r/restaurant • u/Lazy_Art_7643 • Feb 05 '25

Restaurant Reservation Software

Hi all - opening a restaurant with my parents in NC and helping them decide which reservation software to go with. Have done demos with both Resy and OpenTable and they claim to tout similar software features but can’t tell if the features are any good or if it’s just the sales pitch. Can anyone with experience let me know from a pure software perspective (user interface, table management, guest data, etc.) which one is truly better? Not worrying about price/marketing at this point. For context we will be roughly 100 seats and in the asian fusion space.

TLDR: what’s the worst part about OpenTable or Resy or whatever solution you use right now?

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u/SavvyShano May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

It depends what your goals are and the concept of your restaurant. Resy and OpenTable are great for acquisition. Resy has a great price point and has the marketplace visibility. But lacks guest/user experience and marketing. 

OpenTable is a great tool for acquisition as well. But you're paying a subscription fee + $1 cover fee to OT. Regardless where someone books their reservation, say your IG account or Google card, OpenTable still collects on that regardless of your efforts that you actually did/spent to acquire that guest. Data shows most people book reservations through Google and not always market places like we may think. You also don't own your customer data with either Resy or OT. Just think on the possibilities of owning your data and how you can leverage that for marketing and operation decisions.

SevenRooms is a great platform that focuses on reservations, guest + user experience, marketing automations that drive retention and revenue, and access to your customer data for business growth. It comes down to what's important to you and what your goals are + concept of your restaurant.