SMS consent is stricter than you think

A guest books a table and gives their mobile number, as the booking form asks. A month later, they receive a text from the restaurant offering a discount on Tuesdays. They never asked for it, and they are annoyed: they gave their number so the restaurant could reach them about the booking, not so it could market to them. Many venues assume a phone number on a booking is permission to text. SMS consent is stricter than that, in the law of many countries and in the minds of guests.

Texts are personal. A mobile number reaches the guest wherever they are, and guests guard it more carefully than an email address. Using it for something they did not agree to feels like a breach of trust, and in many places it is also against the rules on marketing. The penalties can be serious, but the bigger cost is usually the guest's goodwill.

This guide covers what a booking phone number does and does not permit, how to collect consent for marketing texts properly, the opt-out every text needs, how data protection applies to phone numbers and a checklist to run before sending. It is general guidance, not legal advice: the rules differ by country, so check them where you trade. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

The common assumption is that a guest who gives their number has agreed to hear from the venue. For messages about their booking, that is usually reasonable. For marketing, it is not. Most rules on marketing texts treat them like marketing emails, or more strictly, and require the guest's clear agreement before the first one is sent.

Guests share that view. A text about their booking feels like service. A text about an offer, from a number they gave for a booking, feels like misuse. The gap between the two is where most SMS consent problems begin.

A phone number given with a booking is generally there so the venue can reach the guest about that booking: to confirm it, to remind them, to tell them about a change or to call if they are running late. These are service messages, and guests expect them.

Keep service messages strictly about the booking. A reminder that says "Your table for four is at eight tomorrow" is service. The same reminder with "and try our new cocktail menu" added has become marketing, and needs the consent that marketing requires.

A booking phone number does not, on its own, permit marketing texts: offers, newsletters, event invitations or promotions. It does not permit adding the guest to a marketing list, sharing the number with another business or using it for a different venue in a group without the guest knowing.

It does not permit keeping the number forever, either. A number collected for a booking should be kept only as long as there is a reason to, and protected while it is held. Our guide to guest data: what to collect and what to leave covers what is worth keeping.

Marketing consent for texts should be clear, specific and freely given. The guest actively chooses to receive marketing texts, knowing what they will receive and from whom, without it being a condition of booking. A pre-ticked box, or consent hidden in booking terms, is not good enough.

The same principles apply as for email, and in many places the same rules. Our guide to marketing consent, collected so it holds up covers them in detail; the rest of this guide covers what is different about texts.

Ask for consent to marketing texts separately from consent to marketing emails. A guest happy to receive a monthly email may not want texts at all. A single box covering both forces them to accept texts to get emails, or to refuse both.

Use clear, specific words: "Text me about last-minute tables and special events, a few times a year at most. Reply STOP to opt out." An unticked box, separate from the booking itself, that the guest chooses to tick, is the basis of consent that holds up.

Tell guests how often you will text them when they opt in. "A few times a year" or "only when a table comes free" reassures them, because the main worry about giving a mobile number for marketing is being bombarded.

Then keep the promise. A venue that says "a few times a year" and texts every week has broken the terms of the consent it collected, and guests will notice long before any regulator does.

Keep a record of every marketing consent: the guest's number, when they agreed, where they agreed, such as the booking page or a card at the table, and the words they agreed to. If a guest ever asks why they received a text, or a regulator asks how you collected consent, the record is your answer.

Update the record when a guest opts out, and keep the opt-out on file so they are never added back by mistake. A list that loses track of who agreed and who left is a list that will eventually text the wrong person.

The rules on marketing texts differ from country to country, and some are strict. In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the rules made under it have led to large claims over marketing texts sent without proper consent. In the United Kingdom and the European Union, rules on electronic marketing sit alongside data protection law.

This guide cannot tell you exactly what applies where you trade. Check the rules for your country, and take advice before texting a large list or using texts in a new way. The safe habit, clear and separate consent for marketing texts, works almost everywhere.

