Getting charged no-show fee if some of your party doesn't show up?

Angeliki19

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 3, 2011
Hi- I just wanted to check in on this policy and make sure it hadn't changed. My understanding from years ago is that it is ok to show up with less people than your ADR was originally for.. as long as SOMEONE shows up you do not get charged a fee. But recently I heard while on hold that the no-show fee is $10 per person.. for some reason I thought it was $20 per ADR. So now I am confused and I want to make sure that I understand the policy. We have some members of our family that would prefer to play dinner plans by ear (depending on cranky babies, etc.) so I wanted to double check.

Thanks!
 
You can show up with fewer people without a fee (unless it's prepaid, I don't know what those terms are).

Each booking will have a cancellation policy. If you don't cancel before the time stated, you will lose your fee. Every other regular booking has a $10/person fee if no one shows. We've occasionally booked for 4 so we can have dinner with friends who are Florida resident but then they have to bail a few hours beforehand (or we book for breakfast and they're unable to make it in time). We've never been charged when we just tell them when we check in that we're just 2. They make the change at check-in.
 


It IS $10 per person, but that's only if NO ONE shows up. If you show up but with fewer people, no charge as PPs mention.
 
You should only be charged if nobody shows up.
If at least one person in the party shows up, there should not be any charges for the others who did not show up.
 


We just asked this question to the front desk at Beach club. The cast member said as long as 50% of your party showed up, the NO SHOW fee would not be charged. I guess if less then 50% showed up they would charge the $10 per person for the missing people. Luckily we had 2 people for the 4 person ADR, so no issue.
 
Interesting.
I wonder if this is official policy, their interpretation, or if each restaurant has its own plicy.
 
This is one of those questions where I sort-of know from anecdotal accounts as well as personal experience how it's been handled up to now, but cannot guarantee that Disney won't change it in the future. However, I don't think a cost-benefit analysis could be made that would generate sufficient $ for Disney for this to be raised high enough on their radar.
 
Interesting.
I wonder if this is official policy, their interpretation, or if each restaurant has its own plicy.
I think each restaurant may have its own interpretation/policy.. depending on the manager or who is in charge of booking for that night. The same type of thing goes for DVC members and getting discounts without having to show their photo ID. The manager/ waiter usually will use their own judgement.
 
We just asked this question to the front desk at Beach club. The cast member said as long as 50% of your party showed up, the NO SHOW fee would not be charged. I guess if less then 50% showed up they would charge the $10 per person for the missing people. Luckily we had 2 people for the 4 person ADR, so no issue.
No they won't. The CM at the beach club wouldn't have anything to do with the restaurants and often don't tell/know the truth...you know how when you ask what time buses start and most times the CM will tell you an hour before park opening even though it's really much earlier. If at least 1 person shows up you won't be charged any no show fee.
 
Interesting.
I wonder if this is official policy, their interpretation, or if each restaurant has its own plicy.
It's not policy and it's not true. The CM was just spitting something out that sounded good to an "oblivious" guest... not saying the pp was oblivious, but that's how most CMs treat their guests and they think they can just tell them whatever they think is best. It happens all the time.
 
In October 2019, I heard both Tusker House & Chefs de France ask people if they want to modify their reservations to show the small number of people who will be showing up vs. how many the reservation is for.

At Tusker House they specifically said they needed to modify to ensure they weren't charged for no show up.
At France, the cast member said it would save them money.

Not sure how many people didn't show up. It was the first time I've ever heard a conversation at all about the no show fee.
 

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