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OpenTable Spotlights Impact of No-Shows on the Restaurant Industry

OpenTable Spotlights Impact of No-Shows on the Restaurant Industry

 OpenTable, the world’s leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN), today unveiled a “book responsibly” campaign spotlighting the impact of no-shows and late cancellations on the restaurant industry.  OpenTable partnered with celebrity chef and restaurateur Michael Voltaggio to release a public service announcement to advocate for diners to book responsibly by canceling or modifying their reservation when their plans change.

“Many people simply don’t realize the impact that no-shows and late cancellations have on the restaurant industry,” said Scott Jampol, Senior Vice President of Marketing at OpenTable. “At OpenTable, we believe we have a responsibility to help build awareness of the issue and continue to leverage our technology and diner network in ways that reduce no-show rates and mitigate the impact of late cancellations.”   

“It might seem harmless to bail on a reservation but if you can’t make it, letting us know ahead of time makes a world of difference,” said Michael Voltaggio. “If we’re constantly working to address no-shows on a daily basis, our business suffers. That’s why we are asking diners to book responsibly.”

Voltaggio isn’t alone. Kim Alter from San Francisco-based Nightbird notes that she wishes “diners knew how hard it is to run a restaurant” and that canceling at the last minute or no-showing “makes it even harder.”  And Michael Davis from Sprout LA counsels diners to “not be afraid to cancel your reservation – we appreciate a cancellation more than a no-show.” 

OpenTable’s no-show rate in the U.S. is approximately 20 percent lower than the no-show rate for diners who book via phone.  OpenTable believes that this lower rate is helped by making it easy to modify or cancel a reservation with a couple taps of their phone and by its email and mobile notification reservation reminders.  To help refill tables freed up due to late cancellations on restaurants, OpenTable immediately surfaces the newly available tables to its millions strong diner network.

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