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Press Release


Online sites satisfy patrons' hunger for quick, easy dinner reservations - Part II


February 23, 2007 		(continued from Part I)

Delaware County resident Linda Stultz regularly uses the Opentable.com site for reserving tables at two of her favorite restaurants, the Columbus Fish Market in Grandview Heights and J. Gilberts in Worthington.

"It's easy and you don't have to deal with voice mail or a hostess who's frazzled because the place is so busy," she said.

When Stultz books a table through OpenTable, her transaction is instantly recorded in the restaurant's reservation terminal located at the hosting station.

Information on seating availability is always in real time, because OpenTable has live Internet connections with all of its participating restaurants.

Most patrons booking online with OpenTable are also awarded points that can be redeemed for dining coupons at any participating restaurant.

Use will increase
Online reservations represent roughly 5 percent of the total weekly bookings at the Columbus Fish Market in Grandview, but Assistant General Manager Shawna Shilling expects that to grow as people become more comfortable with the technology.

"Some guests are still hesitant about putting personal information on the Internet. We have to earn their trust and assure them that we're not going to garner anyone's data for the purpose of selling it to another party," Shilling said.

John Bremer, the general manager of Morton's Steakhouse, says he is happy to replace the often unreliable paper and pen method of tracking reservations. The OpenTable system also includes table management software and a guest database. Bremer and his staff use both.

The guest management function allows restaurants to track customer preferences, view customer reservation histories at-a-glance and track special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. A robust guest database can then be used to conduct e-mail and direct mail marketing to increase repeat business.

That's one of the things Stultz likes the most. She was flattered recently when Shilling asked her if she was planning a return trip to the Napa region of California.

"Who doesn't like to be recognized and remembered," Stultz said.


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