False bookings: the four cases, and the note the house keeps
A false booking is one made under someone else's name or number, placed as a prank, or followed by a no-show after either. A missed appointment is not one.
Most guests will never need this entry. It exists because a small number of bookings are not what they claim to be, and on a peak date, when an hour held for a false booking is an hour refused to several real guests, the cost is higher than usual.
The four cases
- A booking placed under a name that is not the guest's own.
- A booking made from a phone number or a profile that belongs to someone else.
- A booking placed as a prank.
- A no-show coming after any of those three.
A guest who booked honestly and then did not answer the door has not made a false booking. That is an ordinary late cancellation, handled on the notice scale.
What happens
Where a booking fits one of the four cases, or a visit is ended because one of her limits was pushed, the house writes a short internal note. The note holds the date, a line on what happened, and the name and number that were used to book. It is kept for twelve months, seen by nobody outside the house, and used for one thing: deciding whether to accept another booking from the same name. The privacy page explains how to challenge a note or have it corrected or removed. Should the facts look criminal, the house may involve the police.