Half of consumers happy to pay table deposits

By Michelle Perrett

Published: 22 September, 2021

Half of UK pub and restaurant goers are happy to pay a deposit to book a table, and even more (55%) are in favour of paying no-show fees if they don’t turn up, new research from Zonal and CGA has revealed.

The findings are part of Zonal’s industry-wide campaign #ShowUpForHospitality aiming to highlight the damaging impact of customer no-shows, which collectively cost the sector £17.6bn a year.

https://harpers.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/29280/No-shows_cost_sector__A317.6bn.html

The research revealed that consumers were more likely to be in favour of their use for special occasions and on significant days such as Valentine’s Day or a Bank Holiday, with 65% happy to pay a deposit for such events.

Guests inclination to pay deposits is less (41%) for casual occasions such as after work drinks but remains at strong levels for larger bookings of six people of more (59%) and is still over half (53%) for smaller groups.

However, younger consumers were more reluctant than the national average to pay to secure a booking. Only 28% of 18-24-year olds said they would put down a deposit and just 24% said they would be happy to pay a no-show fee.

“There’s traditionally been a scepticism and nervousness around the use of deposits and no-show fees in hospitality, with many believing that it would prove to be a big turn off for their customers and hit trade,” said Olivia FitzGerald, chief sales and marketing officer at Zonal.

“These latest insights show that, while a blanket approach may not be the optimum way forward for operators, consumers are far more inclined to accept them than we previously thought - and for a wider range of occasions. Deposits and no-show fees shouldn’t just be reserved for high-end restaurants or Valentine’s Day and Christmas either and are a legitimate tool for reducing no shows during busy trading periods.”

She added that Zonal wanted to highlight this issue as part of its #ShowUpForHospitality campaign to change consumer behaviours as well as start an industry discussion as to how best to combat this long-standing problem.

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