In New York, the black market for restaurant accommodations under spotlight

Have you ever dreamed of being able to dine at Carbone, Cote or Raoul’sbut have you never been able to book a table there? Some restaurants in New York are very difficult, if not nearly impossible, to get to. Very strong demand and voluntary restrictions on the part of certain addresses to create a buzz effect have made it difficult to get a seat or two in these famous and very busy addresses. To fill this gap, smart people have stepped into the breach and created curated resale sites. These sites are called Career Trader or Cita Marketplace.

Specifically, people who have a reservation in a restaurant can offer it for resale. A lucrative business for some that has generated real income. Their approach: to know all the tips for the hardest to book tables in town. Carbone, for example, opens reservations one month in advance, every day at 10 am, with priority for American Express card holders. The fastest will get a record, which they can then offer for resale on these specific sites. They can charge, for a single reservation, up to hundreds of dollars for the most popular restaurants and times of the week. Some customers are willing to pay the requested amount, not to mention having to add the food bill as well. When we love, it is obvious that some do not count!

The law to prevent resale

Problem: this system, which borders on legality, has caused several undesirable effects. New York State Assemblyman Alex Bores actively supported legislation proposed by Senator Nathalia Fernandez, the Restaurant Anti-Piracy Act, aimed at ending the black market in reservations. “This practice raises serious problems, he trusts. For diners, this increases the number of unsatisfactory showings (no-shows on the reserved day) and affects their turnover. Restaurants also need to be in control and know who is booking a table with them, and with this system, it is impossible for them to know the identity of the people who come to their building. »

These new types of sites are also a problem for restaurant customers. “This system is supposed to get into these famous boards in fact it has made things even more difficult, follows Alex Bores. The tables are haunted by people who know all the tricks and this is special. The average customer no longer has the opportunity to book in certain places, not to mention that this inevitably increases the bill. »

Hundreds of dollars to reserve

The law proposed by the deputy was passed by the New York legislature. It is now on the governor’s desk who, as soon as she signs it, will require these resale sites to get permission from these restaurants before they bring tables for resale. Among the establishments concerned, the French restaurant Maison Close is one of the most popular. On weekends, the place is always packed. On reseller sites, third parties sometimes ask for hundreds of dollars to transfer their reservation.

“The adoption of this law will be a good thing for customers, because reservations do not have to be paid for, trust the two owners of the place, Thibaut Castet and Theliau Probst. But personally, even if we noticed this phenomenon, we didn’t have a big impact on it: we put systems in place to avoid showings, by asking for reservation confirmation systematically. Unconfirmed bookings will be automatically canceled ». When the law is signed, it will be the first of its kind to be adopted at the level of an entire American state.