**UPDATE: The New York State Legislature passed the bill on June 6, 2024**
OpenTable’s mission to help restaurants thrive isn’t just a tagline, it’s a promise. It is our priority to support our partners – and the industry.
Last summer, we called on the New York City Council to pass a bill to make outdoor dining permanent throughout New York – which they did. And now, we’re using our voice to advocate for restaurateurs on another challenge they’re facing: reservation scalping.
We know that fraudulent reservations often result in no shows and are detrimental to restaurants’ bottom line. That’s why, in partnership with our parent company, Booking Holdings, we are actively supporting the “Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act” which was recently introduced in the New York State Legislature to stop reservation piracy (more here). While this bill is specifically for New York State, we know other states will be watching – which makes this one passing even more important.
Enclosed below is the letter we (OpenTable and Booking Holdings’ Government Affairs team), sent on May 21, 2024.
In addition, we’re investing in tech solutions to help mitigate bots and bad actors, including credit card holds and deposits. OpenTable’s deposits can help successfully reduce no-show rates: we’ve seen 2x more no-show rates for restaurants that do not use deposits vs. those that do.
We also have a dedicated, global team of internal risk and fraud experts who monitor our systems 24/7 to quickly identify and address suspicious activity, and we’re integrating AI models to further enhance our Account Security.
To our restaurant partners, please know: we have your back. Stay tuned for updates.
Letter Sent to New York Legislature
Dear Chair Rozic, Assembly member Bores, Senator Fernandez, and members of the Assembly Consumer Affairs And Protection Committee,
I write on behalf of Booking Holdings, Inc., and its subsidiary operating brand, OpenTable. OpenTable is a leader in restaurant technology with 55,000 restaurants and millions of diners worldwide. OpenTable is part of Booking Holdings, the world’s leading provider of online travel and related services, serving consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and also includes Booking.com, Priceline, KAYAK. Our more than 300 New York-based employees are proud to work with over 5,000 accommodations and restaurant partners across New York state–the vast majority of which are small businesses–empowering them to reach a global customer base.
OpenTable’s mission is to help restaurants thrive—our goal is to help restaurants take care of their guests, their teams and their bottom line. The recent proliferation of restaurant reservation piracy negatively impacts restaurants, their employees, and diners throughout New York. Restaurants run on razor-thin profit margins, and a few no-shows on any given day (often the byproduct of reservation piracy) can mean an independent restaurant is unprofitable or employees are unable to earn the income they rely on.
That’s why Booking Holdings and OpenTable write to express our support for A.10215 / S.9365, the “Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act”. We thank the bill sponsors and the committee for their leadership and attention to this issue.
Thank you for leading and for the opportunity to share our support for legislation addressing this important issue.
Sincerely,
Zachary Russem
Head of U.S. State and Local Policy
Booking Holdings
