Deals

OpenTable Partners With Savored, Launches Another Daily Deal Thing

Epic Roasthouse and Le Colonial are among the current discount offerings on launch day in S.F.
Epic Roasthouse and Le Colonial are among the current discount offerings on launch day in S.F. Photo: Savored/OpenTable

So you know how OpenTable already tried to get into the daily-deal-site game with Groupon-like Spotlight? That must not have been working out as well as they’d hoped, and they’ve now partnered with Savored (the site formerly known as Village Vines) to offer 30 percent off at “high-end” restaurants for a mere $10 buy-in. The program launches today in San Francisco, will soon launch in nine more cities, and it works like this: You see the deals on the site — currently 48 restaurants are participating in S.F. — you click and pay your $10, make your reservation, and your discount will be automatically applied to your bill. It’s much more classy and discreet, you see, than waving around Groupon print-outs.

It’s also quite similar to Blackboard Eats, except that the deal costs you $10 instead of being free, and you don’t need to whisper to anyone that you have a discount code.

As for the whole “high-end” positioning thing … well, if the list in S.F. is any indication, that’s kind of a stretch. You’ve got a couple of legitimately high-end destinations (Saison, Chez TJ), but we’d hardly put Luna Park or Triptych or most of the others in that category.

But Savored CEO Benjamin McKean tells the Times his service has proven favorable to restaurants who can opt-in at the last minute (like when the dining room is looking empty some weeknight) without tarnishing their image. “[These deal sites] can make it look like you need to offer a discount to get people in the door. For us, [the restaurants are] doing it truly as yield management.”

Open Table Offers Daily Deals With Savored [Bits/NYT]
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OpenTable Partners With Savored, Launches Another Daily Deal Thing