Restaurant reservations, dining discovery, restaurant technology, table management, reviews, Booking Holdings, hospitality software, and online booking marketplace

OpenTable

OpenTable is a restaurant reservation website and app that helps diners find and book tables while giving restaurants tools for availability, seating, guest management, reviews, and hospitality operations.

Core service

OpenTable connects diners with restaurant reservations and gives restaurants technology for managing tables, availability, guests, and operations.

Scale

Booking Holdings says OpenTable helps more than 65,000 restaurants worldwide fill 1.9 billion seats a year.

Parent company

OpenTable is part of Booking Holdings, the company that also owns travel brands such as Booking.com and KAYAK.

OpenTable is a restaurant reservation website, dining discovery app, and restaurant technology platform.View image on original site

What OpenTable is

OpenTable is a restaurant reservation website and mobile app. On OpenTable, diners can search restaurants, compare available times, read reviews, reserve tables, and discover places for specific cuisines, neighborhoods, occasions, and party sizes.

How reservations work

The diner-facing site is only one side of the system. Restaurants set availability, party sizes, booking rules, floor plans, waitlists, and timing inside OpenTable's restaurant tools. When a diner books a slot, the reservation enters the restaurant's operating workflow rather than staying as a simple website form.

For diners

OpenTable helps people turn a broad dining question into a specific booking. Users can browse restaurants nearby, search by date and time, filter by cuisine or price, check photos and menus, read diner reviews, save favorites, and manage reservations from the website or app.

For restaurants

For restaurants, OpenTable is a hospitality technology platform. Its tools can support reservations, table management, guest notes, demand patterns, reviews, marketing, payments, experiences, and operational decisions. The value is not just filling seats, but making the dining room easier to plan and run.

Part of Booking Holdings

Booking Holdings describes OpenTable as a global restaurant technology brand within its portfolio. That connection matters because OpenTable sits beside travel and booking brands, but its focus is dining rather than flights, hotels, or home rentals.

Why it matters

Restaurant reservation platforms change how diners choose where to eat and how restaurants manage demand. They can reduce phone calls, make availability visible, collect reviews, and help restaurants plan staffing and seating. They can also shape which restaurants get discovered, how booking fees are understood, and how much control restaurants keep over guest relationships.

Limits and tradeoffs

A reservation platform cannot guarantee the full dining experience. Availability can change, restaurant policies vary, cancellation rules may apply, and reviews are only one kind of signal. For restaurants, the tradeoffs can include platform costs, dependency on marketplace visibility, and the need to coordinate online bookings with walk-ins, phone bookings, and private events.

WHOIS domain data

Data pulled: May 19, 2026View current WHOIS record

Domain: opentable.com
IP address: 23.48.203.110
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.
WHOIS server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Created: January 17, 1999
Updated: August 2, 2024
Expires: January 17, 2029
Nameservers: a12-67.akam.net (184.26.160.67); a11-66.akam.net (84.53.139.66); a28-65.akam.net (95.100.173.65); a13-64.akam.net (2.22.230.64); a1-93.akam.net (193.108.91.93)
Domain status: clientDeleteProhibited; clientTransferProhibited; clientUpdateProhibited
Contact privacy: Registrant organization is listed as OpenTable, Inc. in the US, with registrant and technical email contact handled through MarkMonitor request forms.

Key concepts

Reservation marketplacea platform where diners search restaurant availability and book tables.
Table managementrestaurant software for planning seating, timing, walk-ins, waitlists, and dining-room flow.
Diner networkthe audience of people using the site or app to discover and reserve restaurants.
Restaurant profilea public listing with availability, reviews, photos, menus, location, and booking rules.

Website features

Restaurant search by city, neighborhood, cuisine, date, time, party size, price, and occasion.
Reservation pages with available times, reviews, photos, menus, maps, policies, and restaurant details.
Mobile app tools for booking, modifying, canceling, saving favorites, and finding nearby tables.
Restaurant-facing tools for reservations, waitlists, seating, guest information, marketing, and operations.

Common misconceptions

OpenTable is not the restaurant itself; it is a booking and technology platform used by participating restaurants.
A reservation confirmation does not remove restaurant-specific policies, timing rules, or cancellation conditions.
Reviews can help comparison, but they do not guarantee a particular meal, service experience, or table location.
Not every restaurant uses OpenTable, and availability shown online may differ from walk-in or direct-call possibilities.

Open questions

How should reservation platforms balance restaurant control with diner convenience?
How transparent should booking fees, cancellation rules, and promoted placements be in restaurant search?
Can reservation tools help restaurants manage demand without making popular tables harder for regulars to access?
How will AI assistants change restaurant discovery, booking, reviews, and personalized dining recommendations?