100% Restaurant Cancellation Policy

[dls]

Like many, I'll be celebrating Mothers Day today. Our group includes my wife, daughter, and my wife's parents. About 3 weeks ago I asked my wife what she would like to do - stay home, go out to eat, etc. She checked with her mother who said she would like to go out to brunch. For location, my wife deferred to her mother who said she would like to go to The Hyatt Lodge on McDonalds Corporate campus in Oak Brook, IL. It's a small hotel with a couple of restaurants that's owned by McDonalds and managed by Hyatt. It's used primarily by those visiting McDonalds Corporate but also open to the public. I've eaten here 2 or 3 times and, while it's nothing special, it's all right. Most importantly though, it's Mothers Day and I've learned to defer on choice of venue.

Checked their website and confirmed time, and prices (2 adults @ $38, 2 seniors @ $33, 1 child @ $16, total $158 ex tax/grat). Called and prices were confirmed once again. Booked 12:00 noon since the in-laws like to eat early. Gave credit card number and contact phone number. About an hour later, restaurant called back and said 12:00 noon was a problem and could we do 12:45 PM. I confirmed. She then said she previously forgot to tell me credit card would be billed for the full amount when making the reservation, tax/grat would automatically added, and that there would be no refund in the event of cancellation. Since I was in the middle of a meeting, I did not have time to discuss this new twist.

Later in the day, I contacted Amex and, sure enough, my card had been billed for $196. Called the restaurant and asked for a manager. The party who answered the phone confirmed the procedure an assured me that it was quite common . When I asked what would be done in the event of a forced emergency, illness, even death, I was then assured that there would be no problem in transferring the reservations to another party(ies) since they had already been paid for . After cooling off, I chose to do nothing unless something arose forcing a cancellation (nothing has). Again, it's Mothers Day and this what the MIL selected.

In my entire lifetime of dining out, I have never encountered anything even remotely like this. Has anybody out there ever heard of such a cancellation policy?

[cbarre02]

Well....it's McDonalds!

[dls]

Well....it's McDonalds!

Nope....It's Hyatt, at least at that location. As so stated by the manager.

[Alex]

Is this policy in effect just for Mother's Day (and possibly other high-demand holidays)? If you cancel, will they seat another party at "your" table or leave it empty?

[dls]

Is this policy in effect just for Mother's Day (and possibly other high-demand holidays)? If you cancel, will they seat another party at "your" table or leave it empty?

The manager stated "It's our new policy that we have just started". Did not say if the policy was special occasion or not. I'm sure that they would not leave the table empty if they had a need for it.

[docsconz]

While you were in a tight space given the special occasion and the fact that your mil chose it, I think that policy should be completely condemned and indeed boycotted. It is unconscionable IMO. It is one thing to charge a penalty for last-minute cancellations, it is another whole thing to have a no-cancellation policy period. Unless completely forced to complete the reservation for "political" reasons such as you had, I would refuse to make a reservation at any restaurant instituting that policy and I would make sure they knew that that policy is unacceptable.

[ronnie_suburban]

Even though policies like these infuriate me, I do understand that it's entirely the restaurant's prerogative to institute them. It's also the customer's call to decide whether to put up with them or patronize another place that doesn't implement such unfriendly policies. In short, I agree with docsconz 100%.

There was an interesting discussion of a similar issue not too long ago on the UK Forum--although it wasn't the exact same situation.

=R=

[Bux]

Mother's day is not only one of the few days in the year when mediocre restaurants can be expected to fill the house, but it's also one of those days when waiters are run ragged by diners who ask the kind of questions asked only by those who eat out once a year. I would say you've run up against a defensive policy designed by the restaurant to maximize its profit on that day, or minimize its losses, but that in general, it's not the greatest problem about eating out on Mother's Day.

We live in a world where restaurants and diners seem almost encouraged to mistreat each other. In a world (or at least a country) where diners think nothing of making multiple reservations for an evening and not cancelling the duplicates until the last minute, oworse yet just choosing to be a no show whether or not holding duplicate reservations, it's hardly surprising that the restaurants have not learned how to turn the tables (so to speak) when they have the advantage, such as on the one day when everyone wants to eat out.

I am so emphatically opposed to eating in a restaurant on Mother's Day and yet find my self with reservations to meet old friends tonight precisely because I didn't realize it was Mother's Day. Fortunately, it's an excellent restaurant and the problems will be fewer. They don't offer a senior discount however. How common is that and can we classify a restaurant in any way by that factor?