Some countries allow a narrow exception for existing customers, sometimes called the soft opt-in: a business may market similar products to customers who gave their details during a purchase, as long as they were given a clear chance to refuse at the time and in every message since. Where it exists, its conditions are specific.

Do not rely on it without checking. Whether it applies to your venue, your guests and your messages depends on the exact rules where you trade, and a guest who booked once is not always a customer in the sense the rules mean. Clear opt-in consent avoids the question altogether.

Every marketing text should tell guests how to stop receiving them, usually with a line such as "Reply STOP to opt out". Make the SMS opt out work at once: a guest who replies STOP should receive no further marketing texts from you, starting immediately.

Confirm the opt-out once, if your system does so, and then stay silent. Never send a "sorry to see you go" offer by text to a guest who has just opted out. And keep the opt-out on record, so the guest is not added back when lists are merged or imported later.

In a group of venues, a guest who opts out of texts from one venue will usually expect not to receive marketing texts from any of them. Treat an opt-out as applying to the whole business unless the guest clearly agreed to each venue separately.

Sharing opt-outs across the group protects guests from a frustrating experience: opting out of one venue's texts and then receiving texts from its sister venue the next week. To the guest, it is the same business ignoring their request.

A mobile number is personal data, and data protection rules apply to it as to any other guest detail. Collect it for a clear purpose, keep it secure, let only the people who need it see it, use it only for what the guest expects and do not keep it longer than you need.

Guests can usually ask to see what you hold about them and to have it corrected or removed. Make sure you can answer those requests. Our guide to guest privacy in a restaurant that remembers you covers data protection for guest details more widely.

Not everyone on the team needs to see guests' phone numbers. The host taking a booking or calling about a late arrival does; a kitchen porter does not. Limit access to the people whose job requires it, and avoid printing numbers on sheets that sit in public view.

The fewer people who can see numbers, the lower the risk of them being misused, copied or lost. A simple rule, numbers stay in the venue's systems and are seen only by those who need them, protects both guests and the venue.

Some staff text guests from their own phones: to say a table is ready, to confirm a change or to send a regular a message about a favourite dish. It is well meant, but it creates risks. There is no record, no opt-out, the guest's number ends up on a personal device and messages may stray into marketing without consent.

Agree that guest contact goes through the venue's own systems and phones. If a guest needs a call about their booking, make it from the venue. That keeps numbers secure, keeps a record and keeps marketing within the consent the guest gave.

Never text people from a bought or borrowed list, or from a list of numbers collected for another purpose. They did not agree to hear from you, the rules in many places forbid it and the response, from irritation to complaints, damages the venue's reputation quickly.

The only list worth texting is one built from guests who chose, clearly and recently, to receive your texts. It will be small. That is normal for SMS marketing, which works best as a short list of guests who welcome it.

In a group, a number collected by one venue for its own bookings or marketing should not be used by another venue without the guest knowing. A guest who agreed to texts from their local bistro has not agreed to texts from the group's steakhouse across town.

If you want group-wide consent, ask for it clearly: "Text me about events at all our venues." Otherwise, keep each venue's consent to that venue, and coordinate so guests who agreed to several are not texted by all of them in the same week.

WhatsApp messages raise the same questions as texts, and the platform has its own rules for businesses, which require customers to agree to receive messages before a business contacts them. A number given for a booking is not consent to WhatsApp marketing, any more than it is to texts.

Ask separately, explain what you will send and how often, and give guests an easy way to stop. Treat WhatsApp messages with at least the same care as texts, because they arrive in the same personal space on the guest's phone.

Consent does not last forever in practice. A guest who agreed to texts three years ago and has not visited since may have forgotten, changed their number or moved away. Texting them now risks complaints, and sometimes reaches a different person who has the number now.

Review your text list from time to time. Remove numbers that have not been used in a long time, and consider asking long-quiet guests, by email, whether they still want texts. A smaller list of guests who remember agreeing is far safer than a large, stale one.

