The problem is the OpenTable, the reservation management system, is intertwined with OpenTable, the consumer-oriented reservation portal. Restaurants that are o

The problem is the OpenTable, the reservation management system, is intertwined with OpenTable, the consumer-oriented reservation portal. Restaurants that are oversubscribed can easily switch from OpenTable without losing business, because they only care about reservation management. In fact, I'd guess that the more popular the restaurant, the more likely OpenTable is to give you a discount so they can beenfit from the network effects. Everyone else is losing out because they're paying to gain access to customers who are using the reservation portal, but would've been customers anyway if it didn't exist. A third-party, back-end agnostic reservation portal would be better for everyone. The best portal would win, and the best reservation management system with the lowest prices would win. It is a market failure, though it will probably resolve itself eventually.