A SHORT SUMMARY
Pros
- Best Product and Service
- Innovation
- More Reservations
Cons
- Price
OpenTable
An online restaurant reservation service. It has been around since 1998 and serves around 31,000 restaurants around the world. According to its website, it finds restaurants for over 16 million diners each month and their diners have spent more than 30 billion dollars at their partner restaurants. Also, it is estimated that 47 percent of all reservations made with them are made online to more than 32,000 restaurants worldwide.
Their first mobile app was designed in 2008, and makes it even easier for users to book a reservation. You can also log into their website and book your reservation online. It is now owned by Priceline and was acquired by them in June of 2014, for around 2.6 billion dollars. OpenTable first started in 1998 by offering reservations to only local San Francisco areas, but quickly branched out and now can book a reservation for you in most US states and also larger cities in multiple countries across the world.
Pros
Best Product and Service: The reach of the app is vast. Because of its size, it can reach a lot more people than a restaurant can alone. Also, the service that OpenTable offers cannot be matched by any competitors. Customers and restaurants alike also find that OpenTables website and mobile app are easy to use.
Innovation: Restaurants have also touted recent upgrades that OpenTable have done. Things such as restaurants being able to tell customers preferences, as well as mobile payment and allowing a diner to customize their dining recommendations. When it comes to acquiring new ideas, OpenTable has been acquiring different companies that can help it develop new ideas in order to ensure its growth.
More Reservations: Because of its reach, OpenTable can get more reservations for restaurants. They have a very large customer base who make reservations frequently. They can help bring in more customers than you regularly would by conventional means, or having to pay for advertising yourself.
Free Up The Phones: Because customers no longer have to call your restaurant to schedule a reservation, it can help free up staff and allow your current staff to serve in-house customers more efficiently.
Cons
Price: Some restaurants have complained that the prices that OpenTable offers can add up quickly. There are setup fees a company has to pay, as well as monthly costs. On top of that a customer has to pay one dollar for every person it seats. For small restaurants these costs soon add up and may make OpenTable less ideal for smaller businesses.
In Conclusion
When a customer is looking to book a reservation online, quickly and easily, their number one idea more than likely is OpenTable. It is easy to use, very popular, and has a very large consumer base. But when it comes to small restaurants, not all owners agree that OpenTable is the solution. They all agree on one point, that it helps them bring customers in. What small restaurant owners also agree on, that the costs can add up after a while. Overall, it is the largest and most popular reservation booking website in the world, and anyone looking for a place to eat who needs a reservation, OpenTable can help.