[Pan]

Are you opposed to eating out on Mother's Day even in inexpensive Shanghainese restaurants?

Yeah, this policy is ridiculous. If you had to cancel for some emergency, you should dispute the charge with the credit card company.

[Brad Ballinger]

Complete bullshit IMO. I had no idea the Hyatt's cashflow problems were that tight. I would've cancelled, explaining to MIL she can reserve it on her credit card. And for good measure, I'd call a number of times over the next month, ask to reserve a time for dinner, and then "change your mind" once they tell you about the practice of charging your credit card. Hell, you don't even get charged for a room at the Hyatt unless you are a no show after 10:00 p.m.

[dls]

Returned from "Prepaid Brunch" a little earlier today. A couple of observations......

First, my wife and I abhor eating out on any of the big 3 special occasion days - Mothers Day, Valentines Day, and NYE. Second, We abhor even more self-service brunches. As I stated before however, this was not about us and our likes or dislikes. My mil expressed a desire to do a certain thing and that was fine.

That being said, overall, it was a pretty decent experience. Seated immediately in a large but, very tastefully decorated and comfortable banquet room. I would guess that there aproximately 300 people in attendance. A second, and similar room for service, was even more impressive. Service, as it were, was professional, effiecient, and gracious. I counted 10 "live" stations. There were separate stations carving beef, ham, turkey, pork, and salmon. There were 4 omelet stations and even a rissoto station. There must have been 60 or 70 additional stations with self service for everything from apps to desert. Even a small station for kids with a variety of things such as dry cereal, PBJ sandwiches, pizza, etc. No long waits and the food quality, which was replaced frequently, was excellent. Those who enjoy this sort of thing would have been extremely pleased. Even though I'm pissed off regarding the reservation/cancellation policy, I must give them credit on the product and service provided. BTW - No McD products offered.

As an aside, we were aked by our server (?) if we would like a complimentary glass of house champagne or a Mimosa. Mil took the Mimosa. Fil, wife, and I opted for Bloody Marys, which were not complimentary. Server returned to the table a couple of minutes later and stated that he had just been informed by the bar of a new policy (another) dictating that cocktails had to be paid for in advance and by cash. I paid of course.

Soooo - I guess the crux of my bitch regarding the reservation/cancellation policy is even more emphasized now. Other than this, everything else was fine assuming, of course, that one likes this form of dining. Also, though I failed to ask, it appeared to me that the policy applys only to the Sunday brunches, special occasion or not.

I'm the type of person that's very anal about cancelling reservations the moment that I know that I need to. I also call ahead to say that I'm running late even if it's only a few minutes. I've even paid a couple of late cancellation penalties when it was unavoidable and without comment. My bitch with Hyatt in general deals with the severity of the penalty (100%) and the fact that you must prepay in full at the time of reservation. My personal bitch is that I was not even informed of the policy until after my card had been charged. Had I not been contacted regarding a seating time issue, I would not have known until late last week when I received my Amex bill. Had I been made aware of the policy at the time of my initial call, we definately would have been dining elsewhere. Obviously, if for some reson a cancellation had been necessary, I would simply dispute it with Amex under "Product/Service Billed For Not Received" category.

One commenter upthread mentioned that I should contact Hyatt voicing my displeasure with the policy. I normally would do that. In this case however, I've chosen to post it as a topic on the eGullet forum. I have no doubt that a number of individuals of the Hyatt food service team are either members or visitors to the forum and review it, at least, on occasion. The message of "many to many" on a public forum of the depth and breadth of eGullet is much stronger than the private message of "one to one".

Obviously, I will not be returning to Hyatt.

[ronnie_suburban]

When they came to the table with the 'pay for the cocktails in advance' thing I probably would have lost it. You're a better man than I...for sure. Did they think you were going to 'drink and dash'? Puh-leeze.

And I appreciate you posting this here very much. You may or may not receive a satisfactory response from Hyatt but by posting here, you have effectively informed a larger group about a very unfriendly policy arbitrarily implemented by Hyatt. We're all better off for knowing about it.

The whole episode leads me to one question though...do other places do this too? If not, I honestly don't know how Hyatt gets away with it without completely alienating potential customers.

=R=

[Schneier]

I have never heard of such a policy.

Bruce

[dls]

When they came to the table with the 'pay for the cocktails in advance' thing I probably would have lost it. You're a better man than I...for sure. Did they think you were going to 'drink and dash'? Puh-leeze.

