It's not your imagination — getting dinner reservations is increasingly frustrating. The restaurant industry has long been besieged by issues with bookings, but recent tech developments are making it so that only a select few are able to snatch up the most in-demand tables. 

Bots and scalpers
Ever since the pandemic, a "new squad of businesses, tech impresarios and digital legmen has sprung up, offering to help diners cut through the reservation red tape," said The New Yorker. Unlike in years past, when a reservation required a phone call, there are now myriad ways to book a table, and online reservations marketplaces know this. Websites like Cita Marketplace and Appointment Trader will "sell you a reservation, often procured by a bot," said The New Yorker. "Several bots might be simultaneously checking the app, 10 or even 100 times per second" until one "finds the 8-o'clock table at Bangkok Supper Club that it has been programmed to grab." 

These developments are notable because the "vast majority of restaurant reservations are meant to be free and you might miss out on celebrating your anniversary at the restaurant of your dreams because the system has been rigged to reward the highest bidder," said The Takeout. The bots aren't always good for the restaurants either. If a bot reservation goes untouched, restaurants "aren't making money on that table, and they're losing the money they spent staffing servers for it." 

Credit card companies
You may encounter another reservation foe: credit card companies. "With the right credit card, you have a better shot" at high-profile restaurants, said The Atlantic. While some credit card companies participate in reservation promotions, this phenomenon is most striking with American Express. They own Resy, one of the most popular reservation apps, which "leapfrogs" cardholders to the "front of waiting lists," said The Atlantic. A company "using its leverage over who can sit down at a restaurant is the next step in segmenting customers based on how much they are able or willing to spend," said CNN. 

As temperatures warm, mosquitos are expanding their range, and mosquito-borne illnesses are becoming more commonplace. The newest risk to the U.S. is dengue fever, with instances skyrocketing this year.

The U.S. saw a "higher-than-expected" 2,241 new cases, including 1,498 in Puerto Rico between January 1 and July 24, 2024, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest number of cases in the continental U.S. was seen in Florida, Massachusetts and New York. Symptoms of the disease can "present as fever accompanied by nonspecific signs and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle aches, joint pain, bone pain, pain behind the eyes, headache or low white blood cell counts," said the CDC.
 
Treatment
There are no antiviral medications approved to treat dengue fever. Instead, symptoms are managed with medication like acetaminophen, and patients are advised to rest, stay hydrated and closely monitor conditions. 

Prevention is the best option. Experts recommend "staying in places with air conditioning when possible, using insect repellent and wearing long sleeves and pants to avoid mosquito bites," said NBC News.

The future
Climate change does not spell optimism for mosquito-borne illnesses. "Dengue cases are likely to increase as global temperatures increase," said the CDC. As of now, most dengue cases in the U.S. are the result of travel, but local outbreaks are starting to become more customary. 

In addition, the "spread of the disease has been exacerbated by increasingly wet and warm summer months brought forward by El Niño," said Time. The U.S. is not at severe risk just yet, thanks to air conditioning and screened windows limiting exposure to mosquitos. Cases should stay low "as long as people keep living like they're living now," Thomas W. Scott, a dengue epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, said to The New York Times.