the restaurant i work for confirms ALL reservations and politely requests credit card information for parties of 5 or more (and all parties on days such as valentine's day, new year's eve, restaurant week, etc.). if a guest objects we usually explain that we don't charge the card unless the guest doesn't show up without calling to let us know, but if it makes them uncomfortable we would just ask them to call if they couldn't make it. with this policy, we very rarely have "no-shows", and the ones that don't show with no call are about 95% ones that didn't give a cc # in the first place. it is important to note that this policy protects the guests who would like to dine with us and can't because we are fully committed (as well as protecting the restaurant against the revenue lost if the table isn't filled). On our busier shifts we keep a waiting list; in the case of the original post, an hour's notice would have helped the restaurant recoup the cost of losing the table and also helped a group of diners get a reso that wouldn't have that opportunity if the guest calls at the time of the reso. finally i think it should be noted that even though if you bought a ticket to a show and decided not to go at the last minute you would not get a refund, and even though you can't go into best buy and pick out a $2000 HDTV and walk out with the tv after leaving $1500 at the counter but many people leave 10% tips, don't tip on wine, taxes, etc, and even though people make resos at several restaurants knowing they will only fulfill one of them, this is the service industry and our job is to be HOSPITABLE, which means giving people the benefit of the doubt and assuming that they either had a good reason to do what they did or that they don't fully understand the impact that their actions had on the restaurant and/or other diners. either way they didn't intentionally try to do any harm and don't deserve any malice. the professional thing to do is to do the best you can to avoid these situations and be gracious and hospitable when they arise.