SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenTable, the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN), today announced details of major updates to its flagship restaurant management product GuestCenter.

Designed to focus on availability and customization of the restaurant, the new functionality gives restaurateurs greater control over the number of diners they welcome through their doors and where they seat them. Including when they accept large parties and how they structure specific times within service, meaning they can seat more diners more efficiently.

The update also enables restaurants to show availability for non-traditional seating. Opening up bar-side, high-top, counter and outdoor areas for reservations, giving maximum choice to diners over where they are seated.

"The latest product enhancements to GuestCenter increase the value that restaurants can gain from working with OpenTable to more effectively manage their availability and streamline operations to seat more diners, control party sizes and accommodate those looking for a more unique dining experience," said Christa Quarles, CEO, OpenTable.

Quarles added, "We understand that restaurateurs are constantly juggling competing priorities and our goal is to help them operate more efficiently. They know when they want to make tables available, when they may receive more walk-ins, when they can accommodate large parties and when they have bar-side or outside space available. The enhancements to GuestCenter ensure these options can be easily implemented and made available to diners. Our technology ensures that operations are tailored to each restaurant's specific needs so that they can deliver great hospitality night after night."  

The key benefits of the GuestCenter product updates to restaurants will include:

• Even greater control over the diner flow through each service period
• Categorization of table types to create additional availability by making bar-side, counter, high-top and outdoor seating bookable
• Define large party size seating times for bigger groups at times when the restaurant can best accommodate them
• Customization of shift periods within a service to offer different availability by peak and off-peak times

"I like to tinker a lot with my dining room setup and the new features in GuestCenter have been great for me. We've seen an increase in overall covers and we've been able to accommodate many more requests for large party sizes, while still keeping space open for walk-ins when we want it," said Ben Rogers, General Manager at The Promontory. "The product is intuitive and I've been able to give my host team more leeway and freedom to optimize availability."

GuestCenter is OpenTable's flagship cloud-based hospitality product for global restaurants. The product has been designed and custom-built from the ground up to help restaurants optimize their service and benefit from data-driven insights to ensure their restaurant runs as efficiently as possible. Available on iPad and desktop, GuestCenter provides restaurants with marketing and table management tools, enabling them to take round the clock, real-time reservations from diners across the world.

GuestCenter enables restaurants to surface real-time availability to the OpenTable diner network, which seats more than 21 million diners per month across more than 40,000 restaurants around the globe. To learn more about GuestCenter, please visit https://restaurant.opentable.com/products/guest-center. 

About OpenTable: 
OpenTable, part of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN), is the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations, seating more than 21 million diners per month via online bookings across more than 40,000 restaurants. The OpenTable network connects restaurants and diners, helping diners discover and book the perfect table and helping restaurants deliver personalized hospitality to keep guests coming back. The OpenTable service enables diners to see which restaurants have available tables, select a restaurant based on verified diner reviews, menus, and other helpful information, and easily book a reservation. In addition to the company's website and mobile apps, OpenTable powers online reservations for nearly 600 partners, including many of the Internet's most popular global and local brands. For restaurants, the OpenTable hospitality solutions enable them to manage their reservation book, streamline their operations, and enhance their service levels. Since its inception in 1998, OpenTable has seated over 1 billion diners around the world.  OpenTable is headquartered in San Francisco and has bookable restaurants in more than 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.

OpenTable, OpenTable.com, OpenTable logos, and other service names are the trademarks of OpenTable, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

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SOURCE OpenTable