A high‑altitude dining room in the Italian Alps is insisting guests leave mobiles in lockers before sitting down. As noise, privacy and “content fatigue” grow, will venues across Spain restrict devices or even follow the no‑phone model?
What’s happening at Yera, the €650 no‑phone restaurant
Set inside the five‑star Forestis hotel above Bressanone (South Tyrol), Yera seats just 18 guests at 1,800 metres and runs a fixed‑price menu at €650 including food and drinks. Chef Roland Lamprecht frames the experience as “forest cuisine”, built around fire, foraging and hyper‑local ingredients such as hare, roe deer and wild berries, finished tableside at a central hearth. Drinks avoid big‑label wines in favour of low‑ABV ferments, kombuchas and infusions capped at around 5%.
Privacy is part of the product. The dining room built from red Peitlerkofel earth, wood and stone, is designed to feel cave‑like, with “opacidad mediática total” (designed for near‑total privacy”) ensuring minimal imagery circulates online. Guests are led in near‑darkness along a torch‑lit path to a two‑storey “sanctuary”. The rule is non‑negotiable: phones and cameras must be locked away before entering.
Yera’s policy is very in keeping with the overall restaurant feel and vibe, but should there be more focus to remove the race to frame the perfect Instagram shot while food cools in more establishments not just high end dining? By removing devices, this Italian restaurant aims to restore attention, conversation and the rhythm of fire‑led cooking without interruptions.
Spanish legal experts note that hospitality venues can regulate behaviour inside a private space open to the public, provided rules are communicated in advance. Recording can be restricted, and breaches can justify removal. In other words, a phone ban is legally viable if clearly stated.
Are phone bans coming?
A total ban like Yera’s is niche, but pressure to limit device use is building. Recent UK cases show moves towards stricter device rules: Wetherspoons already discourages filming without consent and audible phone use (speaker calls, loud videos). Other UK venues including Soho House, ATG theatres, Comic‑Con organisers and several London restaurants have introduced bans or restrictions on smart glasses due to privacy and consent issues. These measures aren’t full phone bans, but they show a growing willingness to regulate digital behaviour.
Legal advisers say outright bans on “influencers” as a group are problematic, but conduct‑based rules, no tripods, no lights, no disturbing other diners are permissible if made clear at booking or entry.
Yera shows that anonymity can be sold as luxury, would you leave your phone and switch off for an entire meal?
