No-shows: what research says about deposits, card guarantees and cancellation fees

It is Saturday, 19:30, and the table for four by the window is still empty. You turned away two walk-in couples for it at 19:00. Most restaurants that take bookings know this evening well.

Most booked guests do come, and a few simple habits lower the number who do not. This guide looks at how common no-shows are, what deposits and cancellation fees do to guests, what Icelandic law says about a no-show fee, and what a fair policy can look like. The law is described as of October 2026.

How often booked guests do not come

There is little published data on restaurant no-shows, and we found none for Iceland. The best numbers come from two studies of single restaurants in Asia.

Tse and Poon studied the bookings of one hotel restaurant in Hong Kong from April 2012 to June 2014. After they removed the weeks when the restaurant asked for a deposit, they had 749 lunches and 749 dinners.¹ Between 9,07 % and 12,95 % of bookings were no-shows or late cancellations, depending on the day and the meal. Thursday was the lowest day and Saturday the highest, for both lunch and dinner.¹

No-shows and late cancellations by day, one restaurant in Hong Kong, 2012–2014

• Lunch
• Dinner

Show the data

Day	Lunch	Dinner
Mon	10,08 %	10,63 %
Tue	10,36 %	10,84 %
Wed	10,52 %	10,73 %
Thu	9,07 %	9,61 %
Fri	10,60 %	11,35 %
Sat	12,95 %	11,38 %
Sun	10,53 %	10,88 %

Chiang studied one restaurant in Taiwan. There, 11 % to 16 % of the booked guests did not come on a given day.²

In both places, the large majority of bookings arrived. Two restaurants are a small base, so the most useful number is the one in your own booking system. Count your no-shows by weekday for a few weeks before you choose a policy.

Strict and lenient policies

A strict policy can reduce no-shows, but it can also reduce bookings. Two sets of experiments with restaurant guests found this trade-off.

In two experiments about fine dining, Kim and Tang found that a cancellation policy made guests rate the restaurant lower. A lenient policy, together with a short message about the harm of no-shows, made the policy feel fairer. It also made guests more likely to book and to keep the booking.³

In three further experiments, Kim and colleagues tested “cancellation barriers”: a strict policy and a complicated way to cancel. The barriers lowered the guests’ intention to skip a booking. They also lowered the guests’ intention to book at all.⁴ The authors recommend a lenient policy, an easy way to cancel, and a short message that tells guests why no-shows matter.⁴

These experiments measure what people say they would do, not what they did. Still, the advice is practical. Make cancelling as easy as booking, and explain your policy in one friendly sentence.

Overbooking as an alternative

Hotels and airlines overbook on purpose, and some restaurants do the same. Both studies above build a model that tells a restaurant how many extra bookings to take.^{1 2} Chiang’s model uses the “stretched capacity” of a restaurant, the extra chair or table that you can add on a busy night. With it, the restaurant in Taiwan could book up to five more seats than the expected number of no-shows.²

Overbooking works best when you know your own no-show rate well and have room to stretch. Tse and Poon note that when a restaurant must turn guests away, the usual cost is an apology and often a discount on the next visit.¹ If you have a strong walk-in trade, another option is to keep a few tables out of the booking system.

What Icelandic law says

No 14-day right to cancel a dated booking

The Consumer Contracts Act gives a consumer 14 days to withdraw from a distance contract, such as a booking made online or by phone.⁵ The act lists exceptions. One of them is catering services (“matsölu- eða tómstundaþjónusta”) when the contract sets a specific date or period.⁵ The EU directive behind the act uses the same wording.⁶

A restaurant booking for a set evening fits this exception. The 14-day right therefore does not stop you from charging a fee for a no-show. That alone does not make every fee acceptable, as the next points show.

Clear consent to any extra payment

Before a guest is bound by a contract, the seller must ask for the guest’s express consent to any extra payment beyond the main price.⁵ If the seller relies on a pre-ticked box, the guest has the right to get the money back.⁵ Whether a no-show fee counts as an “extra payment” under this rule is a question of interpretation. The safe practice is the same either way: let the guest tick the box themselves, next to the amount and the terms.

Fair and clear terms

A court can set aside a contract term that would be unfair or against good business practice.⁷ Written terms for consumers must be in clear, understandable language, and an unclear term is read in the guest’s favour.⁷ The Marketing Act, in force since 16 May 2026, also forbids unfair terms towards consumers. It puts weight on the balance between the two parties and on clarity.⁸ General terms for consumers in Iceland must be in Icelandic.⁸ You can add an English version for visitors next to the Icelandic text.

In practice, a fee is easier to defend when it is moderate, when it relates to the loss of the table, and when the guest saw it clearly before booking.

Deposit, card guarantee or reminder

Three approaches are common, and you can use different ones for different bookings.

Tse and Poon’s restaurant asked for deposits only in festive periods, such as Christmas.¹ This kind of targeted use keeps most bookings simple and protects the evenings where an empty table costs the most.

If you hold card details, let your booking system or payment provider store them. Do not write card numbers on paper or in a booking note.

A sample policy

The wording below is a starting point. Change the amounts and times to fit your restaurant, and have it checked as described above.

1. When it applies. “We ask for a card guarantee for tables of six or more, and for all bookings on Friday and Saturday evenings.”
2. Free cancellation. “You can cancel or change your booking free of charge until 24 hours before your table.”
3. How to cancel. “Use the link in your confirmation, or call us on [number].”
4. The fee. “If you cancel later, or do not come, we charge [amount] kr. per guest to the card you gave us.”
5. Late arrival. “We hold your table for 15 minutes. Please call us if you are running late.”
6. Consent. An empty box next to the text, which the guest ticks: “I have read and accept the cancellation terms.”

Then apply the policy kindly. Icelandic weather closes roads, and children get sick. Waiving the fee for a guest with a good reason is part of good hospitality. Keep a short note of each waived fee so that the team treats every guest the same way.

Check your own numbers

1. Count no-shows and late cancellations by weekday and meal for eight weeks.
2. Note the evenings where an empty table was hard to fill from walk-ins.
3. Start with reminders for all bookings and a guarantee only for those evenings.
4. Count again after eight weeks and compare.

In Resto, bookings from EasyTable show next to the floor plan, so the host sees at once which booked tables are still empty. For more on the busy and quiet months of the year, see planning for the seasons.