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Charging for no-shows at a restaurant: what the law allows in Spain

Samuel Martínez, 2 October 2026. Legal. 10 min read. Translated from the Spanish original.

What you can charge a customer who misses their booking, what the law prohibits and how to say it without losing customers or falling foul of unfair terms.

Yes, you can ask for a guarantee when taking a booking, but you can’t charge whatever you like, and you can’t do it without warning. What holds up best is telling the customer before the booking is confirmed, keeping the amount proportionate, deducting it from the bill when the customer turns up, and making it easy to cancel free of charge.

More and more restaurants are asking for a card or a prepayment, and FACUA (the Spanish consumer association) already considers these charges abusive. In this guide you’ll see where the indicative limit lies, which approaches are most solid, and how to explain it to the customer without losing them.

This page is for information only and is not binding advice. Each case is tailored after a diagnóstico.

TL;DR

What is happening with ghost bookings

A ghost booking is a table that is held and never occupied. For the customer it is a minor inconvenience. For the restaurant it means staff rostered, stock bought and other customers you’ve turned away.

The Infobae report on no-shows says that 21% of restaurants now ask for bank details, up from around 10% in 2023, and that 7% require prepayment. The same source says no-shows fell to 3.3% in 2025, with Málaga and Madrid in line with that average.

Look at what those figures tell you together:

A concrete example: a restaurant in Santiago de Compostela asks for a card as a guarantee of €20 per person, deducted from the bill. Its front-of-house manager says that since then it is “very rare” for anyone not to turn up. It is the testimony of one venue, not an industry statistic, but it illustrates why the practice is spreading.

What the law says and where the limit lies

There is no rule that says “a restaurant may charge X euros for a no-show”. The area involved is consumer and user protection, specifically unfair terms. FACUA considers these charges abusive and cites article 87 of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, the consolidated text of the consumer law.

Here is what you should be clear about, always with the caveat that a judge or a consumer authority will assess each case on its own facts:

We’re not going to tell you that charging is always legal or always illegal, because that wouldn’t stand up. What you can do is reduce the risk of the charge ending up as a complaint. If you plan to charge systematically, have your wording reviewed by a solicitor or by your accountancy firm.

What almost never holds up

What tends to be more defensible

Three approaches and which one suits your venue

Not every approach bothers the customer equally or exposes you equally.

Prepayment

You charge when the booking is made. It gives the most protection, but it is the approach that puts off the most bookings, and it means handling refunds if the customer cancels in time. It makes sense for events, set menus, large groups or very high-demand services.

Deductible deposit

You hold an amount that is deducted from the bill or refunded. This is the logic of the Santiago example. For the customer who turns up, the cost is zero, and that changes perceptions a lot: it isn’t a fine, it’s an advance payment.

Card guarantee with no charge

You keep the card on file and only charge if the customer doesn’t show up. It is the least intrusive when booking, but the one that creates the most friction if you have to charge afterwards, because that is the moment the customer complains. That is why advance communication and proof of acceptance are essential.

How to choose

Use this simple rule: the bigger the group and the harder it is to reuse the table, the more justified a guarantee is. For a couple at lunchtime on a Tuesday, a reminder may be enough. For a table of eight on a Saturday night, a guarantee makes more sense.

How to word it and communicate it without losing the customer

The conversation with the customer matters as much as the legal text. The same charge can feel like a reasonable rule or like an abuse depending on how it is presented.

What your terms should include

On payment data, don’t store cards yourself. Use a payment gateway that handles that information, and review how you process personal data with care, for example using what we explain in IA y protección de datos.

What to say and how

Restaurateurs ask for empathy, and it makes sense to tell the customer exactly that: an empty table means staff rostered, stock bought and customers turned away. It works better when put positively:

Avoid a threatening tone. Nobody wants to read “we will charge you a penalty”. Everybody understands “we reserve your table with a guarantee”.

Where to communicate it

The conditions must appear wherever the booking originates: your web profesional, the form, WhatsApp and the telephone. If bookings come in through several channels and each one explains things differently, you’ll have a mess. In soluciones para restaurantes we look at how to unify those channels so the information is the same in all of them.

Before charging, reduce the no-shows

Charging is the last resort, not the first. Many no-shows can be avoided with simple processes:

A chatbot de WhatsApp can send the confirmation and the reminder and take the cancellation without anyone on the team having to type a thing. If bookings reach you by phone, an agente telefónico con IA can read the conditions to the customer before closing the booking and keep a record. It is the kind of task described by a recepcionista virtual con IA. None of these tools replaces a legal review of your terms: they only help ensure the process you have defined is followed.

What to do on the day the customer doesn’t show up

If you do decide to charge, organise the process so you don’t improvise:

  1. Wait a reasonable time and try to contact the customer by phone or WhatsApp.
  2. Check whether notice of cancellation was given within the deadline.
  3. Review the proof that the customer accepted the conditions.
  4. Charge only what was agreed, never more, and send the receipt with the reason.
  5. Deal with any complaint if one arrives, in a calm tone and without arguing in public.

Consider the human side too. If it’s a regular customer who had a genuine emergency, waiving the charge may work out more profitable than defending it. A flexible policy for justified cases protects your reputation on Google.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal for a restaurant to ask me for a card to book?

Asking for a card as a guarantee is an increasingly widespread practice and is not, in itself, prohibited. What is at stake is how the customer is informed and what is charged. If the customer knows the conditions before confirming, the amount is proportionate and there is a clear way to cancel, the restaurant’s position is much stronger. Even so, FACUA considers these charges abusive and cites article 87 of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, so you should discuss your case with a professional.

Can I charge €20 per person if the customer doesn’t turn up?

Some restaurants do, such as one in Santiago de Compostela that asks for a card as a guarantee of €20 per person, deducted from the bill. The fact that it exists doesn’t mean it is beyond dispute: the amount must bear a relation to the real loss and must have been communicated beforehand. If the sum is deducted from the bill when the customer attends, the approach is easier to explain than a pure penalty.

What is the difference between prepayment, a deposit and a card guarantee?

With prepayment you charge when the booking is made and the customer has already paid. With a deposit you hold an amount that is refunded or deducted from the bill. With a card guarantee you keep the details on file and only charge if the customer doesn’t show up. According to the Infobae report, 21% of restaurants ask for bank details and 7% require prepayment. The less intrusive the approach, the easier it is for the customer to accept it.

What should I put in the booking conditions?

The minimum: the exact amount, when it is charged, until what time the booking can be cancelled or changed at no cost, what happens if the group arrives with fewer people, and how the card data is handled. It has to be visible before confirming, not hidden in a link at the bottom. Write it in plain language and keep a record that the customer has seen and accepted it.

How common are no-shows, and is it worth charging?

According to the Infobae report, no-shows fell to 3.3% in 2025, with Málaga and Madrid in line with that average. It is an average, and your situation depends on the type of venue, the size of your groups and the day. Before tightening the conditions, measure how many bookings you are actually losing. Sometimes confirming and reminding customers about their booking is enough to cut most no-shows.

How do I stop the customer being annoyed at being asked for a card?

Explain the reason with empathy: an empty table means staff rostered, stock bought and other customers turned away. Offer easy, free cancellation up to a cut-off time, deduct the amount from the bill and confirm in writing. Communicated like this, it isn’t experienced as a sanction but as a reasonable house rule.

Next step

If you’d like to know how your website or phone currently handles bookings (automatic confirmation, cancellation notice and clear conditions), ask for a free review:

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