Dive Brief:

• OpenTable has partnered with UrVenue, a hospitality technology company that offers an advanced booking, ticketing and presale platform, to create a unified resort booking option, according to a press release. OpenTable will power the resort's restaurant booking and operations while UrVenue will offer contactless bookings and operations for all other resort experiences. 
• The platform is expected to provide venues and resorts an ability to upsell, cross-sell, package and bundle experiences. Guests will be able to reserve restaurants, clubs, attractions, pools and recreation through one shopping cart. 
• Much like the restaurant industry, the hotel segment was hit hard during the pandemic, and industry experts expect it to take until 2024 to fully bounce back. This delayed recovery could put restaurants based in hotels, or even ones that rely on nearby hotel guests, at a disadvantage.

​Dive Insight:

OpenTable's partnership with UrVenue will expand the reservation platform further into the hotel space. Earlier this year, OpenTable debuted its first brick-and-mortar restaurant inside Kayak Miami Beach to function as a design innovation lab. OpenTable has been expanding its offerings over the last few years as well, adding Premium Access, a loyalty perk for frequent users that give U.S. diners access to hard-to-book restaurants, last year. 

The one-stop platform with UrVenue could give hotel-based restaurants an additional option to market themselves as part of an overall experience. The booking flow, for example, will allow venues to upsell their experiences with restaurant reservations in real time. This booking experience could resonate with avid travelers. According to a UrVenue survey, 85% of travelers were more likely to book experiences in advance within a resort's website if there was a single shopping cart. Sixty-nine percent said restaurants were their top amenity to add to their itineraries as well. 

Guests will also be able to use interactive 3D venue maps for location-based bookings like individual seats and specific sections, time-based bookings such as restaurant reservations and duration-based bookings, such as rentals, according to the press release. Initial resorts to use the partnership will be Sahara Las Vegas, Resorts World Las Vegas and The Godfrey Hotel & Cabanas Tampa.