Putting guests on the waiting list

A full night is no reason to turn a guest away. Put them on the waiting list: you then have their details when something opens up, and that happens more often than you think — cancellations, a party that shrinks, a no-show.

What to ask

Name, party size, phone number, and how flexible they are. That last one is the most important field: "only 19:00" and "really any time between 18:00 and 21:00" are two very different waiting-list guests, and the second one you can almost always help.

Be honest about the odds

Say that it is a waiting list and not a reservation. A guest who thinks they have a table and finds a closed door is a worse experience than a guest you turned down straight away.