The ‘ghost diners’ causing panic in Balearic Islands' struggling restaurant industry

So-called "ghost diners" are adding to the woes of restaurants in the Balearic Islands, who are already suffering from a serious downturn in business. "Ghost diners" is used to refer to people who make reservations but then fail to show up or cancel their tables.

A new survey of its users carried out by the booking app TheFork found that Menorca was one of the worst-affected islands by this phenomenon. New data show that between January and July of this year, no-shows in Menorca stood at 4.2%, while in Ibiza it was 4%. The city with the highest percentage of no shows was Segovia (5%) - a historic city northwest of Madrid, in central Spain's Castile and León region.

A majority of respondents to the survey (55%) said they had simply forgotten about their reservations.

Many book up to a month in advance during the busy summer season to be sure of getting a place at their restaurant of choice.

"If on a given day there are ten or twelve reservations with TheFork, one or two of the tables don’t show up," said a member of staff at Sa Lliga Marítim in the port of Maó. 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."

Restaurants try to ensure customers don't forget their reservations, sending email reminders.

To prevent no shows, TheFork has just launched a new tool, integrated into its management software, which is pre-authorisation by bank card.

This will enable restaurateurs to verify whether the card is valid and make a temporary pre-payment.

This comes at a difficult time for restaurants in the Balearics. Earlier in the summer, it emerged that bookings in restaurants on Majorca were reported to be down by as much as 50% in popular tourist resorts.

Juanmi Ferrer of the Restauración CAEB said the first half of May has been "very bad" for the Spanish island's hospitality sector.