OpenTable has launched a new AI assistant called Concierge, aimed at making it easier for diners to find restaurant details without digging through multiple websites or making calls.
The tool is embedded within restaurant profiles on OpenTable and can answer common questions—such as what dishes suit dietary restrictions, whether a restaurant is casual or upscale, or how to get there. It pulls information from OpenTable’s database of more than 60,000 restaurants and is powered by OpenAI (the makers of ChatGPT) and Perplexity.
“Today’s diners are extremely savvy, and oftentimes they want to know exactly what to order and whether specific needs can be met before they ever step through the door. Concierge makes that effortless,” said OpenTable CTO Sagar Mehta in a statement to iPhone in Canada on Wednesday. He added, “For restaurants, this helps convert browsers into bookers, and can alleviate the amount of time spent fielding questions that diners can now answer on their own.”
OpenTable says future updates will allow Concierge to make bookings on a diner’s behalf.
Recent research from the company shows that 49% of Canadians regularly research restaurants before booking, spending around 17 minutes doing so. Meanwhile, 21% say they’ve ditched a booking because the right information wasn’t easy to find, and 18% opted out to avoid calling or emailing.
Concierge is designed to solve this problem by answering common questions directly in the booking interface. According to OpenTable, many diners are simply looking for basic details like opening hours (48%), menu info (41%), or a restaurant’s address (25%). It shouldn’t be that hard to book a restaurant right?
In addition to Concierge, OpenTable has partnered with voice AI companies like Slang.ai and PolyAI to help restaurants handle customer service more efficiently, along with using Salesforce’s Agentforce to support 24/7 call handling.
Check out the video demo of this new AI concierge below:
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