What data do we give to the restaurant when we book online and what can they do with it?

For a restaurant to ask for a credit card to secure a reservation or even charge an amount in advance is a totally legal practice. “The only weak point would be that the restaurant had not informed in advance and clearly that, if the case arises, a charge will be made,” explains Albert Agustinoy, lawyer and partner at the Cuatrecasas law firm.

But until when can the restaurant keep our card details? “Once the reservation time has elapsed, that is, when we have finished eating or after taking charge if we have not shown up, it no longer makes sense for the restaurant to keep that information,” says Agustinoy. “This is not the same as what happens when we open a profile on Amazon, in which there is a relationship of continuity, which does justify saving the numbering of a means of payment,” adds this lawyer.

On the other hand, online restaurant reservations grew 16% in 2022 compared to 2021 and 24% compared to 2019, just before the pandemic. The ease and comfort, both for users and for the businesses themselves, means that this method of getting a table in the restaurant –and canceling without embarrassment– is growing rapidly and there are even places where it is already the only way to occupy a seat. of their tables.

In recent years, several computer solutions have appeared –CoverManager, Restoo, Last or The Fork, among others– that have greatly facilitated the entire reservation management process and have led to this increase in online reservations.

These systems collect a series of data such as our telephone number and email, as well as our name. In addition, on occasion, restaurants ask their diners about food allergies and intolerances that they may suffer. If you add the day of the visit or visits, what each customer has spent on each of them and even –since the orders are also digitized– what each customer has eaten, all this information can end. shaping a very juicy database for commercial purposes and to profile customers.

“Restaurants can’t keep any of this data. They can only keep commercial information and always minimizing sensitive information such as that of a means of payment, ”says Agustinoy. “In fact, they can only request, without obtaining consent, the information necessary to manage the reservation. In other words, they can ask you for your phone number and email so they can call you if they see you’re late or to notify you in the event that the restaurant has had a mishap that prevents it from serving you,” he adds.

“If a restaurant wanted to use this information for another purpose, for example, assign or sell the data of the customers who spend the most to a high-end car brand, this must be clearly specified – which does not necessarily imply that it is legal – and the express consent of the clients must be obtained”, explains Agustinoy.

But these systems are a great help for restorers. Santi Colominas, owner of the Toc al Mar restaurant (Begur), explains that before computerizing the reservation process “he had four people dedicated to this task. Now I only have one. In any case, we still accept telephone reservations and answer the phone to deal with cancellations.

Some of these applications even allow you to make a blacklist of customers who are automatically denied a reservation even if there are tables available for the day and time you request it. Some restaurateur consulted, and who has preferred not to appear in this report, has acknowledged that he uses it and that he has close to 200 people in it.

“Ours even notifies us if a customer has booked for the same service at another restaurant. There are people who make reservations in three different places and decide where to go at the last minute,” says Lluís Bernils, from El Celler de Matadepera, who still accepts reservations by phone because these applications can be installed on mobile phones and do not require you to be physically at the restaurant to manage reservations.