The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group operates about two dozen restaurants around the country and the world. And to meet different consumer habits in each market, it uses multiple reservations platforms.
In some areas, diners prefer to book on OpenTable; in others, Resy is the go-to. And the group uses SevenRooms across all of its U.S. markets. (Wolfgang Puck previously invested in the company but no longer has a stake.)
“The consumer can book in so many different ways now,” said President Byron Puck. “It's our job to meet the consumer where they are.”
But soon, the group will have to decide whether to overhaul this setup and make OpenTable its primary reservations system everywhere it operates, or potentially leave the platform altogether.
That’s because of a new policy tucked into OpenTable’s updated terms of use that will require restaurants to make the platform their “system of record” for reservations, table and guest management, while also making all of their inventory available on the OpenTable marketplace. It will go into effect April 16.
The change could have widespread implications for the restaurant industry. OpenTable is the largest reservations systems in the U.S. and about 60,000 restaurants use its platform globally.
The company said that “many” restaurants already use OpenTable as their system of record, and that the new rule applies it to everyone.
“By extending our System of Record standard to all partners, we are ensuring a single source of truth that protects guest and restaurant data, maintains real-time availability, and guarantees that when a guest books a table, it actually exists,” OpenTable said in a statement to Restaurant Business.
Restaurants will still be allowed to use other reservations systems in tandem with OpenTable. But the company said making itself the central platform will help shield restaurant and customer data from “bad actors.”
“There has been an increase in the prevalence of unauthorized parties, who in some cases have been encouraged by our direct competitors to bypass technical controls or scrape data without permission,” the company said. “These unauthorized bad actors pose significant risk to the safety and stability of OpenTable's system, and therefore to all of our restaurant partners.”
It said the activity has included "pulling availability, extracting guest and restaurant data without permission, and attempting to replicate bookings."
The move escalates the battle over reservations data among the major platforms. OpenTable used a similar tactic in 2019 when it blocked restaurants from sharing customer data with other booking services. Following criticism, it agreed to allow integration in exchange for an additional fee from restaurants.
This latest policy will require an even bigger change for operators that currently use another provider as their system of record.
New York-based Altamarea Group uses multiple reservations platforms to allow its 10 U.S. restaurants to cast a wider net. Complying with the new OpenTable rule would be costly and time-consuming, said Rebecca Levine-Hough, the group’s VP of client hospitality.
“It would really be reworking our entire back-end reservation system to accommodate that request,” she said, including reprogramming all of its reservations systems and retraining staff on the new platform. “That is not something that we are willing and/or eager to do.”
Restaurants said it also limits how they choose to run their business.
“By forcing that restaurant to have you as a system of record, it really debilitates the restaurant's ability to perform at its highest level in the market and take care of the guests the way that it would want to,” Puck said. “It’s extremely disappointing.”
Neither operator had made a firm decision about how to respond to OpenTable’s new rule. They said they need to study the potential business impacts and get more clarity from OpenTable. It’s still not clear, for instance, how the company plans to enforce the policy.
But both restaurateurs said there is a possibility that they will leave the platform, which would mean losing a key source of customers.
“There's a lot that ends up having to be weighed when this happens, and unfortunately, it may lead to having to sacrifice something on one side or the other,” Levine-Hough said.
The move comes as OpenTable faces growing competition in the online reservations market.
Rivals Resy and Tock, which are owned by American Express, will soon merge to create a booking marketplace of approximately 25,000 restaurants. And SevenRooms was acquired last year by delivery giant DoorDash, which is now offering reservations on its app.
Restaurants, meanwhile, wish everyone could just get along. Puck fondly remembered the days when OpenTable and SevenRooms freely shared data before OpenTable tightened its restrictions in 2019.
“I can understand that there's going to be moves made to better carve out your corner of the market,” Puck said. “But let's be honest … it's an extremely large market. There is oh so much room for everyone to be in this together and ultimately make good business for their companies as well as ours."
NOTE: This story has been updated to include Wolfgang Puck's previous investment in SevenRooms, which came to our attention after publication.
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