I think there definitely is an opportunity to remove OpenTable from the equation. Look at restaurants like Momofuku Ko's annoying reservation system, where thei

I think there definitely is an opportunity to remove OpenTable from the equation. Look at restaurants like Momofuku Ko's annoying reservation system, where their in-house .NET reservation system books out within 3 seconds after 10am ET for 12 seats (24 covers a night), and seat inventories are only released 6 days in advance. Momofuku almost never starts a restaurant project without it now (e.g their buttermilk American free range fried chicken and Korean fried chicken). It created lot of hype by becoming the anti-OpenTable. Read about the complaints of this reservation system on NYT, Departures, etc. Major food editors still have been unable to review the restaurant simply because their inventory allows for no special favors. Of course, anyone with Mechanize and scripting language of choice can do high-frequency reservation bookings. However, OpenTable does have a huge following, and its followers like to redeem OT points for cash. Which is why restaurants are hesitant to remove it for customers that will only eat at OT restaurants.