Holders of certain Visa cards will now be able to get exclusive reservations at popular restaurants on OpenTable.
The two companies on Tuesday unveiled the OpenTable & Visa Dining Collection, which will give Visa customers special access to tables and culinary events at restaurants across the country.
The program launched Tuesday in Chicago and Los Angeles and by next year will encompass more than 500 restaurants in 34 North American cities. Holders of Visa Infinite and Infinite Privilege cards are eligible for the perk today, and the companies plan to extend it to more cards in the future.
The program is designed to both offer value to Visa cardholders and drive incremental business to restaurants.
“We are thrilled to work with Visa to introduce their cardholders to amazing dining experiences and support the growing number of incredible restaurants on our platform in the process,” said OpenTable CEO Debby Soo in a statement. She also said that OpenTable is adding hundreds of sought-after restaurants to its platform this year.
The deal comes as Visa rival American Express makes an aggressive push into reservations with the acquisitions of OpenTable competitors Tock and Resy. Like Visa, Amex offers cardholders reservations and other VIP benefits at restaurants when customers book through those platforms.
Reservations at trendy restaurants have generally been harder to get post-pandemic, so much so that there is now a secondary market for bookings. In that context, being able to get a table by virtue of having a certain credit card could be seen as a considerable perk for foodies.
Restaurants currently available in the OpenTable & Visa Dining Collection include Rose Mary and Virtue in Chicago and Bestia and Kato in Los Angeles. Restaurants in New York City, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., are coming soon.
The program will also cover Atlanta, Austin, Charleston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, and Seattle in the U.S.; Banff, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver in Canada; and Cancun, Los Cabos, Mexico City, and Monterrey in Mexico.
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