Zion Reservations

So, we are currently trying to book our dinner reservations for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip. We are looking to make reservations early as I'm anticipating the island to be slammed for this holiday (flights on Trade Wind and SBC seems to be full). We the current events of the world (Covid, flight cancelations etc) we were looking to avoid restaurants that will charge your CC for a no show (looking at you Bonito). I understand the concept, but there is just too many moving parts to try and make such a commitment.

While trying to book Zion we were forwarded a form to fill out which required us to give them our CC in advance and at the bottom of the form they state that they reserve the right to charge the CC 90 euros (I don't have a euro button on my computer???) per person if you are a no show. I was all excited to try this new restaurant and now I am thinking of putting somewhere else on the list. Is this normal for Zion or is this something new? I haven't seen their name pop up with this requirement in the past, so I am just wondering.

Last think I want to to have something go wrong, not be able to make the trip then get punched in the gut with a 270 euro bill (3 of us are going) because of my other misfortunes.

It seems this is the new policy more and more these days. It's too bad that they have to resort to this due to so many no-shows in the past. Not sure how long Zion has been doing this, though. You may try to call and see if you can make a reservation over the phone without the form?

le_reve said:

It seems this is the new policy more and more these days. It's too bad that they have to resort to this due to so many no-shows in the past. Not sure how long Zion has been doing this, though. You may try to call and see if you can make a reservation over the phone without the form?

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I agree. Seems like more restaurants are doing this. However Zion was a home run when we visited last July.

Do we have data on number of no-shows?

It's possible that they expect it to be extremely busy and they don't want to miss out with an empty table in case of a no show.... but things do happen, and I don't want to have to worry about being charged for a service that I am not using.

Zion is a small, chef-owned restaurant and he has to do a certain number of meals to break even, so a 3-top no-show when there might be a waiting list is not good for his business. Hopefully nothing so drastic would happen to all three of you that you can't call to cancel.

We were just on SBH in July, and made three reservations at Zion and were not asked for a CC guarantee. That being said, it was also rather slow on the island. Everywhere we dined had no more than 6 tables occupied, with some nights as few as 3. I would imagine this is a policy for the peak season when reservations are at a premium.

trnorman said:

I would imagine this is a policy for the peak season when reservations are at a premium.

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High season, not crazy season, but yes, I believe Tgiving has been added as a stand alone island to high season villa rates either since Ear-Ma or since the recent virus situation.

trnorman said:

We were just on SBH in July, and made three reservations at Zion and were not asked for a CC guarantee. That being said, it was also rather slow on the island. Everywhere we dined had no more than 6 tables occupied, with some nights as few as 3. I would imagine this is a policy for the peak season when reservations are at a premium.

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We had similar experiences recently. All restaurants happily took our reservations except one, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, when they asked for €300 cc guarantee, we declined the reservation, on principle alone.. Funny thing is they phoned us 2x's asking if we were still interested in booking.. Busy High season I can understand and agree with the policy, but not at super low summer. Every time we went by the restaurant it had just few tables seated.

I've now seen the policy at NYC and other restaurants so it is creeping toward the norm. For the NYC restaurant, at least they were claiming the money would go to a charity so the idea was it is meant to steer the customer toward good behavior and to properly cancel the reservation if they weren't going to use it rather than trying to score a quick buck. Given the number of times I've been with people who casually make reservations "just in case we decide to go" or worse, make 2 or 3 reservations for the same night "so we can decide later what were are in the mood for" I can't say I blame the restaurants for doing something to rebalance people's behaviors.

I do think the restaurants need to come up with a better phrasing for the fee because somehow it seem punitive and angry as currently presented and makes those of us who try to honor the reservations properly feel like we are being unfairly slapped around.

As last minute planners, it would work well for us if the system was 4 hours before the reservation a final automatic text went out to the reservation holder offering last chance to cancel for free before locking in the fee. That way, we would have a chance to scoop up 'day of' reservations, which are when we finally start thinking about that night's dinner.

Happycamper said:

I've now seen the policy at NYC and other restaurants so it is creeping toward the norm.

