Some Illinois state lawmakers are proposing legislation that would ban third-party companies from selling restaurant reservations online. Other states are considering something similar after New York passed a law last year. NBC 5’s Vi Nguyen has reactions from both sides.
Some Illinois lawmakers are proposing a legislation that would ban third-party service companies from selling restaurant reservations online.
Other states like California, Nevada, and Florida are considering similar proposals after New York passed a law last year.
Margaret Croke, who is the State Representative for Illinois' 12th District is one of the sponsors of the bill that would ban the illegal sale of restaurants reservations online.
“I think this is going to help you get the reservation that you been wanting from that fun hot new restaurant that for some reason you’re racking your brain and why you can’t do this,” Croke said.
Croke is backing the proposed ordinance after running into problems herself trying to book a table at popular restaurants downtown.
“This doesn’t impact Resy, Open Table, Tock, actually those organizations have been in favor of legislations like this across the country,” she said. “This really impacts only those third-party vendors who are using bots and sometimes they are using individuals, but they’re actually taking something that is free and reselling them.”
She’s been working with the Illinois Restaurant Association, which drafted the ordinance.
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“I think it will allow the customers of these restaurants to get these restaurants, and it would reduce no shows, which also helps the employees because you know, a lot of these third-party apps they’ll make reservations and people won’t show,” IRA president Sam Toia said.
Known as the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act, it would ban third-party reservation service companies from listing, advertising, promoting, or selling reservations unless there’s a written agreement between the third party and the restaurant.
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“Customers shouldn’t have to compete with bots or predatory third-parties’ resellers they should not,” he said.
One of the third-party companies is Appointment Trader. Founder Jonas Frey told NBC Chicago he feels as though his small company is being targeted and argues restaurants do not own the reservations, but the consumers.
“It’s not the restaurant’s reservations, it’s the person’s reservation,” Jonas Frey, Appointment Trader's founder said. “It shouldn’t be prohibited that you sell what you own if you change your mind, especially if you have to be liable for no show fee if you don’t go—that’s crazy then there’s a restriction on what you can do with it.”
The platform launched in 2021 and has more than 80,000 active users. The website and app allow users to list, trade, and sell their appointments or reservations. Frey said they have piracy measures and metrics in place to combat against bots and scalpers.
“If every restaurant had the ability to dictate how their reservation can be sold it’s not going to be an actually free market so I can’t see how that could benefit any consumer,” he said. “We are the one that puts the little guy that generally does not have the ability have access to restaurants like this into those restaurants and they claim that we are hurting restaurants because we generate no shows and that’s literally made up.”
The proposed bill passed the committee unanimously, according to State Rep. Croke. The bill now heads to the House floor.