Be especially careful about texting young people. A booking made by a parent for a child's birthday, or a number given by a teenager, should never lead to marketing texts aimed at a child. Rules on marketing to children are often stricter, and guests rightly expect venues to take care.

If you are not sure a number belongs to an adult who agreed to marketing, do not send marketing texts to it. Service messages about a booking, sent to the adult who made it, are a different matter.

Some places restrict the hours when marketing messages may be sent, and guests everywhere dislike texts late at night or early in the morning. Choose sensible hours, such as late morning to early evening, and avoid weekends if your guests would find them intrusive.

Quiet hours are part of respecting consent. A guest who agreed to "a few texts a year" did not agree to be woken by one. Our guide to SMS marketing for restaurants, used sparingly covers timing in more detail.

A complaint about marketing texts can cost a venue in several ways: an investigation, a fine or a claim where the rules allow, a public complaint online and the loss of a guest who was annoyed enough to complain. Even where no penalty follows, the time and the reputation damage are real.

Most complaints are avoidable. They come from texts sent without consent, texts that ignore an opt-out or texts sent far more often than promised. Get those three right, and complaints become very rare.

Before sending any marketing text, check:

If any answer is no, do not send until it is yes.

When one person books for a group, only that person has given their number, and only for that booking. The other guests at the table have agreed to nothing, even if the booker passed on their names. Never add companions' numbers to a list, and never text a number that was given for someone else's booking.

If a companion would like to hear from you, invite them to opt in for themselves, with the same separate box and the same honest words. Consent that each guest gives for themselves is the only kind that holds up.

Be open about how phone numbers are used. A short line where the number is collected, such as "We use your number to contact you about your booking", tells guests what to expect, and a privacy notice on your website can explain the rest, including how long you keep numbers and how guests can ask you to delete theirs.

Guests who know what will happen to their number are far more relaxed about giving it, and far less likely to be surprised later.

An invented bistro has been texting offers to every guest who left a phone number when booking. A guest complains, pointing out that they gave the number only for the booking. The bistro stops the texts and reviews its approach. It keeps booking numbers for booking messages only and adds a separate, unticked box to its sign-up card: "Text me about last-minute tables and special events, a few times a year. Reply STOP to opt out."

It records every consent, honours opt-outs at once and checks the rules where it trades with its adviser. The text list is now far smaller, but every guest on it chose to be there. The complaints stop, and the few texts the bistro sends, such as a free table on a quiet evening, are welcomed.

servearound does not send marketing texts or WhatsApp messages today, so the phone numbers it keeps are for the booking itself: the public booking form asks for a phone number, alongside first and last name and email, so the venue can reach the guest about their booking. The marketing box on the booking page is for email only, and guests confirm it by email before they are ever mailed.

Guests imported from a spreadsheet are not signed up to marketing, and what each member of staff can see of a guest follows their role. A guest can be removed from the guest list from their profile, though there is no setting that clears old data on a schedule, so how long you keep numbers is a routine you run yourself. See Campaigns.

About their booking, yes. For marketing, you usually need their separate, clear agreement.

No. Ask for consent to texts separately.

What you will text, how often, who it comes from and how to stop.

A narrow exception in some countries for existing customers. Check whether it applies before relying on it.

A reply such as STOP should end marketing texts at once, across the whole business.

It is better not to. Keep guest contact in the venue's own systems.

No. They differ by country, and some are strict. Check the rules where you trade.

Only as long as you need them, and protected while you do.

SMS consent is stricter than most venues think. A phone number given for a booking permits messages about that booking, not marketing. Marketing texts need the guest's clear, separate agreement, given by ticking an unticked box with honest words about what you will send and how often, and you should keep a record of when and how each guest agreed.

Every marketing text needs a working opt-out, honoured at once across the whole business. Treat phone numbers as the personal data they are: keep them secure, let only those who need them see them, keep guest contact off personal phones and do not keep numbers longer than you need. The rules differ by country and can be strict, so check them where you trade, and when in doubt, do not send.