The most loathed man in San Francisco, he calls himself. In reality, he is mostly from restaurateurs, who blame him for having created an app that is as brilliant as it is harmful (for them): Reservation Hop, or the online sale of restaurant reservations, for an average amount of around 12 dollars.
His name is Bryan Mayer and the idea came to him after standing in a very long queue to taste a Mexican specialty, the burrito. Things that happen to everyone, especially on weekend evenings and especially in the most crowded places, either for success or for limited places. And again, Mayer must have thought, who hasn't happened to take the trouble to book – online or by phone – and still receive a negative response?
So here's ReservationHop: Mayer books well in advance and under a false name in all the restaurants in San Francisco, or at least in the most sought-after ones, and then resells the reservation. Registration on the site is free and the reservation – the one that is resold, so to speak – can be canceled at any time by the customer. Hence the anger of Californian exhibitors: while in fact, once the booking is sold, Mayer collects his 12-dollar average in any case, the result is that often the booked table runs the risk of remaining empty.
“It was not my intention to harm the restaurants – the founder of ReservationHop recently declared -: indeed, I spend a good part of my time meeting the restaurateurs and apologizing to them for the inconvenience caused. I constantly seek dialogue to improve the service and not cause harm to anyone". Will that be enough to convince them? Meanwhile, the network is also divided, between those who call Meyer a good businessman and those who accuse him of "stealing money from restaurateurs".
Kind of the same tussle that sparked, again in the US, the MonkeyPark app, which allows you to offer a parking space to another motorist when you leave it, in exchange for a few euros. “It's the secondary booking market,” according to Mayer.
