Have you got a strategy for getting a table at a top restaurant? Have your say
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(CNN) -- An executive who thinks they can arrive in a global business hub and get a table at the hottest new restaurant in town should think again.
To book a table in an extremely exclusive restaurant can take more than just a phone call, negotiations, a faxed agreement, as well as a credit card number -- sometimes it takes a good strategy.
And if you cannot plan life six weeks in advance, then you will have to rely on charm, contacts and tipping heavily to get a table.
"Nobody wants to turn customers away. All the restaurants are out to make money. You just have to be charming and make it work," says regular restaurant goer and London-based interior designer Nicky Haslam.
At one of London's hottest Japanese restaurants -- Zuma in Knightsbridge -- the waiting list is up to seven weeks long.
The general manager suggests turning up if you don't have a booking, even though you might find it nerve wracking.
"(You should be) well dressed, polite, smile and give the receptionist a good dose of eye contact, as well as explain that you have not made a booking but you are prepared to wait," says Zuma's general manager, Russell Norman.
"I cannot think of any professional receptionist, restaurant manager or maitre d' that would turn you away, even in the most successful and busiest restaurants."
In London's Mayfair district, the Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Claridges Hotel boasts a celebrity clientele, as well as a two-month waiting list. Here the secret of getting a table is to become a regular diner.
"Most of our regulars do not actually call our reservation department, they call me direct because I have a card with my private line on," says Dominic Corolleur, the restaurant's director.
"I give it to a few people who call me direct and I take their bookings and then I fit them in. Only in a few exceptional circumstances are we not able to fit them in."
Other tips suggested by the trade: Always ask to be put on the waiting list if you phone and there is no space. Since customers often cancel bookings -- the odds are also in your favor.
But also have a contingency plan and book yourself on to the waiting list at a number of other venues. As soon as one of the bookings comes through, you can phone and cancel the rest.
The other option is to offer to limit your stay in the restaurant. If you say that you can be out by 9pm you may be offered an early table.
You should be prepared to keep your promise and leave at this time but in many cases you will not need to.
CNN's Shantelle Stein and Rosalind Chin contributed to this report.
