A no-show costs EUR 35-80 per cover on average (food prepped, seat lost, staff mobilised). On a 60-cover service, 10% no-shows = EUR 210-480 of margin gone. Here are the 5 levers that really work.
1. Card hold on groups
The most powerful lever: for high-risk bookings (groups of 6+, Friday/Saturday night, peak season), take a card hold without debit. On no-show, charge EUR 20/cover. Clear communication = no dispute.
BipOrder uses Stripe Setup Intent: no debit, just an authorisation. The customer is only charged if you validate the no-show in the back office. GDPR-safe.
2. SMS reminders T-1
An SMS 24h before + an email 2h before reminds of the commitment and offers a cancellation link. Statistically, this cuts no-shows in half — because a customer who cancels frees the seat for the waitlist.
3. Active waitlist
Rather than turning away customers when service is full, put them on a waitlist. As soon as a cancellation comes in, BipOrder emails a confirmation link valid 20 min. You recover 30-50% of cancellations with no effort.
4. Explicit Terms communication
The customer must read the no-show policy before booking. In BipOrder: Terms confirmation popup + reminder in the confirmation email + mention at card hold time. No dispute possible if you enforce the charge.
5. Controlled overbooking
If your historic no-shows are 8%, allowing 10% overbooking absorbs the loss without risking overflow. BipOrder lets you set a quota per service. Use carefully: a service where everyone shows up and you've overbooked = angry waiting customers.
Measure to steer
In Reports > Reservations, track per service: no-show rate, late-cancellation rate (T-1), fill rate. If it climbs > 8%, tighten the card hold. < 3%, you can loosen.
Mistakes to avoid
- Card hold on every cover (friction at booking, conversion drops).
- Charging no-show without warning in Terms: legally contestable.
- Overbooking without measuring the real no-show rate: visible overflow risk.
- No SMS reminder on groups (where stakes are highest).
Enable in BipOrder
All of the above is set in Settings > Reservations > Anti no-show. See also [Manage online reservations](/aide/gerer-reservations-en-ligne).