NEW YORK, United States: Restaurant reservation apps increasingly place prime tables behind credit-card benefits and paid memberships across major US cities.
The WSJ reported Friday that the pattern now extends beyond New York and Los Angeles to high-end restaurants nationwide.
American Express-owned Resy offers exclusive reservations and priority cancellation alerts to eligible Platinum cardholders through Global Dining Access.
OpenTable also gives qualifying Visa and Chase customers access to selected prime-time bookings. OpenTable told the Journal that fewer than 1% of its 70,000 restaurants received payments for reserved access-program tables.
DoorDash expanded into bookings following its acquisition of SevenRooms in June 2025. Restaurant owners told the Journal they received offers of $ 5 to $7 million to switch platforms after the deal. Paid middlemen add another layer.
TableOne scrapes new inventory and charges about 10,000 subscribers $129 annually across eight cities, according to the report.
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Dorsia uses multiple access tiers, while its official FAQ lists a $200 basic annual subscription. New York has prohibited third-party services from arranging unauthorised reservations since February 2025.
The state law followed complaints that automated services hoarded free bookings and resold them without restaurant consent. However, platform competition can also create the appearance of scarcity.
A restaurant may look fully booked on one app because another service controls available inventory, the Journal found. Calling the restaurant directly may therefore reveal tables that never appeared in a diner’s preferred app.