All I did was laugh and think to myself "Relax - This will be over soon". Sort of the same thing I do when I see my dentist except he does not require a non-refundable pre-payment for services rendered or not.

[snowangel]

Cash for a couple of drinks in advance? Give me an effing break.

And, I'm a bit confused. Did the in-advance charge on your AmEx include a gratuity for serving yourselves? Or, just tax?

[dls]

Cash for a couple of drinks in advance?  Give me an effing break.

And, I'm a bit confused.  Did the in-advance charge on your AmEx include a gratuity for serving yourselves?  Or, just tax?

The total net price quoted both online and by the person taking the reservation for our group was $158.00. Unknown to me, Amex was billed $195.74 at the time of reservation - difference was $10.88 tax (.07%) / $26.86 gratuity (.17%). Servers duties included pouring 5 glasses of OJ, pouring 3 cups of coffe and refreshing 2, and serving 4 cocktails. All other service provided by ourselves. Not bad huh.

[Rachel Perlow]

Did you clear the plates from your table as well?

[dls]

Did you clear the plates from your table as well?

No - busboy did. We did, however, have to get clean silver and napkins from an empty table near us.

[docsconz]

This is absolutely disgusting! OK, that is an exaggeration compared to things that truly are disgusting. Nevertheless, I am apalled by the nerve of Hyatt to institute something like this - Corporate chutzpah that cannot and should not be tolerated. I guess that the initial practice of charging in advance and not allowing for cancellation refunds is bad enough, but then having the nerve to put the service charge with it as well? And for essentially non-existant service to boot!

[wnissen]

Eh, I'm more bothered by the mandatory excessive gratuity on a buffet tab than by the cancellation fee. I'd rather see a cancellation charge of 75% if you cancel less than 24 hours before, but I prefer having some fee to the current system. Responsible people only cancel reservations on short notice in case of a genuine emergency, no? I don't care to subsidize people who don't show up, simply because it's slightly difficult and uncomfortable to call and do so.

Walt

[Lady T]

Ludicrous.

[Suzanne F]

Just confirms my opinion of Hyatt. Not to give the details*, but the absolute worst hotel experiences I ever had in my life were at a Hyatt -- on multiple occasions. (Well, they were trying to make it up to me by giving me extra nights and all sorts of "freebies" -- except that everything just built on the previous awful occurrence. )

*I will, however, say that it was the Hyatt on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Wouldn't you think a location like that would know better????

[docsconz]

Eh, I'm more bothered by the mandatory excessive gratuity on a buffet tab than by the cancellation fee. I'd rather see a cancellation charge of 75% if you cancel less than 24 hours before, but I prefer having some fee to the current system. Responsible people only cancel reservations on short notice in case of a genuine emergency, no? I don't care to subsidize people who don't show up, simply because it's slightly difficult and uncomfortable to call and do so.

Walt

The problem with this cancellation fee is that it is 100% no matter when one cancels or why one cancels. I don't have a problem with a reasonable penalty for no-shows, however, I do resent a cancellation fee when I act responsibly. The policy discussed in this topic is particularly egregious from any number of angles.

[robyn]

I don't have a problem with any of this. Someone who runs a restaurant wrote a message here about Valentine's Day. Some amazing percentage of people who had made reservations failed to show. I suspect if someone had dropped dead on Saturday - the restaurant here would have honored a cancellation. But its payment policy for this "Hallmark holiday" meal is designed to let everyone know that it means business.

As for the tips - this is similar to my golf club. The servers usually work individual tables - and 18% service is usually added on. Those same people work the few buffets that are served during the year (like Easter - and Mother's Day) - and you can't expect them to work their shifts and go home empty handed. Robyn

[docsconz]

I don't have a problem with any of this. Someone who runs a restaurant wrote a message here about Valentine's Day. Some amazing percentage of people who had made reservations failed to show. I suspect if someone had dropped dead on Saturday - the restaurant here would have honored a cancellation. But its payment policy for this "Hallmark holiday" meal is designed to let everyone know that it means business.

As for the tips - this is similar to my golf club. The servers usually work individual tables - and 18% service is usually added on. Those same people work the few buffets that are served during the year (like Easter - and Mother's Day) - and you can't expect them to work their shifts and go home empty handed. Robyn

As I and others have said, a "reasonable" policy of charging no-shows is acceptable, but this is not only egregious, it is stupid business.