Halfseat vs
OpenTable.
These two are not really competitors, and any venue comparing them should know that before they start. OpenTable is a reservation system: you run your diary on it and pay for the privilege. Halfseat is a channel: it fills the seats your diary could not, and pays you for them. Most of our venues use both.
| OpenTable | Halfseat | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Reservation and table management software, plus a diner network | A same-day demand channel. Not a diary, not software to replace |
| Who pays | The venue: a monthly subscription plus a fee per cover booked through their network | The diner pays a booking fee. The venue is paid, never charged |
| Venue's share per booking | Negative. It is a cost line | £3 to £8 per booking by party size, same on every tier |
| Monthly cost to the venue | Subscription, tiered by features | £0 on the free tier. Pro is £25/month and optional |
| Booking window | Any date, any time, months ahead | Tonight only, released by the venue each afternoon at 4pm |
| What the diner gets | A normal reservation at full price, plus loyalty points | Half off the food bill. Drinks full price |
| Which tables it touches | All of them. It is your book | Only the seats the venue flags as genuinely going to be empty |
| Contract | Subscription commitment | None. List when you choose, no exclusivity |
| Switching cost | High. It holds your reservation history | Nil. It sits alongside whatever diary you already run |
| Scale | Global, tens of thousands of restaurants | Brighton and Sussex. Bristol and Bath next |
One is a cost, the other is revenue
This is the whole comparison in one line. OpenTable's model is that you pay to be found: a subscription for the software, and a fee for each cover that arrives through their network. That is a reasonable trade if the covers are incremental. It is a worse trade for the cover who would have phoned you anyway.
Halfseat inverts it. The diner pays the fee, and from £3 of it lands in the venue's account. There is no monthly cost on the free tier. A Halfseat cover cannot be a cover you would have sold at full price, because the venue chooses which tables to release, that afternoon, knowing exactly how the night is shaping up.
Why you would keep OpenTable
Because it does a job we deliberately do not do. OpenTable is a real reservation system: floor plans, covers management, POS integration, guest history, a waitlist. If that is how you run service, keep running it. We are not asking anyone to move their diary, and we never will.
The question is not which one to use. It is what to do about a Tuesday at 7pm with eleven covers on the book and thirty seats in the room. OpenTable will sell those seats if someone happens to search. Halfseat puts them in front of people who are deciding where to eat in the next two hours, and pays you when they do.
Run both. That's the point.
No exclusivity, no contract, no migration. Keep your diary where it is, and release the tables you would otherwise lose.