How to overcome the no show epidemic

You’ve booked a flight for your holiday, reserved tickets for the theatre, or hired a car for a weekend away. What do these have in common? You pay for all of these either partly or fully upfront. Whereas if you were to book a restaurant, hotel, beauty treatment, or spa break, it was rare for a payment to be taken upfront until 2020 when the pandemic took over the world, and the industry started to change.

But why were upfront payments such a rarity for the hospitality industry?

Since the reopening of hospitality venues in April 2021, a report found that 14% of consumers have failed to turn up for a reservation, with one in eight people saying they’re more likely to no-show than pre-pandemic.

Financially, no-shows cost hotels millions of dollars every day, and this doesn’t include food or beverage bookings. These no-shows have a huge impact on businesses, and something needed to change to protect the sector.

TRYBE knows the size of this issue and the direct implications these no-shows have on businesses. Research has shown that 37% of spa bookings are cancelled within two days of the appointment, and 27% are cancelled on the day. If you experience no-shows, try to make the best out of this situation; we’ve put together industry advice to help you.

Why are no-shows a problem?

- Revenue Loss

When a guest makes a booking but fails to show up, as a business, you’ll no longer receive the revenue you were originally expecting. No-shows on a regular basis are detrimental to your business and can lead many businesses to close.

- Opportunity Loss

You can’t offer a table to someone if it’s already been reserved, yet it’s impossible to guarantee the party will show up. You’re therefore stuck in a sticky situation, where you turn away spontaneous customers due to a pre-made booking. Turning away these customers also means you’re rejecting the chance to recoup revenue.

- Resource and Labour Waste

You forecast your team needs and order ingredients for the number of bookings that you have; no-shows are a huge reason behind an increasing amount of food waste in the industry. On top of waste, businesses are spending unnecessary funds on resources and staffing costs due to the revenue they were expecting.

How to overcome this no-show problem?

1. Ask your customers why

Asking no-show customers for feedback will benefit your business, and you can understand why someone didn’t follow through with a booking. Following up for feedback will benefit you long-term as you can either change your current practices or enhance existing ones. Once you’ve asked for feedback, offer the customer the chance to rebook or rearrange their experience.

2. Take card details and charge a no-show fee

Implementing fees helps to eliminate some of your revenue lost and also encourages customers to cancel with more warning, helping you to plan for both staffing needs and resources.

3. If a customer does want to cancel…

Make this easy and user friendly for them. There’s nothing worse than being unable to cancel a reservation or having to jump through hoops to cancel something. If someone does want to cancel, leave the customer with a positive impression of your brand.

4. Automate booking reminders

Bookings can be made months in advance, and so sending reminder emails before a customer's arrival will help to reduce the number of no-shows.

Historically, the hospitality industry has operated on a rare upfront payment model, but the changes in consumer behaviour since the pandemic has led to the sector being forced to make changes in order to survive. By adapting and being on top of consumer behaviours businesses can mitigate the impact of no-shows, protect its revenue, and enhance the overall customer experience.