Restaurants question OpenTable fees

05/01/2011 12:18:43 PM

It seemed logical enough: use the Internet to make restaurant reservations.

And that's just what OpenTable did. Created in 1998, OpenTable is now the leading website for people to make reservations online and now partners with 20,000 restaurants across the U.S. and in five other countries.

For its fans, the service provided a quick and painless alternative to the rude receptionists and long waits that often plagued diners when they made reservations by phone.

But recently, the company that appears on the surface to be saving the industry -- and has become a high-flying stock -- has also begun to anger the very restaurants they appeared to serve. Its high fees for use, and its role as middle man between restaurants and their diners, has troubled restaurants by threatening to make OpenTable customers more loyal to the service than to them...

Read more about OpenTable and why restaurants are questioning their fees by clicking here...