This website lets you buy a reservation at London’s hottest restaurants – but is it the right thing to do?

Securing a table at one of London’s hottest restaurants has always been a game of fastest finger first. Now a new website from the States lets you circumvent the scrum and buy someone else’s reservation – for a price. Hannah Twiggs hears about the people paying £200 for a table before they have eaten a bite

A reservation bidding site is opening the doors to exclusive member’s clubs like Annabel’s (PA)

Getting a dinner reservation in London can sometimes feel like elbowing your way onto a Tokyo metro train during rush hour. You’ve seen the videos. Chaos.

Visit any high-profile restaurant’s website and there probably won’t be any availability today, tomorrow, next week or next month. If you’re old school, you might ring them. If you’re smart, you’ll be keeping an eye on your favourite restaurant’s social media, where they often announce that their reservations for the next month are open, or post that there’s a last-minute table available because of a cancellation. Better be quick about it, though. They’re snapped up in seconds.

It’s a minefield – and one that has only been compounded by the rise of social media. Quick-fire restaurant recommendation videos from hype men like TopJaw have turned places like The Devonshire, modern Filipino spot Donia and Soho’s Algerian Coffee Stores to name just a few, into the hottest tickets in town. Like sheep to a shepherd, other influences have followed suit, resulting in thousands of carbon-copy review videos for the same restaurant, which then becomes booked up for months.

The wealthy have never faced this problem. They’ve always relied on a restaurant concierge to bag them a table at the most exclusive spots in town. For the normies, there are booking platforms like Resy and OpenTable. Some people even offer up their reservations to prospective dates on apps like Hinge and Tinder. And if you’re part of the “desired” crowd, you may even be invited to join a private WhatsApp group, offering members a table within an hour’s notice. That’s how The Dover, a New York-Italian joint that opened quietly in Mayfair in January, handles its oversubscription ‘problem’.

But now to circumvent the scrum, a new kind of booking platform has popped up to help diners cut through reservation red tape – but for a price.

Miami-based German computer scientist Jonas Frey set up Appointment Trader in 2021 out of his frustration at struggling to book a car mechanic. Initially, during the height of the pandemic, the website served as a platform for swapping and selling appointments at DMVs in Nevada. But, seeing its potential, it has since expanded to cover hospitality, selling reservations at everything from restaurants and bars to nightclubs and hotels, appointments at spas and hairdressers, and even tickets for theme parks. Like eBay, but for restaurants. It took off in New York’s cut-throat hospitality sector and now it’s made its way to the UK.

The idea is simple. People who have managed to get a booking at top-rated restaurants advertise their reservation, which is priced according to demand – and Appointment Trader takes a 30 per cent cut. It doesn’t come cheap. For example, a table at the website’s top-rated spot Gymkhana, which has been fully booked since it was awarded two Michelin stars this year, will set you back over £200. That’s before you pay for the meal.

In other cases, you can bid on reservations. A table at the hugely popular Piccadilly pub and restaurant The Devonshire costs anywhere between £50 and £200 plus, though landlord Oisin Rogers is sceptical that anyone’s managed to get a booking that way so far. But unless restaurants start ID-ing guests on the door, it would be hard to tell. “You would have to pretend as the guest that your name is the name on the booking,” he tells me. “That can’t feel nice in a restaurant where people care about you.”

While it’s true that The Dev has become one of the most sought-after reservations since it opened last November, it’s never been impossible to get a booking. Reservations go live at 10.30am every Thursday for tables in the following three weeks. They announce it on their Instagram, too, as well as if they’ve had a cancellation.

The Devonshire has been fully booked since it opened last November (Getty)

Anyone can visit The Devonshire (without bribery or bidding), but Appointment Trader is even allegedly opening the doors to exclusive member’s clubs like Annabel’s, owned by billionaire Richard Caring. To join the club, you need a letter of recommendation from an existing member, as well as £3,750 a month in the bank and a £1,850 joining fee. On Appointment Trader, where it’s currently the second most popular spot, you can seemingly become a member’s guest temporarily for around £100.

