False bookings, and why a missed evening is not one

A booking counts as false if any of these is true:

• it was made under a name that does not belong to the guest;
• it came from a phone number or a profile that belongs to someone else;
• it was made as a joke;
• a no-show followed one of the three above.

What does not count

Missing an appointment does not, by itself, make a booking false. A guest who booked honestly from a restaurant and then stayed out, fell asleep or forgot to write has made a late cancellation, and it is handled on the ordinary notice scale like any other. Evenings out go astray; that is not what this entry is about.

The note the house keeps

Where a booking does fit one of the four descriptions, or a visit is ended because a limit was pressed, the house writes a short internal note. The note holds four things: the date, a line on what happened, the name used and the number used. It is held for twelve months, nobody outside the house sees it, and it settles one question only: whether a further booking from that name is taken.

The privacy page explains how to challenge such a note or have it corrected or deleted. Facts that suggest a criminal act may be passed by the house to the police.

For everyone else

A guest who books in his own name and is in the room when she knocks has nothing in this entry to think about.