The restoration is preparing for a historic Christmas. Lunch and dinner reservations during the last days of the year are at maximum figures and there are still a few days to go. After two years of the pandemic, this is the first without restrictions, which has encouraged groups to shoot up restaurant reservations. Despite inflation, it is expected to beat the turnover for the 2020 period.
The restoration speaks of "optimism" for this Christmas season, a very different situation from last year when cancellations for fear of contagion were the usual tonic. The reserves this time "advance at a very good pace" and the figures could be historic. According to the NPD consultancy, the sector expects to exceed the turnover of before the pandemic, when it reached 3,250 million on these dates. Companies have recovered budgets for these events and that will increase reservations.
These lunches and dinners, whether with work colleagues, friends or family, are the opportunity in which many restaurants manage to give one last push to the figures achieved during the rest of the year, and to be able to close the season with good results for the sector.
Most of the reservations are concentrated in the week before Christmas Eve, highlighting December 15, 16 and 17 as the busiest days in restaurants.
Some restaurants no longer accept reservations. Others have everything full from mid-November. In few places there are holes. "The reservations started a few months ago and they will not stop until the end of December, which is when the last group reservations are made," says Francisco Gea, from the company specialized in Internet reservations Last.app.
Restaurateurs, however, show prudence when it comes to anticipating their purchases because, despite this high number of reservations, the fear of last-minute cancellations continues.
In order to avoid crowds and minimize scheduling problems, many hoteliers are incorporating new digital management tools to face the toughest days, they explain from Last.app. "Christmas lunches and dinners are going to mean an injection of profits for restaurants and adversities must be faced calmly, as well as with a disciplined and organized team that can obtain the best results, even if the situation is complicated."
