OpenTable Announces New Upgrade of Its Electronic Reservation Book Software
May 17, 2009
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Chicago, Ill. — May 16, 2009 — OpenTable, Inc. (www.OpenTable.com), a leading provider of guest management systems for restaurants and free online reservations for diners, today announced a new version of its Electronic Reservation Book. Debuting here at the National Restaurant Association show, this new software is designed to help restaurants provide superior service to their guests and seat more diners in their restaurants. Building on the innovative features found in previous OpenTable releases, OpenTable 8.0 is also an ideal solution for any reservation-taking restaurant.
“We spent the last year in a dialogue with our restaurant partners, finding out what new features they wanted to see added to the OpenTable product to help their operations run more efficiently and productively,” said Mike Dodson, senior vice president of global sales, OpenTable. “We also looked at the unique needs of those restaurants that manage reservations and serve a high-volume of walk-in guests. The new table management features included in our 8.0 release give us an increased opportunity to cater to any restaurant that takes reservations.”
By making better use of real-time data, the new system will allow restaurants to manage their businesses more effectively by giving them the ability to:
• Turn more tables. A new dashboard view gives managers the ability to easily track key performance metrics during a given shift. The new software also gives access to real-time reports related to key operational indicators, including turn times, server performance, wait times and seating allocation, allowing managers to closely monitor their daily operations.
• Enhance guest service. Restaurants can now remember and recall more information about their guests by creating custom fields in the new software. This will enable restaurants to keep track of guests’ specific preferences, making VIP customers easily recognizable to the staff. Another new feature called “custom table statuses” will make it easier for the restaurant’s staff to quickly identify where tables are during every stage of the dining experience.
• Personalize responses to diners. Restaurants can now create their own personalized customer reservation confirmation, cancellation and change emails through customizable templates.
• Coordinate the seating process. The new system will now suggest which party and table restaurants should seat next -- from either reservations or the existing waitlist. The system will also give suggested wait times based on an algorithm which takes into account how many guests restaurants have on the floor and how many are currently waiting.
• Maximize guest seating. Restaurants can now pre-assign guest tables which is especially helpful for deciding where to seat large parties.
Additionally, the new OpenTable system now supports the set of security standards recently created by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) to ensure credit card information is protected. For restaurants that take credit card numbers to secure reservations, the standards require that this information be stored in a PCI-compliant environment. OpenTable is committed to helping its restaurant partners be PCI-compliant, and this upgrade provides the tools necessary to adhere to this new set of standards.
This upgrade, which includes the new PCI-compliance feature, is free to all existing OpenTable customers. The English version of the OpenTable software will be available to restaurants in the U.S. this summer, while Spanish, German and Japanese versions will follow later this year. OpenTable representatives will be demoing the new software in booth 5875 at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago from May 16-19.
About OpenTable, Inc.
OpenTable is a leading provider of free, real-time online restaurant reservations for diners and reservation and guest management solutions for restaurants. The OpenTable network delivers the convenience of online restaurant reservations to diners and the operational benefits of a computerized reservation book to restaurants. OpenTable has more than 10,000 restaurant customers, and since its inception in 1998, has seated more than 100 million diners around the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and the OpenTable service is available throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Japan, Mexico, and parts of Europe.
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OpenTable, OpenTable.com, OpenTable logos and other service names are the trademarks of OpenTable, Inc.
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