VIP Restaurant Reservation Membership??

I'm looking into the old "slip the host a $20 to be seated" trick.

The thought is--and assuming the businesses are interested too--would someone be willing to pay $100-500 membership fee to then have access to make an online reservation at 4:30 on a Friday night to Girl and the Goat, Paris Club, Charlie Trotters, Lao Sze Schuan etc? To make each reservation you'd pay anywhere from $10-$50 to jump ahead of opentable reservations or walk-ins.

Does this irritate you, excite you, baffle you?

Pretty sure someone already tried something like this in New York. It pissed off pretty much everyone.

Hi,

For your research, you might consult this thread.

Regards,

jbwheel wrote:To make each reservation you'd pay anywhere from $10-$50 to jump ahead of opentable reservations or walk-ins.

Does this irritate you, excite you, baffle you?

I don't like the idea at all, but I have a question just so I can calibrate how much I don't like it. You say that paying the fee would allow one to jump ahead of opentable reservations. Does this mean that people who were holding opentable reservations (some of them probably holding them for weeks) would get bumped hours before their reservation?

Seems like it would work better if the establishment set aside a few tables for the VIP reservations, and if they're not taken, offer them to walk-ins.

This ends in everybody being pissed off. I thought the Next scalpers were a bunch of jerks for basically taking a reservation for no purpose other than reselling it at a profit. Offering "priority" reservations to hot-ticket restaurants serves no one's interest save for the mope who's expensing his "reservation fee."

How would this even work logistically? You're dealing with a fixed number of seats, so does the person paying the fee displace someone or do you set aside a table or two for the program? And what if several people want the VIP option on the same night? Does it go to the highest bidders?

If it failed in NY, it can't succeed here. There are way more dicks in New York who would think this is a cool concept. Chicago has been more egalitarian (but we're getting our share of dicks as well).

Put me down as a "never" vote and if a restaurant were to buy into this nonsense then I would gladly remove them from my list of places to eat.

jbwheel,

Is this a school project or are you considering this as a business?

Whatever bribes I have made, it usually involved a package of cigarettes or a bottle of vodka. You'd be amazed at what I could accomplish, though that was in another life.

Regards,