Is OpenTable Worth it?

From a blog post by a San Francisco restaurant owner:

"This is the crux – and brilliance – of OpenTable’s business model: OpenTable has convinced restaurants to pay it substantial fees while it takes the customer relationship out of the hands of the restaurant and places control into OpenTable’s hands. Then, after having lent their names to the service, enabled OpenTable to attract online diners, and funded the construction of a powerful database of customers loyal to OpenTable, restaurants find that they themselves no longer own the customer relationship. Restaurants that want continued access to those diners now have to pay OpenTable for the privilege. This may be at the core of why many restaurateurs quietly resent OpenTable."

There were so many good pull quotes in this article that I had a difficult time picking just one.

I'd be interested in hearing about how this affects people in the business here in Louisville.

Being of an "older" generation, it cracks me up when our daughter text or e-mail someone or an establishment. We say, isn't it just as easy to dial the phone and talk directly with a human being? With that said, we have used Open Table a few times.

For Louisville, we have used it for a reservation that is a couple of weeks out, some special occasion. I guess our concern is that if you call a month ahead of time for say an anniversary, the reservation might get lost in the shuffle. Please, not in any way trying to start a discussion as to whether it would or wouldn't, just the perception that once it is in the "computer" and confirmed by an e-mail, the reservation will be set in computer stone for that restaurant and that special night.

For travel, we used Open Table months before a trip in September to, ironically, San Francisco and wine country; it worked like a charm. With travel, I think it has merit versus the phone call, again, e-mail confirmation. Also, in terms of travel reservations, Open Table has no time zone issues; make your reservation anytime, without having to worry about what time it is in your destination city.

I have absolutely no idea what the restaurants' Open Table costs are, but there must be some return on their expenditure, or restaurants from Louisville to San Francisco to New York, would not use the service. Maybe a local Open Table restaurant could shed light on the financial side of the discussion.

As for "restaurants find that they themselves no longer own the customer relationship", I am not sure about. For example, if you call Open Table for a reservation at a restaurant famed for its customer service, Volare, make the reservation for Saturday night, show up, have a great meal, how did they not "own" their own customer relationship? You, as the customer, briefly first related to a computer, then had a wonderful experience with wonderful hosts & service at the restaurant itself. (NOTE: Volare does not use Open Table, just an example of a great customer service restaurant.)

Last but not least, if the San Francisco restaurateur means database information, in the above example, if you call Volare directly, they have no customer database, ever.

I never ever use Open Table, and not because I have a grievance with it - it just seems like an inconvenience when a reservation made over the phone is ten times as fast for me. So they haven't lost that personal contact with this girl. It's a take it or leave it service for the consumer, if you ask me. I've never thought I would seem hipper or less hip if I did or didn't use it. For the restaurant, though, it seems like it's become a cost of doing business, and restaurants that don't use it or a similar on line reservation service (there are several others available), may be losing guests that prefer electronic reservations. It's the world in which we live, and we're all tourists.

Agreed.

But then I just remembered...

My friend made a reservation for my birthday recently online and I got an email notice. That was sweet. Easier for her than sending an E-Card since she was already planning on taking me out, and I loved it because it reminded me that we were doing something special. Note, however, the cost is absorbed by the business. Not for the email, but in general. Online reservation systems aren't cheap - they drive the cost of business northward, but so do fancy flatware and silky linens.

I have used this service extensively over the last several years. Mostly as I find it to be faster and more convenient(as previous post said, on my schedule not theirs). In addition, no issue with correct spelling or confusion with times or numbers. I have never had an issue when I arrived at the restaurant. To each their own. Earlier tonite I made 5 reservations for holiday meals in Utah.

I like it because sometimes I think about reservations at odd times (some places have this funny practice of not answering the phone at 6:00 AM )

You can also add special notes for the venue.

As a consumer I love Open Table. Partly for being able to make a reservation at an odd hour, and partly because the system will search for open tables at a particular day and time. That way Idon't have to call around and waste my time. I get a list of restaurants with availability and just pick one.

For our B&B we have relied on reservation software for years. In fact I don't think we could survive without it. Our website even tells potential guests that there's absolutely no reason to call to check our availability - it's all right there online for you. And with everyone living on their smart phone these days, I think a biz would be unwise to not be accessible by interweb.

It certainly can be convenient for the customer, but I think the article is right about taking the service relationship away from the restaurant. Not only that, but the sales reps for the company are arrogant and pushy. When we were first opening they called incessantly, and repeatedly asked "When can we go ahead and set up Open Table for you?" I politely reminded them that in fact, if we were going to implement OT remained to be seen and that they might want to remember that they were selling me something, not doing me a favor. I suggested that we wait a month and see if it seemed like a good idea. She then tried the "if you don't get it now you may never get a chance" sale style. She laughed and snidely said "Well, I don't even know if we'll be able to set you up in a month if you buy now, if you wait a month then that could be a couple months out." I ended the conversation and asked for them to please stop calling us.

They now call us routinely every two weeks, often in the middle of our dinner rush. Way to show how much you understand the restaurant business!

And with everyone living on their smart phone these days, I think a biz would be unwise to not be accessible by interweb.

I believe the opposite. There are a small number of dedicated tech savvy people out there, but you'd be shocked how many calls I get for directions or "Where is Butchertown, anyway?"...at least 4-6 a day. I stopped thinking "Why don't you just google the address?" to myself a long time ago, because it became clear that not as many people as you think use google. OT is convenient, but certainly not necessary and it's exceedingly expensive IMHO.

Maybe its because I work primarily with brides. That age group (20 somethings usually) are always on their phones. That's how they get directions to me, how they show me a picture of their dress, pictures of the flowers for their wedding, etc. Their phones are practically body parts!

I've used OT frequently because it IS more convenient than a phone call. Too many times I can't get someone on the phone when I call, or I don't get a call back, or I can't undertsand the person on the other side of the phone, or they can't understand me, or any list of other problems. In general if I can do something online and avoid the phone call, I will opt for online. Even at work I vastly prefer e-mail communication to phone calls.

However, hearing Jeremy's story will make me think twice about using OT in the future. Though if any restaurant has considered implementing their own online reservation system I would love you for it ^^

I use it ALL the time. We often simply pick dinner based on OpenTable. Aside from Volare, 95% of our dining is determined through OpenTable's system.

We had Open Table at Equus when I worked there and I thought it was great. The database of customers was a great tool so you could remember special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. And you could also enter things like what the customer's likes and dislike were, allergies, vegetarians etc.
It was also a lot easier to track the reservations coming in as sometimes it was hard to read every one's scribbles in the old reservation book. Plus once your regulars and returning customers are entered; you could also send e-mails out to everyone in the database about upcoming specials, events and menu changes.
And as a kitchen guy, I LOVED the fact that we could black out reservation times in 15 minute increments once they were full, so the entire restaurant didn't get sat at the same time every Friday and Saturday at 7:00pm.

I am an accts payable person for one of the high end restaurants in town, and they average around $500 in Open Table fees per month, just to give you some idea what it costs. That's a great value for them, but it's hard to judge it, generally speaking. I think it probably is worth it, overall, for any restaurant.