Sunday, May 25, 2008

OpenTable Diners' ChoiceTM Restaurant Lists

Whose Choice?

picture photograph image opentable 2008 copyright of sam breach http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/

Having racked up the required number of points by making restaurant reservations online through their service, I recently receiving a very welcome dining check worth $100 signed by Opentable CEO Jeff Jordan. I can't wait to spend it. But where? Perhaps I should use the new OpenTable Diners' ChoiceTM restaurant lists - the newest way to help you choose the perfect restaurant, that the same Mr Jordan was gushing about in my email inbox recently.

In what appears to be a smart move to align themselves more with services like Zagat and Yelp, Opentable has a new diner feedback program that gives members a chance to send confidential, anonymous feedback directly to the restaurant. It also enables Opentable to analyze the feedback they receive from the hundreds of thousands of OpenTable diners. This seems like a great idea, especially since Opentable already has a well established 'in' with the restaurants that other feedback services simply can't compete with.

The spanner in the works is, that despite being a regular user of their service, they haven't actually asked me for any feedback yet. And so I am left wondering who, exactly, is listing their favourite restaurants in San Francisco as The French Laundry, Cyrus, El Paseo, La Toque and Auberge de Soleil? None of these are even in the city. Hopefully they will soon expand the service to be inclusive to all of their members. But until they do, I will not confidently trust their results.



QUESTION OF THE DAY graphic copyright sam breach
?Have Opentable asked you for Dining Feedback yet?


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© 2008 Sam Breach
OpenTable Diners' ChoiceTM Restaurant Lists

6:59 PM  

20 Comments:

  • At 25/5/08 20:00, Blogger Unknown said…

    I've been using Open Table in the Boston area for about three years now. They've asked me for feedback on my last two or three reservations, from about March of this year on.

     

  • At 26/5/08 08:19, Blogger Kyla said…

    No, not yet but we are such homebodies while T. is in law school. By the way: you're going to spend that $100 at SPQR, right?

     

  • At 26/5/08 08:27, Blogger Sam said…

    SPQR doesn't take reservations - so I am guessing they aren't even on Opentable.
    Also I was a little underwhelmed with my visit there. I believe the problem was that the hype was just too much.

     

  • At 26/5/08 08:33, Blogger Kyla said…

    Oh, that's right, no reservations. Irritating. Still, I think I had the best burger of my life there, the lamb burger.

     

  • At 26/5/08 08:35, Blogger Sam said…

    Ah - well I haven't had the best lamb-burger of my life yet, so I must give them a second try. I was was happiest with their brussel sprouts and their jerusalem artichokes.

     

  • At 26/5/08 09:43, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I get an email asking me to take a survey now every time I get back from a dinner I've reserved through OpenTable. But I've never been asked to give feedback on restaurants visited in the past before they started this up.

     

  • At 27/5/08 10:30, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sam, congratulations on earning your $100 Dining Cheque, and thanks for telling your readers about our new OpenTable Diners’ Choice lists.

    You mentioned that you haven’t received a Diner Feedback Form. With only a few exceptions, everyone who honors an OpenTable reservation is automatically sent an email inviting them to fill out a feedback form. One exception relates to special types of OpenTable accounts – those for administrative professionals and concierges – that enable people to book reservations on behalf of others. The Dining Feedback program is designed to solicit input from those who were confirmed as having dined in the restaurant. For that reason, administrative and concierge account owners are not invited to participate.

    Our FAQ provides more detail on why some people may not receive a feedback form.

    If none of these issues seems to be the culprit, please let us know and we can investigate further.

    Ann Shepherd
    VP, Marketing
    OpenTable.com
    ashepherd@opentable.com

     

  • At 27/5/08 10:31, Blogger Anita (Married... with dinner) said…

    We use OT at least 2-3 times a month, and I don't think I've ever been asked to fill out a survey... certainly not in the last 6 months or so.

     

  • At 27/5/08 12:20, Blogger Erika said…

    I haven't seen these "feedback" emails often, but I do remember getting a feedback request for Kokkari and Iluna Basque, but not for other places I've dined at here in SF.

     

  • At 27/5/08 13:17, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Nope! And the last 2x I made reservations on OpenTable were somehow 'lost' by the restaurants when I arrived. Ho hum.

     

  • At 27/5/08 15:33, Blogger Sam said…

    Thanks to Ann at Opentable, they have found the problem with my account and are fixing it for me so I will start receiving the feedback forms.

     

  • At 27/5/08 17:06, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    We use OpenTable on almost a weekly basis and for the past month they have emailed surveys for the reservations. Timely, as one or two restaurants were under par from previous experiences.

     

  • At 29/5/08 07:44, Blogger Jean Z. said…

    Great site. Quite professional.
    Keep up the tremendous job!
    -- Jean

     

  • At 29/5/08 21:20, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    wow.. you earned 100 dollars.. that's great!!!

     

  • At 31/5/08 17:47, Blogger Nikki @ NikSnacks said…

    Every time I use Open Table for reservations they send me an email asking me for feedback. I usually dine at 3 or 4 restaurants in a short time period, so that's probably why...

     

  • At 1/6/08 00:55, Blogger Unknown said…

    The French Laundry is in San Francisco???
    Well, what the heck was the place I took a picture of in Yountville... I know, it must have be Not Yo Momma's Laundry (mat.)

     

  • At 2/6/08 11:46, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Actually, yes, I have received emails asking for my opinion after recent reservations, but I haven't contributed yet. It seems to me that at least as valuable information would be some visibility into the number of reservations a resto gets via OT.

     

  • At 3/6/08 17:25, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'm obsessed with racking up my opentable points, pathetically so. My friends have unfortunately caught on however and when I suggest a restaurant simply because I selfishly want to collect more points, they inquire now bout my motivation. It's so frustrating that they're on to me but I feel guilty for my obsession and usually give in now and let them choose, biting my tongue when it's not a restaurant on the list. At least no one can judge me for flying with the same degenerate airline year after year in order to collect all those frequent flyer miles (which is even more of an obsession for me than opentable). I need a points intervention!

     

  • At 3/6/08 18:45, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    yeah. $100 dollars is great!

     

  • At 5/6/08 20:52, Blogger Anna Haight said…

    Hope you are well- miss your more frequent posts. However, "You Make My Day" and the award goes to you (see my blog for details).

     

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