At first I didn't know what you were talking about about, I knew you were a he, and then I saw where I wrote she. My apologies, it's a force of habit on this board, since so many poster's are female. Again, sorry about that.
I find that remarkable. I've never worked at a restaurant with such an arrangement, and never in my life heard of any restaurant having such an arrangement. Most servers would be dead set against this, as hosting, when they could be earning tips serving, would severley limit their income. Still if they scheduled that many hosts/greeters, then for some reason, they were needed, and would be unable wait tables anyway.
Yes, I agree, CM's should ask if you want your ADR's cancelled, too. Your also correct in that a great many no-shows are not valid. Perhaps because people are in a different park that day, decided to eat at a different time, or different place, or some other reason they would have known about a few hours ahead of time. People should call to cancel their ADR's ahead of time, agree'd. What about people who don't have credit cards? Some people pay their dining bills with cash, anyway. Should those people not be allowed to make ADR's, and subsequently not get to eat at these reastaurants? Wonder if one of my children or spouse become very ill that day, or they get hurt? While yes, I should call and cancel my ADR, it's probably the furthest thing on my mind. What if my rental car breaks down (this has happened to me more times than I care to remember)? Again, I should call an cancel, but I'm probably busy trying to rectify the breakdown problem, and again furthest thing on my mind. Wonder if I am on a ride that breaks down and I am stuck for an hour? Who knows, maybe that was the case when you were there for all you knew. When people feel they have a valid reason for not showing up and they get charged, imagine the anger they will endure and pass along while getting that charge taken off their card, either with their CC company or yelling at CM's. Even people that don't have a valid excuse would be causing all sorts of problem with CM's while trying to avoid the charge. It's just not necessary in Disney's eyes, as they already have a system to handle it, and it doesn't involve angering guests. No other restaurants on the outside charge for missing a resservation, and it might not even be legal unless it's for a special event. In any case, it's certainly NOT an established practice anywhere.
Yes, I agree. Charging people a fee, however, would not work. You asked the question, and I answered it. You must have felt everyone was going to agree with you on charging fee.