While many restaurants are struggling to make ends meet, over £4.7m worth of reservations have been exchanged on Appointment Trader in the past 12 months, according to the site. In the last 24 hours of writing this, over £16k has been sold.

By all accounts, there’s clearly an appetite (among those who can afford it) to pay their way into a restaurant. But for restaurateurs, it sets a dangerous precedent. Gymkhana and Annabel’s both declined to comment, though Annabel’s does stipulate on its website that “it is not permitted for any member to sell or offer for sale, directly or indirectly, any table, reservation, proposal for membership, or access to the club in any manner whatsoever”.

One restaurant owner I spoke to said a member of their staff had tried to use the site to book various restaurants over several weeks, and all of them had been cancelled and refunded. Nor is Rogers impressed by the unintended consequences for the industry. “We’re in the business of making a simple contract between our guests and us that they come and have dinner. I don’t think that’s something that anyone reputable should trade,” he says. “We’re not in the business of helping scammers, schemers or scalpers make quick cash out of selling something completely intangible.”

We’re in the business of making a simple contract between our guests and us that they come and have dinner. I don’t think that’s something that anyone reputable should trade

Oisin Rogers, landlord at The Devonshire

In April The New Yorker reported that some of the sellers on Appointment Trader were making a living off it. One university student, who would use fake phone numbers and email addresses to make reservations, even changing his accent on the phone, made $70,000 in a year. Another user reportedly made $80,000 and would use the app “to pass the time” like “playing Candy Crush”. Side hustle, indeed. There are even reports of bots sweeping up reservations faster than any human can click, for the purposes of selling on at exorbitant prices.

While fraudulent reservations are not a new phenomenon – they are becoming more common and problematic for restaurants.

Robin Chiang, senior VP of growth at OpenTable, one of the largest reservation software providers in the world, said: “Reservation piracy is problematic for restaurants and we take the issue very seriously … Not only can fraudulent reservations price out everyday diners who are hoping to experience the magic of these restaurants, it can also lead to more no shows and late cancellations, which directly impact the bottom lines of small businesses, already operating on thin margins.” Asking for credit card details or a deposit when making a reservation is one way of dealing with the problem.

While I couldn’t find anything to suggest that Appointment Trader was illegitimate or illegal, during a tough time for hospitality and the cost of living crisis it raises an important question. Is it fair? There are laws in the UK limiting the resale of tickets for concerts and festivals, with event organisers bringing in their own rules and assigning an ID to tickets. Shouldn’t this extend to selling reservations at restaurants?

Whether restaurants like it or not, Appointment Trader is simply a digital version of what happens already. With reports that surge pricing – where restaurants charge more during peak times – is also making its way from the Big Apple to the Big Smoke, it seems London’s dining scene is becoming as cutthroat as New York’s.

Five tips to bag a top table

1. Act fast

For popular restaurants, reservations are often accepted between six weeks and three months and usually on a specific day each month. Set alarms, use multiple devices and keep refreshing the booking page. Treat it like getting Glastonbury tickets.

2. Stay informed

Sign up for newsletters and follow the restaurant’s social media accounts. Turn on notifications for new booking announcements and you’ll be among the first to know when reservations open or if there are any special booking windows.

3. Try walk-ins and cancellations

Arrive early and try your luck. If that’s not possible, check for last-minute cancellations by calling the restaurant or refreshing their online booking page around their cancellation deadline, typically 72 hours before a reservation date.

4. Build relationships

Regular visits, polite interactions with staff and a genuine interest can pay off. Introduce yourself, remember staff names and be kind. Over time, this can help secure reservations more easily.

5. Consider flexible options

Opt for larger group bookings, as tables for four or six might be less in demand than tables for two. Be open to outdoor seating or less popular dining times, such as early or late reservations. And rebook your next visit while still at the restaurant, preferably with the maître d’.