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TableXChange

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Enjoy TableXchange while it lasts. The online table reservation service started by some guys in finance seems to accomplish what it purports to do — buy/sell table reservations from those turtles who’ve had the foresight to make reservations far enough in advance. Sellers set the price, which as of Sun topped off at $35 for tables (max price is $40) this weekend in NYC and the Hamptons.

Co-founder Gabriel Erbst tells NewYorkology: “We really by no means are trying to make it harder for anyone to get a reservation.”

Sellers are limited to a max of 3 posts at a time, and TableXchange will restrict, depending on the size of the restaurant, the number of tables for sale from one to several.

My thoughts on the outcome of these types of services (PrimeTimeTables, Weekend Epicure) are either that the quality of what’s available on OpenTable is about to get pretty bad, and/or an outcome similar to those of a commenter described on Eater:

I have seen the future… And it look like this:

“Hello. Casa Mono…”

“Hi, this is Mike Hawk. I’m wondering if you had any openings for Saturday, August 4th - there’ll be four of us.”

“Okay, Mr. Hawk, let me take a look and see what we can do for you… How does 8:30 sound?”

“Perfect. Put us down. Will there be any time constraints on the table?

“Of course not, Mr. Hunt, the table is yours for the evening.”

“Great.”

“I’ll just need a credit card number to secure your reservation.”

“No problem. But what if I’d like to pay cash?”

“That’s not a problem, sir. You’ll just need to present the card when you pay. Otherwise there’ll be a $75 per person surcharge.”

“Oh, you mean to stop those morons at those table scalping auction sites who make this process more expensive and time consuming for everyboby else…”

“Exactly.”

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