Online real-time restaurant-reservation service OpenTable has launched their service here in Australia, set to take on established booking services such as Yumtable and Dimmi.
OpenTable is a US-based company founded in 1998, but operates their booking service in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, the UK and of course the US. The service launched in Australia late last year after taking over bookarestaurant.com in September last year.
The service has access to over 33,000 restaurants, cafes, neighbourhood restaurants globally, but has been busy signing up businesses in Australia for the launch. So far, Open Table has added listings in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth as well as Central, South-East and Far North QLD, the Northern Territory and Tasmania – and they’re looking to sign up more Australian restaurants to their service.
OpenTable operates a website as well as provides an excellent mobile site and for our purposes Android (and iOS) app. Bookings are easily made within the app and there’s no booking fee or cancellation fees, instead OpenTable charges businesses for running the service.
OpenTable requires an account to use, with options for signing up using email, Facebook or Google sign-in. As well as being able to book restaurants, users can also view and review the restaurants in the Android (or iOS apps). Options for users in the app include:
・RESERVE SIMPLY, INSTANTLY, and FREE at thousands of restaurants
・DISCOVER & RESEARCH restaurant reviews, photos, menus, and more
・SEARCH WITH EASE by preference: party size, date, time, cuisine, price, or distance
・MANAGE RESERVATIONS on the go —it’s easy to change, cancel, and re-book
・COORDINATE PLANS with friends by sending OpenTable invitations and adding reservations to calendars
As you can see, the app is actually really well designed, with Material Design well and truly front and centre, from the floating action button and drop shadows to the convenient slide-out Nav drawer.
OpenTable is well presented and there’s restaurants right near me. OpenTable is ready for download from Google Play (or the App Store if that’s your thing).
Finally! Been waiting years for this!