Since early May 2024, buying tickets to the famed Alcázar has become a real puzzle for guides and small tour companies in Seville. During peak tourist seasons — in spring and autumn — it is almost impossible to find available group tickets on the palace’s official website. However, on third-party platforms or in certain shops, those same tickets instantly appear, with QR codes sent straight to your phone within minutes. The reason: major tour operators are using specialized software to bulk-reserve tickets. This practice, dubbed the ‘ticket grab’ on social media, has already dealt a serious blow to independent guides and small businesses in the city.
The platform stopbotsalcazar, created by local tour operators together with Seville’s largest guides association, Auits, has collected evidence of unfair competition. An investigation confirmed: large companies are using automated systems to mass-purchase tickets, in effect blocking small firms and guides working with groups from accessing them.
Business losses
During peak season, the Alcázar welcomes between 8,000 and 10,000 guests every day, dropping to about 4,000–5,000 per day in the off-season. It is Seville’s top tourist attraction, setting a visitation record last year with 2.3 million visitors. According to representatives of local guides, these practices give large companies monopoly-like advantages, while local guides and small operators lose clients and are forced to work under terms dictated by industry giants.
The owner of one of five Seville tour companies in the platform says their revenues have dropped by nearly 40% over the last two years—four peak demand seasons. “We’re three families, and during this time we’ve had to stop working with several freelance guides,” she admits. If a group can’t get into the Alcázar, tourists simply turn to another operator who has tickets. The alternative is to wait in line at the entrance, but that’s not an option for most clients.
How the bots work
The scheme is simple: according to guides, three or four major tour companies use special programs that automatically reserve tickets every half hour—the maximum time the system allows tickets to stay in a cart while required fields are filled in. As a result, tickets are unavailable to others, and are later either resold at inflated prices or included in pricey tour packages.
Complaints about these practices were filed with the Alcázar administration immediately. At first, the palace management claimed there were no security issues with the website. Later, after several meetings with tour representatives and an expert report, they acknowledged that tickets were indeed being held in carts en masse, preventing their open sale.
Administration’s response
Alcázar director Ana Jáuregui notes that recent months have seen steps to increase the number of tickets available to groups—from 15 to 30—and the purchase window has been extended to 30 minutes. However, this has enabled large companies to buy up tickets even more efficiently and resell them as part of tour packages, sometimes with a markup and additional services like carriage rides or audio guides.
According to Jáuregui, current legislation does not prohibit these practices. Companies can legally sell tickets above face value if the price includes additional services. “Whoever has the technology can block more tickets—and this is not against the law,” she says.
New measures
In response to the situation, the Alcázar administration has begun implementing technical restrictions. Now, IP addresses and bank cards are automatically blocked if suspicious activity is detected. Starting December 11, 2025, a new ticketing system will launch: the time a ticket can be held in the cart will be reduced, and the checkout process will be simplified to speed up purchases for regular users.
Entry control systems have also been improved—making it harder to forge tickets. There is talk of restricting online ticket sales to certain hours so some tickets are available only at the box office in the morning. However, this idea has not been supported by guides, who fear it would create new difficulties for their groups.
Skepticism and expectations
The guides’ platform is keeping a close eye on the launch of the new system. Currently, during the low season, there are hardly any mass ticket blockages, but the situation could repeat itself in the spring and fall. The head of Auits expresses doubts: the company Manantial de Ideas, which won the latest tender to manage the system, had previously overseen ticket sales (back then under the Infotactile brand) and was investigated by police for allegedly creating a parallel website to resell tickets at inflated prices.
