The American Express Centurion New York restaurant is basically off-limits to those without an Amex Centurion card
(Image credit: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
published
in why everyone's talking about
Don't adjust your dining app, because it's not you —restaurant reservations are indeed becoming more difficult to get. This is not a new phenomenon, as the dining industry has long been besieged by issues with bookings. But recent tech developments are making it so that only a select few are able to snatch up the most in-demand reservations.
As you try to get a reservation at your favorite place, an online bot may beat you to the punch, or scalpers may block you out in order to resell the booking. And this is before the credit card companies come into play. Why is the changing landscape making restaurant reservations a rare commodity?
Bots and scalpers
Ever since dining experiences began changing with the pandemic, a "new squad of businesses, tech impresarios, and digital legmen has sprung up, offering to help diners cut through the reservation red tape, for a price," said The New Yorker. In this new era, reservations at the most desirable restaurants "are like currency."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What makes it so difficult is that unlike in years past, when a reservation simply required making a phone call, now there are myriad ways to try and book a table — and online reservation marketplaces, where the majority of bookings are now made, know this. As a result, websites such as Cita Marketplace and Appointment Trader "will sell you a reservation, often procured by a bot, usually made in someone else's name," said The New Yorker. This means that "several bots might be simultaneously checking the app, ten or even a hundred times per second, twenty-four hours a day, until one finds the eight-o'clock table at Bangkok Supper Club that it's been programmed to grab." This makes the odds of snagging a table against a bot much smaller.
These developments are notable because the "vast majority of restaurant reservations are meant to be free, and you might miss out on celebrating your anniversary at the restaurant of your dreams because the system has been rigged to reward the highest bidder," said the Takeout. And the bots aren't always good for the restaurants either; if a bot reservation goes untouched, then "restaurants aren't making money on that table, and they're losing the money they spent staffing servers for it." This often means the restaurant "can't even recoup the loss via cancellation fees, since these bots tend to snag the reservations using bogus credit card numbers."
Credit card companies
Even if you don't face off against a bot trying to claim your reservation, you may encounter another foe: credit card companies. At the most high-profile restaurants, scalpers and bots often snatch up tickets first, but "with the right credit card, you have a better shot," said The Atlantic. While a number of credit card companies participate in reservation promotions, this phenomenon is most striking with American Express.
Resy, one of the most widely used restaurant reservation apps, is owned by American Express, and as a result, the app "keeps certain tables open for the Platinum crowd, and leapfrogs such cardholders to the front of waiting lists," said The Atlantic. So if you "want to eat at the best spots, you'll fork over $695 annually for Amex Platinum, buying access to exclusive reservations." The company even owns its own restaurant in New York City, the Centurion, which "exists for the more or less exclusive enjoyment of owners of the American Express Centurion card," said New York magazine.
Both JPMorgan Chase and Capital One have also gotten in on the reservation game, though American Express remains the most notable player. The company also recently announced it was buying another large booking app, Tock, for $400 million. A company "using its leverage over who can sit down at a restaurant is the next step in segmenting customers based on how much they are able or willing to spend," said CNN. It marks a "continued tiering of the consumer," Joseph Nunes, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California, said to the outlet.
Explore More
BusinessBusiness NewsFinanceRestaurantsFoodWhy Everyone's Talking About
To continue reading this article...
Create a free account
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
register for free
Already have an account? Sign in
Subscribe to The Week
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Subscribe & Save
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Justin Klawans, The Week US
Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.
Huw Edwards pleads guilty to making indecent images of childrenSpeed Read'Chaos' outside Westminster Magistrates' Court before former BBC presenter's hearingBy The Week StaffPublished 31 July 24 Katie Price has left the UK as arrest warrant issuedSpeed ReadModel says she is away 'working' after missing insolvency court hearing into her bankruptcy and £750,000 unpaid taxBy Harriet Marsden, The Week UKPublished 31 July 24
The inconvenience store: Why are shops locking up even more merchandise?Under the RadarYou may have noticed a surge in items stowed behind security glassBy Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week USPublished 30 July 24 Is Tesla finally in real financial trouble?Talking PointElon Musk's once-dominant electric vehicle company is facing falling profits and unfulfilled promises of future advancesBy Rafi Schwartz, The Week USPublished 29 July 24 The precipitous fall of the Japanese yenUnder the RadarThe Yen recently below 160 to the dollar, its lowest value in more than 30 yearsBy Justin Klawans, The Week USPublished 8 July 24 The big deal: Why are fast-food chains suddenly offering discounts?Today's Big QuestionAfter inflation and price hikes, a need to bring customers backBy Joel Mathis, The Week USPublished 2 July 24 Retail media is seeing a surge this yearThe ExplainerAmazon now makes more money from advertising than Coca-Cola's global revenueBy Justin Klawans, The Week USPublished 28 June 24 A massive copper shortage is on the horizonUnder the RadarIt is estimated that mines will only meet 80% of copper needs by 2030By Justin Klawans, The Week USPublished 12 June 24 Elon Musk's future at Tesla may hang in the (very expensive) balanceTalking PointsThe iconic electric vehicle's board must convince shareholders it's worth awarding their tech titan CEO a $50 billion pay compensation package —or he might walkBy Rafi Schwartz, The Week USPublished 7 June 24 Epoch Times CFO charged with money launderingSpeed ReadWeidong "Bill" Guan stands accused of laundering $67 millionBy Peter Weber, The Week USPublished 4 June 24
