More diners clicking onto online reservation service
September 1, 2006
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ORLANDO -- An Internet system that offers advance bookings for member restaurants is growing rapidly in Orlando.
OpenTable Inc. was founded in 1998 in San Francisco, Calif., by Chuck Templeton, a former semiconducter marketer who faced frustration at his wife's inability to book a dinner reservation. It provides a Web site where restaurants pay to provide access to their reservation systems to customers instead of relying on the old system of handwritten bookings and cumbersome voice-mail messages.
Ann Shepherd, OpenTable's senior director of consumer marketing, says the company began by focusing on four major cities where they believed there was growth potential and serious restaurant business. It took the company three years to reach one million bookings, while today it regularly books 1.3 million diners a month in 5,000 member restaurants nationwide.
In Orlando, OpenTable opened an office in March, and since then Orlando-based account executive Dale Takio has grown the list of Orlando restaurants from 12 to 47 locations, with restaurants such as the Palm Steakhouse and Absinthe on Church Street coming aboard in the next two months.
A concierge program
Restaurant subscribers pay an initial fee, generally about $1,295, to get the company's proprietary software and the hardware it operates.
In addition, there's a monthly fee, based on volume, that averages about $200 a month, according to Shepherd, plus a $1 per diner fee if the reservation is booked on the OpenTable site or 25 cents if booked on the restaurant's site.
OpenTable's Web site (www.opentable.com) allows visitors direct, live access to each restaurant's current reservations to determine if the requested reservation date and time are available. If so, the reservation is booked and, if needed, a confirmation can be printed, as well as directions.
One reason the system seems to be growing so fast in Orlando, says Shepherd, is its concierge program. Hotel concierges, who routinely book dozens of restaurant reservations both in and outside their hotels, have quickly adopted the OpenTable program designed for concierges.
"We're in virtually all of Orlando's major hotels," says Shepherd.
The concierge version of OpenTable allows them to make special arrangements -- for diners with food allergy, as well as special occasions such as a birthday or anniversary. But the real advantage, says AnnaLiza Religioso, a guest services supervisor at the Peabody Orlando, is its efficiency.
"Many of our guests are here for a convention, so they stop by the concierge in the morning before they go to their convention and try to book a dinner reservation," she says.
The problem, says Religioso, is that most fine-dining restaurants are not open in the morning and concierges get a recording or no answer until staff arrives later in the day. The OpenTable system avoids uncertainty by providing quick electronic information about the restaurant's availability.
Like 'a 24/7 operator'
Concierges also collect OpenTable reward points for each booking, which can be exchanged for a complimentary dinners at subscribing restaurants.
"The system makes a concierge a 24/7 operator," says Takio. "It allows seamless communications whether the booking is inside or outside the hotel. Without making a call, they can quickly tell the guest whether that a table for eight is available."
Hotels such as the Peabody, which lists two of its restaurants, and the Orlando World Center Marriott, which lists three establishments, saw an immediate return on their investment.
Asim Ibrihim, director of food and beverage for the Marriott, says the system "has a lot of value for us. It provides more clarity and accountability."
Ibriham says it also provides valuable data, compares how busy each restaurant is and allows the restaurant to make a callback.
"OpenTable has replaced the old, handwritten reservations book," says Ibriham.
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