A foreign tourist has been arrested on suspicion of fraud after she allegedly left a hotel in the Canary Islands without paying for her 11-night all-inclusive stay, valued at 2,483 euros (£2,125). Officers from Spain's National Police apprehended the woman at Gran Canaria Airport as she attempted to leave the country.
Details of the Incident
The arrest took place in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, where hotel management reported that a family of two adults and one child had vacated the premises after an 11-night all-inclusive stay without making any payment. The booking was made through the resort's website, and the guests provided a credit card number as a security deposit. However, when hotel staff attempted to process the payment at checkout, the transaction could not be completed.
Despite numerous attempts to contact the customers, no payment was received. Police intercepted the guest at the airport, and video footage released by the National Police shows the unnamed suspect being apprehended. She was then escorted to Maspalomas police station for processing before being handed over to judicial authorities.
Police Warning and Broader Context
The National Police underscored its commitment to protecting the Canary Islands' tourism industry and warned visitors that evading payment for goods or services would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This incident comes amid growing concerns about "dine and dash" offences in the UK and elsewhere.
In Britain, a 2018 survey revealed that one in 20 individuals had left without settling their restaurant bill. Donna Jones, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, told The Daily Mail that there has been a dramatic increase in such offences in recent years. She dismissed the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse, stating, "They're driving away in their own cars." Jones encouraged affected businesses to "share images online ... and to name and shame those individuals."
Impact on Hospitality Businesses
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, told The Guardian that while only a minority of customers behave this way, incidents of non-payment can be "a serious matter" for bars and restaurants. "These businesses operate on very tight net profit margins – less than 4% – and often it can be quite big-spend items that people are going for," she explained. Nicholls stressed that describing such offences as "dine and dash" risks trivialising the problem. "Let's call it what it is," she said. "This is theft and fraud and it should be prosecuted as such. It's not a victimless crime. It is money that is being taken from a business for goods and services consumed – it's exactly the same as shoplifting."
