da Vittorio", Brusaporto), Davide Oldani ("D'O", Cornaredo), Alexander Pipero ("Piper at the Rex", Roma), Marco Sacco ("Piccolo Lago", Verbania), Claudio Sadler ("Sadler", Milan), Antonio Santini ("Dal Pescatore", Canneto) and Ciccio Sultano ("Ristorante Duomo", Ragusa). The results were at least 6 countermeasures to stop the "no-shows", thanks to the use of software for restaurants, like "TheFork Manager" of TheFork, which are not limited to just online reservations but enable a number of operations that can improve the restaurant’s management and performance.

First of all, online reservations give dimension to this phenomenon. Through a management tool, the restaurant can keep track of bookings, cancellations and no-shows, measuring the actual economic impact of the phenomenon on its activities.
This is the basic prerequisite to apply effective countermeasures. Online bookings already offer a number of messages aimed at educating users against no-shows. When customers make reservations through "TheFork", they receive a confirmation message that also reminds them to cancel the reservation in case of unexpected events.

Online bookings simplify cancellations. "TheFork" sends reminders containing a link to cancel your reservation with a click, which is much quicker and simpler compared to using the phone. The online reservation system also counteracts using the same account to make multiple bookings for the same service, and the management tool for restaurants enables them to collect customer information – so, if a user has already been guilty of a no-show, the restaurant owner can secure his presence through a specific recall. Finally, digital bookings pave the way to using credit cards at the time of booking, like the hospitality and the travel industries already do.