I love making reservations using Open Table. Not only is just a couple clicks to do it, but I get points for it too. However, I recently discovered a couple things about using Open Table that aren’t so cool. Did you know that if you click through to their site from a participating restaurant, you don’t get points for that? What the hell, man? I asked them why they did this as it was an inconvenience, and their response was (via Twitter) “OpenTable reservations initiated from other websites are not necessarily eligible for points rewards.” Yeah, not really an answer.

You know they have 1,000 point reservations too, right? But you only get the 1,000 points if you had clicked on that particular link. So, for example, when I made reservations for Cafe Circa, which at the time of this post, has 1,000 points available for any time slot, I didn’t get my 1,000 points as I didn’t start my search from the “1,000 point” link. After I made the reservation online, I had to go back cancel it and begin again. Arrgg!

Oh, lastly, and I think we can all agree on this, is, if I’m making the reservation online, isn’t it because I don’t want to make a phone call? So, when the restaurant leaves me a message telling them to call them back to confirm, it really annoys me. I mean, I don’t even call people I like, why would I call a restaurant??

I’ve been an Open Table user since 2006, right at five years, and I’ve now got 5,000 points, which means I’m eligible for an Open Table dining check for 50 bucks. And it only took me five years!

Don’t get me wrong, Open Table does provide a good service. And I guess some points are better than none. I just despise these “gotchas” especially when you know they are raking in the money from restaurants that pay to be listed on their site. So just thought I’d share these sly tactics to deprive you of your dining points, so you don’t get the shaft next time you use Open Table.

Open Table Website

About Malika

Malika is the author of Food Lovers' Guide to Atlanta and the founder of Atlanta Restaurant Blog. She is also a Digital Marketing and Social Media Consultant.