Starting today, OpenTable has made some new changes when it comes to redeeming OpenTable points, though they aren’t all good changes. Before, when you dined you would earn 100 points per reservation, and once you earned 2,000 points you would be able to redeem for $20 OpenTable check, good at ANY OpenTable restaurant.
Well, OpenTable has announced a major devaluation today, where they are essentially slashing redemption prices by 50%. The good news is they have added Amazon gift cards which you can redeem for, but 2,000 points will only get you a $10 Amazon.com gift card, (meaning you’re losing 50% value than before).
If you want to redeem for restaurants, you still can, but you’ll no longer recieve an OpenTable check. Instead, you’ll have to choose a Dining Reward Gifts, which you have to select the restaurant in advance, but note that MOST restaurants are not eligible for redemption, so the selection is quite limiting.
Anyways, OpenTable states that these new Dining Rewards Gifts may only be redeemed through gifts.opentable.com/for gift cards which can be used at participating U.S. restaurants. If you have a particular restaurant in mind, please visit gifts.opentable.com/ to confirm if it is a participating restaurant.
Bottom Line
What do you think about this latest devaluation from OpenTable? Will you continue to use their service?
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I probably will. The real issue is that before, you could take the check to any OpenTable restaurant, now only a few will accept these new certificates. For example, in Manhattan, there are about 1,800 OpenTable restaurants, but less than 300 will take these new certificates. There are some nice places on the list however, so they can still be used.
At least it’s not as bad as a Restaurant.com certificate. Those are useless.
You really didn’t publish the comment I submitted last night?
having problem redeming my points
How do I find out what restaurants in my area will accept an open table voucher? The two that we frequent the most, give us points, but don’t accept them. What is the deal with that? We spend over $50 a night and can’t even get a $20 voucher? Please send me a list in the Lakewood Ranch Fl area that honors them. What’s the sense in going to restaurants, spending money and they are not honored? Example….Stonewoodgrill and Seasons 52. Both north Sarasota. Thank you for your help.
Please send me a list of Vancouver restaurants that allow you to use your points for redemption towards dinner.
On the new points redemption thing, we don’t go to any of the ‘participating restaurants’ that are listed. What happened to the former method of redeeming at any OpenTable location ? That’s how one gets the points to begin with! It makes no sense that points are earned at many restaurants, but can only be redeemed at a few.
The list of restaurants is abysmally small. Here in Tucson Arizona there are only four restaurants accepting OpenTable certificates. What’s the value to diners? It’s hard to come up with an acceptable response.
Sorely disappointed. This is a ripoff. We have been using Open Table since they started. Where is the competition? I would just like a reservation service – no points necessary. The hell with their $1 reward.
open table is just annoying – no real value. Not sure why they let restaurants participate if they won’t take an open table credit.
Very disappointed in the new redemption format. None of the restaurants I frequent accept Open Table Gifts. There are some in areas where I vacation so I guess I’ll just wait to redeem until I’m ready to travel. I liked the dining checks much more.
I use OpenTable for its ease in making reservations to so many restaurants. The points thing doesn’t bother me at all because I never redeemed them. Though I just made a 1000pt reservation (idk why it’s so much), the little $10 Amazon card seems like a nice “thank you”. People are spoiled these days.
The title of this article says that you shouldn’t exchange your points food an Amazon gift card, but the article never says why you shouldn’t. Seems to me that an Amazon card has some advantages. If you go for an Opentable gift card, it’s a gamble. You might get $20, you might get $10, or you might not find any restaurant you like and get nothing. That’s what happened with my last card. I ended up not using it because all the choices sucked. If you get the Amazon card, at least you know you’re getting $10 with no hassle. Why is that a bad choice?