After an internal investigation, OpenTable fired the employee. During the week of February 18, Reserve’s executives quietly contacted OpenTable and shared their evidence.
VOX MEDIA LAW FIRES HUNDREDS WRITERS SOFTWARE
Despite attempts by the OpenTable employee to hide traces of their identity, Reserve’s software engineers tracked the IP addresses, which led them to OpenTable. Reserve declined to share the specifics of its security protocols. “Our commitment to reducing no shows made this egregious behavior by a former OpenTable employee all the more painful,” an OpenTable statement read. OpenTable has a “four strikes” user policy where an account is deactivated if there are four no-shows over the course of 12 months. They also purport to reduce the risk of no-shows, which are a well-documented huge problem in the restaurant industry, costing restaurants thousands of dollars by taking away dining-room availability from interested diners. In wooing restaurants, these reservation-booking services promise they’ll keep costs low while offering restaurants exposure. In addition to Reserve, OpenTable rivals include Resy (a company started by Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal) and Tock. “Why would they stoop to the level of undermining the competition and hurting the restaurants that went to that competition?” OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles Christopher Michel/Flickr “If you’re the biggest guy on the block, you’re supposed to lead by example,” Tavern on the Park co-owner Peter de Castro said. It was targeted after it switched to Reserve in June 2017. Case in point: Tavern, a Downtown Chicago restaurant that overlooks Millennium Park, used OpenTable after opening in 2007. Regardless, several Chicago restaurateurs - including Presidio, City Mouse, and Tavern on the Park - that fell victim are furious. OpenTable claimed this was an isolated, rogue employee. Wesner and Reserve CEO Greg Hong said this was the only time they’ve ever tracked such behavior, which they don’t believe is criminal in nature. It’s difficult to estimate how much money the scheme cost the affected restaurants: In some cases, they were able to fill some of the falsely booked seats with last-minute reservation seekers. Reserve attempted to cancel suspicious reservations and alerted the restaurants. They then began more carefully examining their data. Reserve’s software engineers noticed a spike in prospective fraudulent activity on the afternoon of February 14. The scheme started in December and peaked on Valentine’s Day, a notoriously busy and profitable day for restaurants. We have begun reaching out to the restaurants and are committed to making it right.”Īccording to Reserve, the former OpenTable employee created several email accounts to make fake reservations. When this activity was brought to our attention, we swiftly investigated and the employee was terminated immediately. OpenTable confirmed that it fired the employee in question and had this to say: “We extend our sincerest apologies to the restaurants in Chicago that were impacted by the disgraceful, unsanctioned activity of a lone OpenTable employee. Reserve’s security team conducted an investigation and brought that evidence to OpenTable and started a dialogue between the two rivals. “This was obviously done with the intent to harm Reserve,” said Reserve COO Michael Wesner. Reserve and several Chicago restaurant workers allege that the employee, who remains unnamed, wanted to convince those Reserve customers that OpenTable was a better product and intended to use the no-shows in their sales pitches. Last week, OpenTable confirmed it fired an employee who made several hundred reservations at restaurants using Reserve, which resulted in hundreds of no-shows over the course of the past three months.
OpenTable, the market leader in the online restaurant-booking world, is embroiled in a scheme that affected 45 Chicago restaurants that use Reserve, an OpenTable rival.
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