Boston.com and OpenTable.com Announce Strategic Alliance
February 29, 2000
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BOSTON, MA (February 29, 2000) - Boston.com and OpenTable.com (www.opentable.com), the leader in online restaurant reservations, announced today a strategic marketing and business partnership that will make real-time restaurant reservations available on Boston.com, one of the most visited regional portals in the United States. Beginning next month, visitors to Boston.com (www.boston.com) will be able to make real-time reservations at restaurants throughout the Boston area using OpenTable.com's reservation technology.
Under the agreement, OpenTable.com will be the exclusive provider of restaurant reservations on Boston.com. Visitors to Boston.com will have access to a free, personalized dining reservation system that will allow them to instantly reserve tables at restaurants throughout the Boston metropolitan area. OpenTable.com's technology enables diners to search for a restaurant online — using criteria such as cuisine type or neighborhood — and delivers immediate, online confirmation of reservations. Confirmed reservations are simultaneously delivered to the restaurant via OpenTable.com's proprietary, Internet-connected Electronic Reservation Book (ERB).
OpenTable.com and Boston.com will develop a co-branded Web site that will feature reviews and information from The Boston Globe and OpenTable.com's real-time reservation technology. Visitors to Boston.com will be able to access OpenTable.com's reservations via the Dining area in the Arts & Entertainment section of Boston.com. The two organizations will also develop integrated sales and marketing programs to address Boston restaurants.
"Boston.com has some of the best local content available on the Internet," said Chuck Templeton, OpenTable.com president and CEO. "This agreement will bring to Boston.com visitors the unique ability to use that content to make dining reservations at their favorite restaurants. We're very pleased that Boston.com shares our enthusiasm for helping consumers make the most of their time online," he said.
Lisa DeSisto, vice president and general manager of Boston.com, said: "We expect OpenTable.com to be a tremendous resource for visitors to Boston.com. It's clear that online reservations are becoming widely accepted by restaurants and consumers alike, and OpenTable.com is truly helping diners make the reservation process more efficient. We're excited about adding their unique service to Boston.com."
About Boston.com
Boston.com is part of Times Company Digital, a division of The New York Times Company. Times Company Digital (TCD) serves a quality audience online by providing high-quality news, information and interaction through its own premier Web sites as well as affiliate partners. TCD's family of sites includes NYTimes.com (www.nytimes.com), Boston.com (www.boston.com), NYToday.com (www.nytoday.com), WineToday.com (www.winetoday.com), GolfDigest.com (www.golfdigest.com) and Abuzz (www.abuzz.com), which develops sophisticated community and knowledge-sharing applications for use on the Internet. Times Company Digital is a division of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT).
About OpenTable.com
OpenTable.com, the leading online restaurant reservation network, is based in San Francisco, California, and has offices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington DC. OpenTable.com is an Internet company dedicated to providing dining consumers with the best possible reservation experience, and restaurants with the best available customer management tools. OpenTable.com has partnered with restaurants from An American Restaurant Group, Ark Restaurants Corp., California Café Restaurant Corp., the Lark Creek Group, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc., Real Restaurant Group, Restaurants Unlimited, and Union Square Hospitality Group. OpenTable.com is backed by leading Venture Capital firms including Impact Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital and Prescient Capital. For more information about OpenTable.com or its online restaurant reservation network visit www.opentable.com or call 1.800.OPENTABLE.
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