A Meaty, Boozy Father's Day
Polynesian Cocktail Party
10 Spicy Snacks
Party Food from the Corner Store
How to Make Nut Milk
Sausage Recipes of the Month
San Francisco Chronicle Culture Blog writer Beth Spotswood is blithe about the way her friend Tara blew off a reservation she made on OpenTable for Mario Batali's Carnevino Italian Steakhouse in Las Vegas: "Las Vegas being Las Vegas, the night sort of got away from Tara. She never made it to CarneVino Italian Steakhouse. As a result, OpenTable.com broke up with Tara."
Spotswood then reprints the completely reasonable-sounding email OpenTable sent to Tara, which informed her that due to her no-show, her account was suspended. "Let Tara’s plight be a cautionary tale, OpenTable users," Spotswood writes. "It might seem like no big deal to you. You scheduled a date, you thought it was casual and you blew it off. But OpenTable doesn’t see it that way. OpenTable is pacing back and forth, candles lit, food getting cold."
Right-o, Spotswood's just being snarky, and finds the notion of being "dumped by an app" amusing. It is and it isn't. Even though OpenTable isn't a real person, duh, it is a service that connects people, people like someone who wants to sit at a table and order dinner with a restaurateur who would like to sell them food. If your flaky self isn't in that seat at the agreed-upon time and the restaurant holds that table for you instead of giving it to a walk-in diner, it's like stealing money right out of the restaurant's pockets.
Booking a table is like RSVPing for a party, only it's even more imperative that you honor your commitment, because someone will lose money if you don't. OpenTable can't make you show up, and (for now) it doesn't charge you for no-shows. In fact, you can even cancel up to a half-hour before the reservation (!!), no questions asked, online if you can't be bothered to call the restaurant and let them know that the night got away from you.
So good for you, OpenTable, for providing the tiniest nudge to those who need to bone up on their social obligations. Tara can always register from a new email account and you won't be the wiser. But maybe she will.
Image source: gresei/Shutterstock
Well, actually, no-show reservations do cost a resto money if they're not having other folks sans reservations waiting for tables. They buy and staff for reservation seats plus a certain percentage. Two or three no-shows in a night for a small, say 40 seat house, is a problem.
Here in St. Louis, the popular non-chain restaurants have the problem of people booking at several places on the same...+READ
Well, actually, no-show reservations do cost a resto money if they're not having other folks sans reservations waiting for tables. They buy and staff for reservation seats plus a certain percentage. Two or three no-shows in a night for a small, say 40 seat house, is a problem.
Here in St. Louis, the popular non-chain restaurants have the problem of people booking at several places on the same night so they can grandly say to their guests, "Oh, we can go to Chateau Vigoro or to the Pump Boys Cafe or even Pizza Truffe. Your choice." So they look like a big shot (to the unknowing) and those restaurants they like so much they want to brag to their guests about end up with no-shows on nights like pre-holidays or even New Year's Eve or Valentines Day.
It certainly IS why places have started taking CC#'s and phone #s for reservations.-COLLAPSE
Some rerstaurants take your cc# and charge you if you're a no-show. It's about courtesy...something Beth and Tara have no understanding of!
"Booking a table is like RSVPing for a party" Yes, indeed, very much like it in that so few people have the courtesy or consideration to do so any more. By the time brides have to track down invited guests like bloodhounds to figure out how many people to plan for, we've descended to Manners Hell.
Also, I don't think opentable will let you book more than one reservation within about a two hour time frame.
Opentable once sent me an email saying I missed a reservation, but I emailed them back saying I did indeed keep the reservation, and described what I had. That was the end of that. They did NOT suspend my account, but I believe there was some kind of admonishment, and maybe a warning.
It's not usually hard to cancel, even at the last minute, (at least online ; by phone can be trickier), and...+READ
Opentable once sent me an email saying I missed a reservation, but I emailed them back saying I did indeed keep the reservation, and described what I had. That was the end of that. They did NOT suspend my account, but I believe there was some kind of admonishment, and maybe a warning.