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made a reservation at Le Bernardin the other day and had to give CC info, but no idea what charge would be for no show. not planning on not being there :blush-smile:

cassidain said:

made a reservation at Le Bernardin the other day and had to give CC info, but no idea what charge would be for no show. not planning on not being there :blush-smile:

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That’s terrific…enjoy.

cassidain said:

made a reservation at Le Bernardin the other day and had to give CC info, but no idea what charge would be for no show. not planning on not being there :blush-smile:

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Great! Love le Bernardin! Have fun!

Happycamper said:

. . . I do think the restaurants need to come up with a better phrasing for the fee because somehow it seem punitive . . ..

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So . . . a cc guarantee fee (also known as a "no show" charge) is intended to be punitive. Is it unreasonable for restaurants to ask for guarantees at times when they expect to be fully occupied? I've witnessed too many times at popular, crowded SBH restaurants when small-to-large parties with reservations didn't show up. The nice guys among restaurateurs who don't get guarantees are unfairly "left holding the bag" because of rude, thoughtless, selfish conduct . . . especially when they've turned away walk-in customers in reliance on reservations.

Perhaps the balanced point of view should be that a fee only will be charged if cancellation occurs within a certain time before the reservation -- say four hours, e.g.

cassidain said:

made a reservation at Le Bernardin the other day and had to give CC info, but no idea what charge would be for no show. not planning on not being there :blush-smile:

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One of the 3 best fish restaurants in the world.

cassidain said:

Do we have data on number of no-shows?

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it is terrific. In Saint Barth sometimes 60%, concierges making sometimes reservations in different restaurants for thé same dinner ( and the host choosing in last minute mood). In the French mainland newspapers, this summer, several press articles about this phenomenon, and more and more restaurants are demanding at the booking a footprint of your CC, sometimes covering the price of a big menu ( outside wines). Nevertheless, if you call within the 48h bracket, with a reasonable reason, quite often they won’t charge you.

cassidain said:

made a reservation at Le Bernardin the other day and had to give CC info, but no idea what charge would be for no show. not planning on not being there :blush-smile:

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One of the best meals of my entire life was at the bar at Le Bernardin, and we just walked in!

On our three evenings at Zion in early July, we noticed that there were tables with complete place settings that were neve occupied. On the first night we did not think much of it, but by the third, it became apparent that there were parties that did not show for their reservation. We had an 8:45 reservation, and a table cleared at 9:00pm, was reset by the staff, and no one ever showed to occupy that table. We assumed the party that reserved never showed.

I do not blame the restaurants for wanting a CC to guarantee your arrival. Quarter in Gustavia was the only location to ask us for a CC upon making a reservation. But I can see why so many are now doing this.

cec1 said:

So . . . a cc guarantee fee (also known as a "no show" charge) is intended to be punitive.

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I'm in full agreement that the fee should be 'compensatory,' meaning covering the lost profit and workers' income. But, I'm not sure I'm onboard that it should be 'punitive,' meaning a punishment beyond compensatory and intended to hurt.

Of course, it is totally unacceptable to purposely overbook, those people should be flogged, but Steeple's original concern was a surprise misfortune that causes an unintended last minute change in plans. For example, if someone caught Covid, do you really WANT them to show up and sit next to you out of fear of paying a purposefully high "no show" charge?

I'm liking the 4 hour window, especially if it comes via an automated reminder text. Then the restaurant has opportunity to take in walk-ins or last minute reservations or whatever. I'd even be OK with a nominal $20 per reservation for any kind of cancellation and $50 per person (or whatever) for a late, inside of 4 hours, cancellation.

To be honest, I think there is something lost in translation here (literally). I can barely speak English, so there is no help for me with French. This is what was written on the reservation request form I had to fill out.

En cas d’annulation après 18H30 ou de No Show, une retenue de 90 € par personne sera effectuée.

In case of no-show, or after 6H30PM, we take the right to withdraw 90 € per person.

They wrote the above i, I didn't.... and I didn't do my homework on this end. Google translate has it as:

In case of cancellation after 6:30 p.m. or no show, a deduction of 90 euros per person will be carried out.

I am going to see if I can dig up some more information on this.