There are no benefits to VIP status. I'm a VIP. The website says they flag your reservation so that the restaurant may choose to offer special services (of some indeterminate form). But has anyone ever gotten anything out of being an OpenTable VIP? :confused:

Nope - never gotten ANYTHING as a VIP w/ OT for the past several years. Oh well - it's a great service!

I am moving to Dining Buzz.....

I use open table all the time, but only since it is very easy to book through them. I have no idea how many points I have, and really don't care.

The only trouble I've had is when a restaurant where we're well known just ushered us to the table and didn't bother to check their list. Open table reported us as a no-show, but a response along the lines of "we were very much there, Joe greeted us, Sally was our server, the specials were x y and, we had blah blah blah" was the last we heard of the matter.

I am a new user, but i can tell you in New York City many restaurant might be fully booked on thur, fri, sat, and if you check opentable 50% of the time you will see they have a spot . . . convenient even just for this.

I use Opentable a lot (and just noticed I am a VIP! - probably have been for a while - though cannot say I have ever noticed any different treatment). In some cities like Las Vegas, Chicago, or Orlando, I find that most of the restaurants I am interested in (as a business visitor) are on it - and often it is easier to make a reservation online vs. calling. Have earned probably $200+ in dining checks and been able to use them without issue except once (was refused - no big deal - used it a week later).

To add on to nick_marquise's comment - there have been several times where a restaurant had no reservations (either online or on the phone), so I made other plans, but checked back at opentable before leaving - only to find a reservation had opened up at choice #1. Since many of the restaurants are using opentable to maximize their seat utilization, when they get a cancelation it appears almost immediately online (some hold back or have a cutoff time, but most do not). I also use opentable a lot on my mobile phone when we are out and decide we are hungry - great quick snapshot of where we can eat within the next 15 minutes with no wait.

I don't think its so much of a tangible benefit - but since they started the VIP thing I've noticed I get table visits from the management team at random restaurants (random being places that I haven't frequented before) more frequently than normal. If nothing else, I think it flags you as someone who dines out quite frequently - so some restaurants probably use that to gauge who they might want to add to their roster of regulars?

I use it a lot and for some of the more popular places here it is easier than a phone call. I'm working on my third $10 voucher.

Re: the VIP status... I have noticed the "random table visits" too.

I have noticed since I am VIP that I am not getting nearly the amount of calls requesting me to confirm my reservation. In fact, I don't think I have had one. It could be a coincidence, or it may not be.

I think the main benefit of being an Opentable VIP would be the ability to list it as one more program in one's FT profile... :D

I also love Opentable. I have found that they're not very good at catching you when you make a booking and forget to cancel and get the points anyway. They are supposed to "ding" you and if you do it a lot, they cancel your account.

Never hurts to call...
 

Each restaurant has a lot of leeway in deciding what % of their inventory to upload at any given moment. If you have a strong preference in place/time and you don't see availability on OpenTable I find 50% of the time I can get my preference by calling.

YMMV

I have had occasional problems importing the reservation into outlook; Twice I've had reservations for 6:30pm and it sorts into my outlook as 7pm. Some kind of bug?

Otherwise, great service. I hate having to deal with anything by phone these days. Also great at the last minute to see which restaurants have availability on a given night. I used it for Boston Restaurant Week with great results.

Anybody try redeeming their opentable points earned in the US for a UK voucher.

Seems like a much better deal.

Its fantastic for Restaurant Weeks! Here in Dallas, the "choice" nights/restaurants go really early but Open Table is a great way to watch the list and "bid up". Among my friends, we usually rank our favorites and then grab what we can for a particular night and then I watch and grab "new" tables (and discard the old) as better choices become available. This year we made it to all but two of our top choices although one we got at the eleventh hour (when we had taken a night off due to a lack of good options).