81–87 of 87 posts
You've found market price when buyers complain but still pay.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's what I'm thinking. I'm already working on a startup, so I'll give this one away for free. Build the web app portion that allows reservations to be made from the customers perspective, just like they have now. Integrate it with Twilio so that the restaurant receives an automated call and can confirm/deny the reservation on their end, without having to deal with a bunch of new hardware. You just tell them that t…
You're missing half of the equation - It's not just the act of performing the reservation, it allows customers to search for to see if which restaurants have availability (and at what time). You can't do that unless you have access to all of their seating data, including walk-ins.
solves the problem of having access to seating data and provides a compelling upgrade option compared to alternatives. hardware just needs to be a "dumb" Internet terminal (likely with a touch screen and print capabilities).
One thing I've noticed about OpenTable is that usually when I can't make a reservation through their service (e.g. when it says there are no available times left) I can still call the restaurant and be accommodated. After doing this a few times now, it's made me wonder about the value-added for the restaurant-goer as well as for the restaurant. It seems like in these situations, OpenTable is just getting in the way o…
One thing I've noticed about OpenTable is that usually when I can't make a reservation through their service (e.g. when it says there are no available times left) I can still call the restaurant and be accommodated. After doing this a few times now, it's made me wonder about the value-added for the restaurant-goer as well as for the restaurant. It seems like in these situations, OpenTable is just getting in the way o…
this is mostly speculation, but my guess based on experience is that most places only allow opentable to book one or two tables per time slot. i've been rejected several times by a few places and instead walked in to a not particularly crowded place.
I'm pretty sure a lot of restaurants set aside a certain amount of tables/times as OT inventory.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's being massively shorted by the hedge funds. Just out of curiosity, who are "the hedge funds" and how do you know this? Is there some way of researching who is shorting what?
You can see what the short interest is on a stock to get a gauge of how shorted it is. Plus if you have access to one of the online idea boards for hedge funds, you can see the write ups from analysts that believe OpenTable is a short -- sometimes they disclose whether or not their fund is short the company as well. I am counting 4 of those write ups right now.
Any more info on these?
I've looked at how OPEN's vulnerable a couple of times. What's not covered yet in these comments are the host's notes on each diner. When I make a reso, if the restaurant has made a note about me (tips great, gets pissy about being near the kitchen/lav, hard of hearing, whatever), it comes up when I check in. Those notes are not shared between restaurants. There seems to be no global diner profile in the system and t…
I've looked at how OPEN's vulnerable a couple of times. What's not covered yet in these comments are the host's notes on each diner. When I make a reso, if the restaurant has made a note about me (tips great, gets pissy about being near the kitchen/lav, hard of hearing, whatever), it comes up when I check in. Those notes are not shared between restaurants. There seems to be no global diner profile in the system and t…
this gets at something i am working on right now