Comments on: OpenTable – Is There A Catch?

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:11:38 +0000

Open Table is a no-brainer for diners. Easy to navigate and a lot easier than phoning around. You can see all the restaurants that have open tables at a certain time in a certain area. My daughter worked at a very exclusive restaurant and she says that Open Table has access to all the tables.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:02:30 +0000

read this, http://cms.ibj.com/ASPXPages/6iframes/FrontEndArticlesDetailPage.aspx?ArticleID=03697&NoFrame=1

they don’t just use it to get online reservataions.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:10:09 +0000

I’m pretty sure Opentable charges the restaurant for each table they fill. It’s a way for restaurants to fill empty seats. If a restaurant was packed all the time, they wouldn’t use opentable, so you’re going to a restaurant that for whatever reason has empty tables. Filling those tables is huge for the restaurant–most of their costs are fixed, so their profit margins soar as they fill the restaurant.

I’ve also found that they are pricier restaurants, so you’re also paying a high price (read: restaurant is making plenty of profit on your meal).

So that’s the “catch”: the restaurant gets your money where it probably would have had an empty table otherwise, and pays a bit of that back to Opentable for steering you their way. That’s also why they penalize you if you’re a no show–their selling proposition to the restaurant is that they will fill those ‘open’ tables, so their whole system is designed around making that happen. Then eventually, if you use Opentable a lot and never have a no show yada yada yada, you get a dining check that once again has to be used by booking through Opentable.

I’ve used it a bunch of times, but I think I’m a couple of reservations away from getting a dining check from them, so I suppose you could say I’ve gotten no financial benefit so far. Though for me the value has been easily booking a reservation time–I hate calling around to restaurants to find an open time, and I’m not much of an advance planner when it comes to making dinner arrangements, so having a website where I can search a bunch of restaurants for last-minute availability all at once without picking up the phone is nice.

By: cindy@staged4more

cindy@staged4more — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:23:23 +0000

Yes, I do believe that restaurant pays fees for being listed on OpenTables. The points on OT does expire if you are inactive for a year ;( Harsh lesson learned! Usually with events like restuarant week (we have it in SF as well, but ours is an entire month), the some restuarants offer smaller portions to keep the cost down. But most of the participants are pretty great and I LOVE getting great food for a reasonable price.

Cheers,

Cindy

By: Myra

Myra — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:19:39 +0000

Open Table is a reservation website. Two catches that I’ve noticed: 1) sometimes, restaurants don’t make all their available reservations available to Open Table. So, if you can’t get a reservation, it’s worth calling the restaurant to try and get one. 2) If you’re a no-show, at some point they’ll take away your points (I think it’s something like 4 in a year, but I’m not sure). So make sure to always check in with the host so you get credited for your reservation.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 01:13:53 +0000

I don’t think there is a catch either, but I honestly have not been able to get up to 1000 points before they expire since OpenTable restaurants are usually pretty high end.

By: cooliojones

cooliojones — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 22:26:39 +0000

skadoo, I agree. I wish it was $30 for the WHOLE WEEK, but I guess I would be too greedy huh?

It’s a good way to try out new restaurants. They have something similar here in Atlanta where they give you a $30 gift card to go to a restaurant (they are betting that you will spend more, and often you will), and at the end of dinner they give you another $30 gift card to another restaurant. They do this during the summer and it really gets the restaurants a lot of visitors.

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By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:58:21 +0000

The only “catch” is typically midrange and up restaurants are members; your local mom&pop eatery or $7/person Vietnamese pho house is unlikely to use it. If you already go to these sorts of restaurants frequently, it’s a no-brainer. But if you go to higher-end places than you otherwise would to get points or use gift certificates, it could cost you money.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:19:59 +0000

I’ve been using OpenTable in Chicago for a few years now, and there is no catch. We’ve gotten a couple dining checks from using it, nad have been able to use them at the participating restaurants, no problem!

By: skadoo323

skadoo323 — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:13:46 +0000

for dc... Personally I am going at least to Mie N Yu. The restaurant is classy (great for a date), service is wonderful, and the food is awesome!!!

By: RateLadder.com - Prosper Lending Strategy, Loans, and Rate analysis

RateLadder.com - Prosper Lending Strategy, Loans, and Rate analysis — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:43:32 +0000

Interesting… is it simply a new/under appreciated reasurtant finder… Even if that is all it is I am game!

By: saladdin

saladdin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 01:51:38 +0000

I am going to DC next week which lines up with their R-Week.
This Opentable is new to me. Anyone in DC area have any suggestions?

Do you pay at the web site or at the restaurant?
Are you just “prepaying”?

saladdin

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:45:48 +0000

I love Opentable and have never had a problem even when I have had to alter reservations. It is especially helpful when my parents are in town and I am trying to find some place for 3 ppl and not at 10pm at night.

As for Restaurant Week I love it too. I have only had 1 meal that was only blah but that was a place that you could tell really didn’t want to do restaurant week because we had to keep making sure things were on the RW menu as they keep trying to switch us into their more expensive food. My only gripe is that reservations fill up very very fast for RW week.

Have fun.

By: dong

dong — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:16:53 +0000

Yeah I’ve been using opentable for a while – I don’t think there’s catch. The only thing I have against restaraunt week is that the restaraunt week menu at some restaraunts is somewhat subpar compared to the usual fare. Varys from restaraunt to restaraunt where some places the quality is the same between the week and normal and other places it’s definitely not as good.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:05:44 +0000

I think it’s a great way to try out a new place, who cares how much it costs