During the summer the restaurants receive Anything else What tourists, reserves and customers eager for a meal that puts the perfect icing on your vacation. In addition to all that they receive seedlings. For a long time and for the despair of the hoteliers it is common for the high season to increase the ‘Ghost reservations’a phenomenon that is carrying the business economy and has already forced them to Adopt measures. After all, it directly affects its profitability.
Ghost reservations? Yes. Maybe it sounds weird, but they are nothing new and certainly have little mysterious for hoteliers, their great victims. The ‘ghost reservations’ are reservations Fallutas that leave a hole in the dining rooms (and the accounts) of the restaurants: a client calls, reserve table for two, three, four diners (may even more) and then it does not appear.
Not just that. Nor does it call in advance to warn, so that the business only has the option of filling your hole with another client, something that is not always possible. The Anglo -Saxons call it ‘No-Shows’ and against what may seem affect All kinds of premises: From taverns to Michelin star restaurants, in which those vacancies can translate into a hole in hundreds of euros.
It happens frequently? Depends. If we talk about socks and take as a reference the whole sector and the year is not a especially serious problem. At least so shows the Thefork platform, which recently elaborated A study about “ghost reserves”. According to their records, between January and July there was not a single month in which No-Shows They were more than 3.4% of the total reservations. It is a low fact and also reveals a slight descent with respect to last year.
If we ask certain hoteliers, the thing changes. A few days ago The voice of Galicia interviewed to the owners of a marswish from Santiago de Compostela who claimed to be receiving “more plants than ever.” And it is not the only business that complains. Another hospitaler of the city speaks of up to six No-Shows A day.
In Segovia there are also professionals who They lament of customers who leave them lying without giving explanations (or with pilgrim justifications) after commissioning roasts and the newspaper Minorca It echoed In August of the discomfort of some businesses on the island. “It is a problem, almost in each shift there are cancellations. You are called and they tell you that they are on the beach or that they have left elsewhere and decide to stay,” Antoni Sansaloni, representative of the Menorcan Sector Association, censorship.
Is there more data? Yes. Thefork wanted to scratch a little to know details of the phenomenon, which has given us Two interesting perspectives: The first is its geographical distribution; The second, its causes. According to their data, the province most harmed by No-Shows It is Segovia, where they are 5% of the total reservations. They are followed by Menorca and Ibiza, with 4.2% and 4% respectively. In the opposite pole are Biscay (2.5%), A Coruña and Murcia, where the percentage remains at 2.7%.
As for the causes, Thefork Point out Basically three. 55% of respondents say they do not appear to reservations for disasters and forgetfulness. 38% argue that if they have left hanging restaurants it has been for “unforeseen” that have also prevented them from warning. And 7% allege that they don’t call to cancel reservations for “shame.” Hoteliers have a somewhat different perspective and They warn that there are customers who reserve in several restaurants simultaneously.
Are they a serious problem? The platform calculates that it carries losses that can go Between 5 and 20%depending on the type of business. “The problem is that they make you a roast reserve, that you have to prepare the pig, and that remains in the kitchen,” comment to The advance From a Segovian grill.
“It affects us little, but when they make us a big reserve and fail, they destroy us,” agrees Another professional. The complaint is extensible to restaurants with Michelin stars that also They have been found With large groups that do not present or cancel the reservation, “a task” for those responsible, who usually work with closed menus and buy fresh product based on scheduled services. If a customer does not present the business does not recover the investment.
Does summer influence? Yes. It is easily confirmed with a quick search on Google. Hoteliers who complain about No-Shwos They usually point out also that the problem is aggravated during the high season, coinciding with the increase in tourism. It is not surprising if one takes into account that restaurants reserves in general. “The rest of the year does not usually happen. The people here are usually always going to the reservation,” Explain A place in Santiago de Compostela.
From Segovia Apostillan Also that ghost reserves are noticed above all on weekends “more pointers”, in which they receive especially visitors from the capital. “We are the dining room of Madrid and these issues are accentuated above all on weekends or the bridges in which many people come.”
“During the summer months, reserves in the restaurants in tourist areas increase considerably due to the presence of travelers, both national and international. As a result, in this period the non-shows grow exponentially,” They corroborate From the Thefork platform.
And can it be avoided? If not to eradicate it to 100%, the sector has moved file to reduce at least the impact of ghost reserves on their businesses. It is increasingly frequent to meet restaurants requesting a card number such as guarantee or deposits or directly do not accept reservations.
Thefork herself decided Some time ago Take letters in the matter and expel those users who accumulate a number of frustrated reserves throughout the year, a measure that adds to those that had already been applying before, such as prohibiting multi reservations for the same day. Perhaps the best known case of a ghost reserve that came to those responsible was that of Amelia, a restaurant in San Sebastián that It charged € 510 Three diners who did not attend their reservation or annulled it before. Justice endorsed that he had the right to do so.
Images | IGOR RAND (UNSPLASH), Jonathan Nguyen (UNSPLASH)
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