In other words nothing (kinda like Orbitz VIP status).

I haven't seen any difference either as a VIP member. Has anyone?

opentable is terrific - I use it wherever I travel.... they often have links right to the restaurants so you can look at menus, plus they'll give you great ideas for various holiday meals (New Years, etc)

I have been VIP for quite a while, and I am pretty convinced that it means nothing. Still, they offer a great service!

Darn! The deal DID disappear!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/frown.gif

The unnamed restaurant has apparently stopped participating in OpenTable. So no more 1,000-point, or even 100-point, reservations there. Luckily, they DO still participate in idine.

I wonder if just by mentioning the "deal," even without actually naming the restaurant, I somehow jinxed things. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/wink.gif


Kathy

Kathy:

Check out 2223 -- it participates in both programs. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

Bruno's is back on opentable.com (and still on idine)!
 

The "unnamed restaurant" mentioned in my posts above is Bruno's (Mission/20th Streets, San Francisco).

And I am happy to report that, after a short hiatus, Bruno's is back on opentable.com AND they award idine points. :)

Unfortunately, they aren't participating in the 1,000-point opentable.com specials at the moment. :(

I just had a meal there last night and double-dipped -- 100 opentable.com points PLUS 10 times the bill idine points!

Note: Bruno's does NOT award idine points on Saturdays; all other days of the week it awards 10x points.

I always try to use OpenTable, but not expecting any special treatment. It's just like MyPoints.com, might as well get something out of it. Very handy though.

Great!
 

I just Googled for a restaurant I wanted to call for reservations. MTV's VMA happen here (Miami) Sunday, so I thought the restaurants on the beach might be a little packed. I found OpenTable and booked the restaurant no problem. It was so easy, I added a place for Saturday that I had wanted to try.

The v card for Outlook is a great feature for me. I drag and drop it into Outlook from my desktop. When I sync my Palm Treo phone, I have the reservation there in case the restaurant gives me grief (haven't been yet).

The entire process, including putting the reminder in my calendar, takes one minute.

I love this!

Only thing better would be Kathy's suggestion that there be a list of IDine places that were on OpenTable. In fact, I found myself crossing between the two in hopes that I could find dual entries. I will say this, the OpenTable search criteria is MUCH better $-$$$$, etc.

Sam

Restaurants seem to leave idine pretty frequently. Bruno's is no longer listed on idine, though it IS still on OpenTable. Bruno's doesn't seem to be offering any 1,000-point OpenTable deals at the moment. (And their cuisine has changed from Italian to Southern, according to the OpenTable website; why fix what ain't broke??? :mad: )

One time, OpenTable was able to get me a table at a preferred time (Friday 7:00), instead of the dreaded before 6 or after 9:30 when calling the restaurant. Otherwise, I see no difference between phone & OpenTable reservations.

uuummm....free money? The convenience of not having to deal with the attitude of some 20 year old snotty girl who thinks the world owes her something cause she's pretty?

Phone reservations don't earn you points towards dining. Or did you happen to miss that detail?

I used opentable.com in SF once (Plumpjack) and Oakland (Oliveto) and wouldn't hesitate to use it again. I like the flexiblity of being able to change reservation times, if available, without the hassle of calling up the restaurant and hoping someone answers or is available.

My girlfriend used opentable to make us a reservation for my birthday this year. Only problem--the restaurant was not open that day and opentable didn't know it until about 10 days beforehand, when we suddenly got an e-mail cancelling the reservation without explanation. Had to call the restaurant to find out why. Seems that if they have a direct tie-in to the restaurant's system, they should have know this sooner. Thankfully we managed to get a reservation somewhere else (this was actually a bit of an issue since we were leaving for Mexico for the week prior to my birthday).

Other times we have not had a problem, but this experience caused us to raise our eyebrows a bit.

I've used it to make several NYC restaurant reservations and haven't had any difficulties. I can't say there are any advantages, other than not having to pick up the phone and call the restaurant. I guess the disadvantage is pretty much the same - you don't get to talk to anyone, so there's no chance of "sweet talking" your way into a table.