Lately I’m getting 7:00 reservations calling “parking now” and showing at 7:20 while I’m staring at a 45-minute waitlist and a server section that can’t be double-seated. How long do you hold a table before giving it to a walk-in, and what’s your go-to script at the stand so neither side feels burned?
We hold 10 minutes on a 7:00, then release to walk-ins; if they call ‘parking now,’ we text: ‘We’ll hold until 7:10; after that we’ll release but keep you first-up on arrival,’ so a 7:20 arrival goes to the top of the wait, not the table, and we don’t double-seat a section. I only stretch to 15 on bad weather or event nights, but the script stays the same. Do you have text confirmations turned on to timestamp that hold?
I switched to an “arrived-only” hold: when a 7:00 says “parking now,” we text a quick link and don’t stage the table until they tap Arrived; if they’re not checked in by 7:07, we release and mark them first-up when they walk in, which keeps that 45-minute list moving without double-seating a section… My script at the stand is, “We’ll prioritize you as soon as you check in; after 7 minutes we seat the table and you’re next on arrival,” and it’s cut those 7:20 show-ups from derailing the flow. If you don’t have two-way texting, a QR at the door that triggers the same ‘Arrived’ ping works as a backup.
This drives me nuts too; we peg the hold to the current quoted wait and cap it at 12 minutes — so with a 45‑minute list, a 7:00 releases at 7:12. Script at the stand: “We’ll keep it until 7:12; after that we’ll reassign and seat you at the next opening in your server’s section.” Adding a CC hold through OpenTable cut our 7:20 arrivals a ton: https://support.opentable.com/s/article/No-show-protection-requiring-a-credit-card — would deposits fly with your crowd?