Finding It Harder and Harder to Get a Restaurant Reservation? Some Diners Are Paying for Priority Access.

A boom in dealmaking among reservation apps, credit card companies and membership clubs is reshaping who gets a table and who doesn’t. By Jonathan Small | edited by Dan Bova | Aug 10, 2026 If you’ve struggled to book a table lately, and the only times available you seem to find are 5 and 11 pm, it’s not your imagination. High-end restaurants across the country are getting harder to access, and a web of dealmaking is a big reason why, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reservation apps are racing to lock in tables exclusively for their top users. Credit card companies are paying restaurants to hold seats as a cardholder reward. Membership clubs like Dorsia charge steep fees for tiered access. DoorDash entered the fight last year, buying reservation platform SevenRooms for $1.2 billion. The result is a perfect storm of holds on tables that are locking a lot of people out of prime spots. Some don’t see this as a bad thing, as long as it gets people in seats. “My personal view is that money invested in restaurants is a good thing. Full stop,” said Pablo Rivero, the CEO of the app Resy, which is owned by American Express. If you’ve struggled to book a table lately, and the only times available you seem to find are 5 and 11 pm, it’s not your imagination. High-end restaurants across the country are getting harder to access, and a web of dealmaking is a big reason why, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reservation apps are racing to lock in tables exclusively for their top users. Credit card companies are paying restaurants to hold seats as a cardholder reward. Membership clubs like Dorsia charge steep fees for tiered access. DoorDash entered the fight last year, buying reservation platform SevenRooms for $1.2 billion. The result is a perfect storm of holds on tables that are locking a lot of people out of prime spots. Some don’t see this as a bad thing, as long as it gets people in seats. “My personal view is that money invested in restaurants is a good thing. Full stop,” said Pablo Rivero, the CEO of the app Resy, which is owned by American Express. Jonathan Small is a bestselling author, journalist, producer, and podcast host. For 25 years, he... Read more