It's not usually hard to cancel, even at the last minute, (at least online ; by phone can be trickier), and it's the right thing to do.-COLLAPSE
if I was Open Table and you did a no-show in my name without calling, I'd drop your ass for making my business look bad. I wouldn't give you a second chance, either. That's one of the many reasons why I'm not in the kind of business that relies on the integrity and manners of others.
Good! Some people need to learn some freakin' manners. I called to cancel a reservation in the Theater District once, and they were so grateful I let them know that I wondered what the f#$% was going on. Later I learned that some people make reservations all over the place so they can decide at the last minute and leave the other restaurants hanging. What bull$h!t.
If you want to be treated nicely, it should come naturally to you to do the right thing. You wouldn't pass up a dinner invitation at someone's house without calling first so why would you do that with a restaurant? Rude is rude. If you have to cancel last minute it happens - but, be courteous enough to call because someone else might want your table (without waiting for your no-show). Why is...+READ
If you want to be treated nicely, it should come naturally to you to do the right thing. You wouldn't pass up a dinner invitation at someone's house without calling first so why would you do that with a restaurant? Rude is rude. If you have to cancel last minute it happens - but, be courteous enough to call because someone else might want your table (without waiting for your no-show). Why is there anyone on the planet raised by wolves who doesn't understand normal social rules? If your parents didn't educate you, then just think how you would feel if YOU were the person cooking the meal? Meals are a social rite - don't act like an uneducated beast about them.-COLLAPSE
The level of rudeness, selfishness, insensitivity and obtuseness has increased exponentially over the last few decades. Whether it’s a no-show at a restaurant, lack of a response to a RSVP or not bothering to acknowledge a gift received, our society has become so inconsiderate of how our actions affect others. Thank you Open Table for standing up for principles.
The no show epidemic is what is causing restaurants to stop taking reservations and I hate it. If you NO SHOW after booking with Open Table, why SHOULD they book for you again? "The night got away from her"? Well so did her Open Table account! Good for them!
I don't buy that restaurants are losing so much money from no-shows. Either they can seat someone standing waiting, or if no one is waiting then there's no harm done.
I don't have a problem with the policy, but it's concerning to read about the customer un-friendly application in cubert's case where it was an honest mistake.
From the Open Table Website FAQs:
http://support.opentable.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15
"What is your no-show policy?"
If you do not arrive for a reservation, you will not receive any applicable OpenTable Dining Points for that reservation. When a restaurant assigns no-show status to your Web reservation, OpenTable will automatically send an email to inform you of this. Your OpenTable...+READ
From the Open Table Website FAQs:
http://support.opentable.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15
"What is your no-show policy?"
If you do not arrive for a reservation, you will not receive any applicable OpenTable Dining Points for that reservation. When a restaurant assigns no-show status to your Web reservation, OpenTable will automatically send an email to inform you of this. Your OpenTable account will be deactivated automatically if you accumulate four no-show reservations within the same twelve-month period.
The statement that it is one strike and you are out is inaccurate, IMO, and certainly contrary to the information on the website. I have had no-shows recorded in error once or twice (when in fact I did show up but I wasn't checked in), and once when I thought I had canceled the reservation but apparently had not. I got the 'warning' email for the later instance and ignored it. I replied to the prior instances stating they were in error and my points were reinstated.-COLLAPSE
A-men. It's time rudeness had it's consequences. No-shows cost a popular restaurant thousands of dollars a month. Open Table exists - it fact it succeeds - because it stands as a sort of gentleman's agreement to avoid such waste. Anybody who has ever stood at a packed bar and seen tables standing empty - the maitre d' trying not to disappoint a late comer who then never shows - understands this.
