Abstract
Reservations give restaurants the capability to select the most profitable mix of customers and help them better control their time. Reservations are not without problems because of the uncertainty associated with customers honoring their reservation and with the uncertainty associated with the length of time that customers will use the service. Many restaurants have developed policies to handle these uncertainties; the question is how customers react to such policies. An online survey on customer attitudes towards restaurant reservation policies was conducted in the United States. Respondents considered table-holding policies and credit card guarantees to be the most acceptable and fairest of the five policies considered. Entire party seating policies were viewed in a mostly neutral manner, while respondents had a mixed view of maximum duration policies. Short-show policies were considered to be the least understandable and acceptable. In all cases, customers who were more familiar with a policy were more likely to consider that policy to be acceptable and fair.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Averill, J. R. (1973) Personal control over aversive stimuli and its relationship to stress. Psychological Bulletin 80 (4): 286–303.
Bauer, M. (2006) No-shows, restaurant roulette and other no-nos. San Francisco Chronicle, 25 May, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=26&cat=627.
Berry, L. L., Seiders, K. and Grewal, D. (2002) Understanding service convenience. Journal of Marketing 66 (3): 1–17.
Bertsimas, D. and Shioda, R. (2003) Restaurant revenue management. Operations Research 51 (3): 472–486.
Bolton, L. E., Warlop, L. and Alba, J. W. (2003) Consumer perceptions of price (un)fairness. Journal of Consumer Research 29 (4): 474–492.
Bruni, F. (2006) Dining by stopwatch. New York Times, http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/reservations, 11 October 2006.
Campbell, M. C. (1999a) ‘Why did you do that?’ The important role of inferred motive in perceptions of price fairness. Journal of Product and Brand Management 8 (2): 145–152.
Campbell, M. C. (1999b) Perceptions of price unfairness: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Marketing Research 36 (2): 187–199.
Davis, M. M. and Heineke, J. (1998) How disconfirmation, perception and actual waiting times impact customer satisfaction. International Journal of Service Industry Management 9 (1): 64–73.
Dube-Rioux, L., Schmitt, B. H. and Leclerc, F. (1988) Consumer's reactions to waiting: When delays affect the perception of service quality. In: T. Srull (ed.) Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 16, Provo, Ut: Association for Consumer Research, pp. 59–63.
Fischer, J. W. (2005) At Your Service. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Hui, M. K. and Bateson, J. E. G. (1991) Perceived control and the effects of crowding and consumer choice on the service experience. Journal of Consumer Research 18 (September): 174–184.
Hui, M. K. and Tse, D. K. (1996) What to tell consumers in waits of different lengths: An integrative model of service evaluation. Journal of Marketing 60 (April): 81–90.
Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L. and Thaler, R. H. (1986) Fairness as a constraint on profit seeking: Entitlements in the market. The American Economic Review 76 (4): 728–741.
Katz, K. L., Larson, B. M. and Larson, R. C. (1991) Prescription for the waiting-in-line blues: Entertain, enlighten, and engage. Sloan Management Review 32 (Winter): 44–53.
Kimes, S. E. (1994) Perceived fairness of yield management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 29 (1): 22–29.
Kimes, S. E. (2008) A consumer's view of restaurant reservations policies. Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research Report.
Kimes, S. E. and Chase, R. B. (1998) The strategic levers of yield management. Journal of Service Research 1 (2): 156–166.
Kimes, S. E. and Noone, B. M. (2002) Perceived fairness of yield management: An update. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 43 (1): 28–29.
Kimes, S. E. and Wirtz, J. (2003) Has revenue management become acceptable? Findings from an international study on the perceived fairness of rate fences. Journal of Service Research 6 (2): 35–125.
Kimes, S. E. and Wirtz, J. (2007) Customer satisfaction with restaurant seating policies in casual-dining restaurants. Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research Report.
Kimes, S. E., Chase, R. B., Choi, S., Ngonzi, E. N. and Lee, P. Y. (1998) Restaurant revenue management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 40 (3): 40–45.
Langer, E. J. (1983) The Psychology of Control. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Langer, E. J. and Rodin, J. (1976) The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: A field experiment in an institutional setting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34 (2): 191–198.
Langer, E. J. and Saegert, S. (1977) Crowding and cognitive control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35 (2): 175–182.
Noone, B. M. and Kimes, S. E. (2005) Dining duration and customer satisfaction. Cornell University, Center for Hospitality Research Report.
Noone, B. M., Kimes, S. E., Mattila, A. and Wirtz, J. (2007) The effect of meal pace on customer satisfaction. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 48 (3): 231–245.
Pruyn, A. and Smidts, A. (1998) Effects of waiting on the satisfaction with service: Beyond objective time measures. International Journal of Research in Marketing 15: 321–334.
Taylor, S. (1994) Waiting for service: The relationship between delays and evaluations of service. Journal of Marketing 58 (April): 56–69.
Thaler, R. F. (1985) Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing Science 4 (3): 199–214.
Thompson., G. M. and Kwortnik, R. J. (2008) Pooling restaurant reservations to increase service efficiency. Journal of Service Research 10 (4): 335–346.
Tom, G. and Lucey, G. (1997) A field study investigating the effect of waiting time on customer satisfaction. Journal of Psychology 131 (6): 655–660.
Urbany, J. E., Madden, T. J. and Dickson, P. R. (1989) All's not fair in pricing: An initial look at the dual entitlement principle. Marketing Letters 1 (1): 17–25.
Wirtz, J. and Kimes, S. E. (2007) The moderating effects of familiarity on the perceived fairness of revenue management pricing. Journal of Service Research 9 (3): 229–240.
Xia, L., Monroe, K. B. and Cox, J. L. (2004) The price is unfair! a conceptual framework of price fairness perceptions. Journal of Marketing 68 (October): 1–15.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kimes, S. Customer attitudes towards restaurant reservations policies. J Revenue Pricing Manag 10, 244–260 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2009.24
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2009.24