2 ms·

Yeah, ideally, it should be between you and the restaurant. OpenTable came into existence because of simple value proposition. For the restaurant, it simplifie

Yeah, ideally, it should be between you and the restaurant. OpenTable came into existence because of simple value proposition. For the restaurant, it simplifies the process of booking reservations. For the diner, it provides an easy way to access availability of any given time slot quickly across many places. Seems like a solid business that provides a nice service. Unfortunately, that's not enough. They took a big fat IPO, sold a couple times, and are now owned by Priceline. If they don't do the "surveillance capitalism" thing, that makes them a money loser-- given the obscene amount of money pumped in to "scale" them. The best thing we can do is to make a phone call to the restaurant instead, or, just show up and hope for the best. Perhaps in time the restaurant industry will come up with an open standard webservice to do this stuff instead of depending on OpenTable, but I won't hold my breath.

joshvm 8y ago
I'm curious. Do OpenTable-enabled places get significantly more diners because they're able to compare multiple places for a single time slot? Or is the value simply that it makes booking easy for consumers? If it's the latter then I'm surprised there aren't already cheap plugin systems for Wordpress that would do the same thing. I didn't realise that OpenTable has a whole booking.com style website, including the "booked 15 times in the last microsecond!" nonsense. Feeling somewhat like a luddite now, I've only ever used it when trying to book a table at a specific restaurant (i.e. via the restaurant's website).
- ghaff 8y ago
  I assume it's mostly about making it easier and avoiding the pain that's often associated with homegrown and other systems. However, I suppose if it's a busy night and I just want to eat somewhere halfway decent in an hour or so, I could see using OpenTable to find an open slot. (Not sure I've ever done that though.)
- petronic 8y ago
  Most restaurants don't even list their good timeslots on OpenTable, as they're capable of filling those on their own. It's mostly used to list the less busy "collar hours" (the hours adjacent to any rush) in the hopes that an alternate means to advertising might flip an empty table to a populated table. I'll avoid talking to a human to make a reservation if possible, but I've had dozens of occasions where OpenTable shows no available reservations at say, 7pm and a quick phone call is all it takes to land the time I'd like.
- crispyambulance 8y ago
  > more diners because they're able to compare multiple places for a single time slot? I expect for some places, yes. Putting yourself in the shoes of a corporate event-planner trying to find a rez for VIP's at the first available expensive steakhouse, yeah, you're going to go straight to OpenTable and not bother with the phone. The hip edgy steakhouse that doesn't play with OpenTable will miss out.

joshvm 8y ago

I'm curious. Do OpenTable-enabled places get significantly more diners because they're able to compare multiple places for a single time slot? Or is the value simply that it makes booking easy for consumers? If it's the latter then I'm surprised there aren't already cheap plugin systems for Wordpress that would do the same thing. I didn't realise that OpenTable has a whole booking.com style website, including the "booked 15 times in the last microsecond!" nonsense. Feeling somewhat like a luddite now, I've only ever used it when trying to book a table at a specific restaurant (i.e. via the restaurant's website).

ghaff 8y ago
I assume it's mostly about making it easier and avoiding the pain that's often associated with homegrown and other systems. However, I suppose if it's a busy night and I just want to eat somewhere halfway decent in an hour or so, I could see using OpenTable to find an open slot. (Not sure I've ever done that though.)
petronic 8y ago
Most restaurants don't even list their good timeslots on OpenTable, as they're capable of filling those on their own. It's mostly used to list the less busy "collar hours" (the hours adjacent to any rush) in the hopes that an alternate means to advertising might flip an empty table to a populated table. I'll avoid talking to a human to make a reservation if possible, but I've had dozens of occasions where OpenTable shows no available reservations at say, 7pm and a quick phone call is all it takes to land the time I'd like.
crispyambulance 8y ago
> more diners because they're able to compare multiple places for a single time slot? I expect for some places, yes. Putting yourself in the shoes of a corporate event-planner trying to find a rez for VIP's at the first available expensive steakhouse, yeah, you're going to go straight to OpenTable and not bother with the phone. The hip edgy steakhouse that doesn't play with OpenTable will miss out.