Ghost reservations or no-shows customers who book a table then don’t bother to turn up without informing the restaurant are costing businesses on the island of Minorca and across the Balearics.
Some establishments use prepayment of a deposit charged to a bank card to cover some of their losses, but this is less common, as this method implies a lack of trust in the consumer and some businesses prefer not to use it.
‘Fortunately, we have a loyal customer base, and I would feel bad about charging a prepayment to customers who, in many cases, are regulars, although I understand why other restaurants do it, especially with groups of four or six diners or more,’ explains Javier Riaño, owner of En Caragol in Biniancolla.
However, in this restaurant, as in many others on the island, the management of reservations is rigorous. A confirmation email is sent, followed by reminders of the reservation, via email and mobile phone, and if there is no response after 15 minutes, the table is allocated to other customers. In other establishments, the margin ranges from 15 to 30 minutes, depending largely on the characteristics of the restaurant and its location.
At Es Borinot, located in the central Plaça Colón in Maó, they understand that customers may be delayed because parking is difficult, especially for tourists who are unfamiliar with the city and have to park on the outskirts. ‘They may be coming from another part of the island or get confused. We prefer to think that they don’t do it on purpose, but it does happen sometimes, even though we pick up the phone and call to confirm,’ explains one employee. The busiest day for this restaurant, which has no indoor seating but 28 tables on the terrace, is Tuesday, when the Nits de Música al Carrer (Street Music Nights) are held, and reservations are usually made by phone and also through its social media presence.
The app TheFork, one of the most widely used for making restaurant reservations, conducted a survey among its users this summer and found that the main reasons they give for not showing up at a restaurant are mistakes, last-minute unforeseen circumstances and embarrassment. Furthermore, between January and July, TheFork found that Menorca was among the regions with the highest rates of no-shows, at 4.2%, along with Segovia, at 5%, and Ibiza, at 4%. In contrast, Bizkaia (2.5%), A Coruña and Murcia (both 2.7%) were the provinces with the lowest rates of customers who did not show up or give notice.
When asked about this behaviour, 55% said they had forgotten, that they had made a reservation and forgotten about it, and therefore did not call the restaurant to cancel. This is a reason confirmed by one of the businesses consulted, Sa Lliga Marítim. ‘If on a given day there are ten or twelve reservations with TheFork, one or two of the tables don’t show up. They are usually small tables, and one of the reasons is that they make the reservation so far in advance that they forget, or they make reservations at three or four places at the same time,’ explain staff at this restaurant in the port of Maó.
Many diners, knowing that July and August are difficult months to find a table at the restaurant they want, book up to a month in advance, but then, despite receiving the confirmation email, they don’t remember that they booked a table and consequently ‘forget to cancel’. Thirty-eight per cent of those surveyed said they did not show up because last-minute unforeseen circumstances prevented them from notifying the establishment; finally, 7 per cent admitted that they were embarrassed to call to cancel and simply let it go.
All this despite the facilities available, as the establishments surveyed dedicate staff and IT tools to managing reservations and confirm by email to their customers. To combat this bad practice, TheFork has just launched a new tool, integrated into its management software, which is pre-authorisation by bank card. Thanks to this, restaurateurs can verify whether the card is valid and make a temporary pre-payment.