Customers Who Fail to Show Up Cost UK Restaurants £17.6 Billion a Year
Customers dining out on a terrace near the Thames in London.
© Shutterstock
Customers dining out on a terrace near the Thames in London.
© Shutterstock
No shows deeply damaging
Customers who fail to turn up to pub and restaurant reservations in the UK are estimated to cost the hospitality sector £17.6 billion a year, according to new research. The report by Zonal found one in seven customers hadn't turned up for their booking since April.
Among 18-34-year-olds, the rate was as high as one in three people failing to show up. “No shows have been a blight on the industry for many, many years, but with tens of thousands of hospitality businesses in such a fragile state following prolonged periods of closure and heavily-restricted trading, they are currently deeply damaging to venues," said Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UK Hospitality.
Missed reservations more likely post-Covid
The research found one in every eight customers is more likely to be a no-show than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. Londoners were reportedly the worst offenders in the UK, with 24% admitting to not notifying a bar or restaurant that they weren't planning to turn up. The main reasons customers gave for not turning up were plans changing, someone in the group cancelling and someone falling ill with Covid-related symptoms.
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