Opentable.com...more than meets the eye

Parent Cafe
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<p>I love opentable, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and when I travel, but this raises some interesting issues</p>

<p>"Incanto complains about OpenTable [moved from San Francisco board]</p>

<p>In today’s Chronicle (at least in the Chronicle food blog on the web; I have no idea when or if it will appear in the print version): “Is OpenTable worth it?”, by Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore of Incanto: <a href=“http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/incan[/url]”>http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/incan&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;

<p>They don’t think so, at least from the perspective of restaurants, for two reasons: (1) OpenTable charges restaurants an amount that approximately equals the restaurant’s profit margin for the average meal, thereby wiping out the profit, and (2) OpenTable has taken control of the customer relationship away from the restaurants.</p>

<p>I wasn’t previously aware of the OpenTable business model, and found that interesting, but the rest of the lengthy article rubbed me the wrong way. OpenTable is by no means perfect, but it’s made life much easier for anyone interested in trying a variety of restaurants.</p>

<p>Their reasons for disliking OpenTable make little or no sense to me. I suspect a hidden agenda here: restaurants don’t like competition. That’s understandable, since businesses never like competition. OpenTable facilitates competition among restaurants by presenting numerous options to the customer. That’s good for customers, but not so good for individual restaurants, since it makes it much easier for customers to try new places.</p>

<p>The article implied that customers should avoid OpenTable because OpenTable is somehow taking advantage of hard-working restaurateurs. That strikes me as self-serving and wrong, but I’m curious what other people think about it."</p>

<p>[Incanto</a> complains about OpenTable [moved from San Francisco board] - Food Media and News - Chowhound](<a href=“http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/741455?tag=main_body;topic-741455]Incanto”>http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/741455?tag=main_body;topic-741455)</p>

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<p>Maybe it’s just me, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is OpenTable?</p>

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<p>"<a href="http://www.opentable.com/default.aspx"&gt;http://www.opentable.com/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;"&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Sorry. Apparently you are not alone! It’s a way of seeing restaurant reviews, and booking tables online. The original post above is quoted from chowhound.com, another great forum.</p>

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<p>Whoa! Thanks, Shrinkrap. Interesting article. I’ve been an OpenTable user for more than a year now (also use Chowhound but don’t post there much)… It is certainly very convenient for the customer, but convenience always comes at a price. I was always wondering how much they charged their member restaurants for the membership. I bet that’s the reason some popular restaurants make their hottest selling time slots unavailable through the OpenTable (just try to reserve a table at the Juanita Cafe or the Barking Frog on a Friday night at 7 pm!).</p>

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<p>The one upscale restaurant we enjoy is part of Open Table. When I first used it, I was disappointed as it made the restaurant not seem so special any more, KWIM? It was just part of another group of restaurants. It made it seem kind of generic that you had to go through someone else’s website to make an online reservation for that restaurant. So I am not a big fan.</p>

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<p>I needed to make a reservation for twelve people. Open table would not allow me to do this many people. So…I called the restaurant. To be honest, we make most of our dinner reservations at the last minute. Usually I forget to use Opentable.</p>

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<p>If a restaurant is on Opentable, I use it for my reservations; many will take last minute reservations. I have the app on my iPhone, so it is very easy to make those last minute reservations! Just a couple of nights ago, I made a reservation and arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes later. Some of our favorite neighborhood places are on Opentable, so it works out to our advantage. If we are going out with a group, I always offer to make the reservation. Sometimes if you have a larger group that you can not do online, the restaurant will still give you your points when you call to make the reservation. If never hurts to ask.</p>

<p>We just made our 20th reservation and I received my $20 credit check the other day. I hope we will use it next week; love the savings! I think this is our third credit check since I began using Opentable. My kids use my account when they travel, so the points build up quickly.</p>

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<p>Guess I’ll be calling to make my restaurant reservations from now on.</p>

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<p>Restaurants could build their own websites to take reservations if they wanted to incur that cost instead. I like being able to book online, especially if I am making plans at a time when the restaurant is not open or if it is inconvenient for me to make a phone call at that time.</p>

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<p>I’ve been using OpenTable for several years and generally have been satisfied. There are a few restaurants that block certain times online since they have to pay a premium but if you call directly you might be able to get a table.</p>