...+READ
A-men. It's time rudeness had it's consequences. No-shows cost a popular restaurant thousands of dollars a month. Open Table exists - it fact it succeeds - because it stands as a sort of gentleman's agreement to avoid such waste. Anybody who has ever stood at a packed bar and seen tables standing empty - the maitre d' trying not to disappoint a late comer who then never shows - understands this.
Look at it this way: if you welched on your bookie, he'd break your legs. I think it far more civilized simply to cease doing business together.-COLLAPSE
OpenTable gives you one strike and you're out. Or at least they did a few years ago when they suspended my account.
A couple of years ago I made a reservation for my anniversary, we arrived a few minutes early, and we were checked in and seated. Everything was great. The next day I got an e-mail from OpenTable informing me my account was suspended because I was a no-show.
When I contacted...+READ
OpenTable gives you one strike and you're out. Or at least they did a few years ago when they suspended my account.
A couple of years ago I made a reservation for my anniversary, we arrived a few minutes early, and we were checked in and seated. Everything was great. The next day I got an e-mail from OpenTable informing me my account was suspended because I was a no-show.
When I contacted OpenTable I was told the restaurant must not have checked me in and if I faxed them a copy of the receipt they would remove the suspension. I paid with cash and didn't have a copy so I asked OpenTable if they could contact the restaurant since this was clearly an oversight. I expected them to say "He's made over 100 reservations and never missed one, let's give him the benefit of the doubt on this one."
Instead OpenTable refused and told me it was my problem and up to me to work with the restaurant to get a copy of my receipt. To pour both salt and vinegar on the wound, our local Restaurant Week was starting that night and I had twelve more reservations over the next two weeks that OpenTable canceled when they suspended my account. It was a mad scramble to re-book my reservations -- including having to shift some around to different days and get in touch with the various people dining with me -- then nearly two weeks of back and forth between the restaurant and OpenTable before I finally got it sorted out.
I was shocked when they suspended my account, and livid when they put all the burden on me. OpenTable has all the power and they wield it like a club.-COLLAPSE
Did she get more than one chance or was it one strike you're out? Seems a little extreme if that's the case. But I agree that it does cause the restaurant to lose money when you turn away walk ins.
Glad she was dumped! Good riddance! They should put her name on a blacklist and send it to every restaurant in town.
If she called with a decent excuse, then she could get off, but so often some diners double or even triple book restaurants and make their decision an hour before. Which really sucks especially if it's a find dining restaurant and it's a party of six or more - they have to hire...+READ
Glad she was dumped! Good riddance! They should put her name on a blacklist and send it to every restaurant in town.
If she called with a decent excuse, then she could get off, but so often some diners double or even triple book restaurants and make their decision an hour before. Which really sucks especially if it's a find dining restaurant and it's a party of six or more - they have to hire an extra person that night - and with the no shows it could be the difference between making a profit, or breaking even. Tara the Terrible deserves her punishment.-COLLAPSE
Agreed that the phrasing is awkward. And OpenTable absolutely did the right thing. The restaurant may have been packed, there may have been people on a waitlist who could have used the table, and Tara screwed them all over. Kick these people to the curb, OpenTable!
It is awkwardly phrased. I had to read it a few times to 'get' it.
It should say "Stand Open Table Up".
sturdytable: No, it shouldn't. Perhaps you're not familiar with the idiom - "stand up" means to be a no-show, particularly on a date or other social engagement. "Stand up to" means to refuse to be intimidated.
I agree with Jacquilynne. She must be a repeat offender in order to have that treatment.
Good on OpenTable. Sounds to me like Beth Spotswood and Tara need to get their heads out of their asses, and learn to be adults. You make a commitment, you hold to it, and if for some reason you can't, inform the person or in this case a restaurant, in advance and not just stand them up.
Shouldn't your title say " Stand Up To Open Table...???
It sounds like Tara has a history of not honouring her reservations made through OpenTable and also of letting restaurants seat her without telling them she had a reservation (uh, so she just let them hold another table for her in case she didn't like the one they assigned when they got there?), so it's not like missing one Reservation got her canned from the service.