How booking a table became the next big tech power grab

For years, OpenTable operated as the undisputed default for restaurant reservations. If a restaurant took bookings online, chances were good it was using OpenTable. That dominance is now being tested in ways the company has not faced before. Resy has grown aggressively since American Express acquired it in 2019, expanding the number of restaurants on its platform by more than five times. Meanwhile DoorDash, a company most people associate with delivery, made a significant move into the hospitality space by acquiring SevenRooms in 2025, signaling that the battle for restaurants goes well beyond who shows up at the door with a bag of food. Credit card companies have noticed what is happening. Chase has struck partnerships with both OpenTable and DoorDash, using dining access as a way to make its cards more attractive to holders. American Express is doing the same through Resy. What started as a competition between reservation platforms has quietly turned into something much larger, with some of the biggest names in finance now picking sides.