<p>We’ve also used it when out-of-town to learn about the restaurants in other areas - not only for the links to the menu, but the ratings. If you book through OT, you automatically get asked to rate it after your meal. I therefore feel that the overall ratings include a good mix of all levels of satisfaction, rather than the web sites that require an active desire to rate. Which could be good or bad. You can also send messages directly to the restaurant; I’ve done that to give feedback on especially good or bad servers.</p>

<p>We’ve used it so much that I’m a VIP! I’m hoping the restaurants note that and give us a little extra consideration, but am not sure if it really happens. I’ve cashed in several checks, most recently for $50. I also like that you can put in your special requests online, like celebrations, and send invitations to others to help remind them.</p>

<p>Did restaurants have to pay considerations to be included in the AAA or Mobil guides? Or Zagat? Or local magazines like Chicago (we used to hear rumors that you had to be connected to get listed)? I’m sure restaurants are passing on the cost of OT to their customers and not losing their profits. Just like hotels incorporate the cost of their “free” newspapers into their rates.</p>

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<p>OpenTable simply means restaurants who want to be free from them need to generate local buzz themselves with good service or good marketing. OpenTable is not out to make restaurants more profitable; they are out to fill tables for restaurants and to squeeze as much of those incremental profits for themselves.</p>

<p>As for passing the costs through to patrons, that is true what Marilyn says but it has a cost- raising the price reduces the demand and it raises prices for all patrons, not just the OT ones. All this further reduces restaurant profits one way or the other.</p>

<p>The worst part for restaurants is patrons who would otherwise call using OT for the convenience. That’s profits out the door.</p>

<p>This all said, it’s smart for a business like OT to charge high prices especially for convenience and value-add difficult to substitute out and let some restaurants fend for themselves if they don’t want in- good for return on invested capital and margins.</p>

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<p>I have piled up a ton of rewards through opentable. The 1000-point reservations (in effect, a $10 gift certificate) are a great incentive.</p>

<p>I don’t view it as my responsibility to maximize restaurant profits. Barring serious ethical concerns, I’m looking for the best product at the best price. Online convenience and free gifts are part of a great product. We’re talking about for-profit businesses, not charities.</p>

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<p>shrinkrap-
Your link isnt working. Did they move the article? I’d love to read it. For the most part, I am a fan of opentable. Sometimes the prime dining hours seem to “mysteriously” not be available, so they seem to want to push you to too early or too late times, but if you call the restaurant, those times are miraculously available.</p>

<p>I can’t see the article so don’t know how much open table charges, but I’ll bet many people (myself included) choose restaurants because they are on opentable, so the restaurants get lots of advertising. And sorry to hear the restaurants get their profit margin cut into by this reservation system, but guess what,for many of us money is tight. if I get some points back for dining at a restaurant, and ultimately get a check for $20 or $40 to spend at a restaurant, and the restaurant has gotten our business and hopefully the likelihood that we and others will return, then its a win-win as far as I can tell.</p>

<p>*** edit-- the second link worked. Thanks. The first one is the one that doesn’t work.</p>

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<p>I used Opentable to make a reservation… within the next week I was buried in junk emails, mostly from restaurant chains, but some from unrelated companies. Coincidence? I doubt it.</p>

<p>I’ll go back to calling the restaurant.</p>

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<p>I wonder if you accidentally clicked on something that allowed them to share your information with other vendors? I’ve been on open table for several years and have never had spam/junk mail from restaurants or other food service establishments.</p>

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<p>Or maybe there was a box I was supposed to “un-check” and I missed it…</p>

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<p>That’s quite possible. If I’d gotten slammed with junk ads/emails I’d have cancelled my membership pronto.</p>

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<p>Yes lafalum, I just checked my account-- there is a section callede “email preferences” with lots of pre-checked boxes. I actually had a few checked that are now “un-checked”, thank you. I am also requesting my next $20 check. Time to cash in. They are good for 1 year and can be used at any opentable restaurant.</p>

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<p>We like OpenTable a lot, and often use it to book restaurants that we haven’t been to before. I think perhaps we will try not to use it for the favorite restaurant that we frequent, because of what the restaurant has to pay for the service.</p>

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<p>“I don’t view it as my responsibility to maximize restaurant profits. Barring serious ethical concerns, I’m looking for the best product at the best price. Online convenience and free gifts are part of a great product. We’re talking about for-profit businesses, not charities.”</p>

<p>But we are talking about SMALL businesses and family owned restaurants. Sort of like patronizing the local bookstore, rather than Borders and Barnes & Noble. Don’t complain when the only restaurants in your town are a franchise or part of a chain.</p>