What Open Table Needs to Do Better

I have been using OpenTable, the restaurant booking service since almost it's inception. And, honestly, making reservations and managing them is so, so easy. But, for whatever reason, they're keeping their restaurants in the dark ages.

One of my biggest pet peeves with the service is the restaurants desire to "confirm" the reservation with a phone call. Almost always those calls come at the most inopportune moment. Like when I'm sleeping or in a meeting.

Given OpenTable has apps for iPhones and Androids, how hard would it be to use the built in notification system, and their own app to receive the "please reconfirm" message from the restaurant, given that's how the reservation was booked in the first place? How hard would it be to create a Google Chrome or Safari plug in that can be another point of notification? Why can't they create a system using SMS that simply send a message saying "please confirm your reservation by clicking this link, or click this other link to cancel or this third link to open the app to change the time of the reservation."

Seriously. Open Table is already looking to be the mode of payment to restaurants, so perhaps they can figure out how they can be the most streamlined service for communication for the diner also. 

Comments

[cfriedman2000]

I am totally in agreement; is this an open table issue or do the restaurants not want to trust a message receipt so thhey can say the patron did not reconfirm verbally direct!?!?

One would think that within app messaging is a very important functionality that need to be refined confrimation tokens--just a thought but it is annoying nonetheless

[twitter.com/esmevos]

This is my pet peeve, not just with OpenTable but with restaurants everywhere in the world. It used to be confined to the US, but now even in Paris, they call you up to confirm. My question is: have people just become so phenomenally rude and inconsiderate in the last 10 years? How difficult is it to make a call to cancel or change a reservation?

Nevertheless, OpenTable and other reservation engines like LaFourchette should have the feature you describe and have a reputation meter.