Technical roadblock in license sale: What the outage means for Mallorca's landlords

Technical glitch delays start of license allocation — new date tomorrow at 9am

As the sun already warmed the facades around the Plaza de Cort and the café con leche in the bars in front of the office was still steaming, the electronic identification (eID) refused to work. The sale originally planned for today of 650 vacation rental licenses was canceled, and the island council rescheduled the restart for tomorrow at 9:00 a.m..

In front of the administrative building, where usually the murmur of tourists and the clatter of coffee cups prevail, people with printed applications were already standing at half past seven. A long-time landlord, slightly tired from waiting and the heat, said only: “You don't take time off for weeks for nothing.” A man behind her tried to cover his annoyance with a sarcastic laugh — the breeze from the Parc de la Mar offered little relief today.

What is it about — and what question arises now?

In short: the eID platform refused authentication, so identities couldn't be securely verified and payment transactions would have been risky. Island council technicians worked in the morning but could not fix the problem in time. The central question remains: can the administration prevent such technical outages in the future — or is this the start of a new normal of short-notice crashes that hit small providers especially hard?

This is not an isolated incident: about two weeks ago there was already a disruption during the allocation of around 500 places. This repetition raises the rarely discussed but important points: how robust are the systems in use, who tests them under realistic load — and what plans exist for a clean emergency operation?

The real consequences on site

For small hosts it's not just a lost morning. Cleaning companies, key handovers, booking platforms and local service providers had adjusted their schedules. A failure can postpone bookings, reduce income and consequently put service providers in financial difficulty. In addition, uncertainty grows: those who wait cannot plan — and planning is for many the little thick safety net in a fragile market.

One aspect that often gets overlooked: trust. When the eID wobbles, not only is a technical service called into question, but trust in the entire digital administration is undermined. That opens space for intermediaries and black markets that charge money for alleged help with applications — a development no one wants.

Why the problem runs deeper — and what solutions are possible

Once again it becomes clear: providing a platform is not enough. What is needed are load tests, independent security checks, a transparent incident plan and a real offline procedure. Some concrete approaches the island council could examine immediately:

1) A verified fallback solution: a paper-based allocation with timestamps that kicks in immediately in case of failure, instead of stopping everything.

2) Public stress tests with realistic user numbers, documented and confirmed by third parties.

3) Better information channels: push notifications, SMS and clear status pages so that no one waits for hours with a printout in hand in front of the Plaza de Cort.

4) A transparent error analysis and the obligation to make results public — so technical culprits and organizational gaps become visible.

All this costs money and time — but the alternative is an ongoing erosion of trust that becomes much more expensive.

What applicants can do now in practice

Short, practical, realistic: Have your ID, NIE or DNI ready, check your payment details and join the digital queue tomorrow morning punctually but calmly. Also check whether you are being informed directly by the island council or through trusted channels. And: never give sensitive data to third parties — where uncertainty prevails, fraud attempts flourish.

The administration promises a quick restart and more transparency. That is necessary — not only so that everything runs smoothly at 9am tomorrow, but so that the next allocation round does not fail again at the coffee machine, which that morning in our editorial office was noticeably louder than usual.