Urbanspoon Unveils Rezbook "Right Now"

SEATTLE, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Urbanspoon, the leading mobile restaurant discovery application and reservation management system, today announced the availability of "Right Now" for Urbanspoon Rezbook, enabling diners to view immediate table availability at their favorite restaurants, both for reservations and walk-ins. Diners can see which restaurants are running waitlists and which currently have seating available. This new functionality gives diners the immediate gratification of securing a table when they want it, and accessing table availability at a broader pool of restaurants that may not take reservations or have heavy walk-in and waitlist traffic. In turn, restaurants can market available tables to Urbanspoon users while they are making their restaurant choice, helping to fill inventory in an instant.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110831/LA60178LOGO)

"With 'Right Now,' we are completing the evolution of reservations from 'getting a table for Friday night,' to 'tonight,' to 'right this instant'," said Kara Nortman, Senior Vice President, Consumer Businesses at CityGrid Media. "Now restaurants that don't take reservations and have been underserved by current online systems can keep customers informed and help them secure a table. Restaurants have a unique opportunity to market open inventory that's never been available to them before."

Benefits include:

• Real-time availability: The new functionality enables consumers to view current availability and book a table at their favorite restaurants, or a new restaurant they want to try
• Waitlist: If users are interested in a restaurant that does not take reservations, they can now learn how long the wait is, and how many diners are on the list ahead of them
• Restaurant marketing tool: "Right Now" provides a new tool for restaurants to push out and market new inventory to diners on the go
• Availability bar: Diners can view restaurant availability in aggregate, with table inventory automatically populating a bar marked "Tables Available Right Now," on the Urbanspoon iPhone app home screen; Restaurants can easily flip the switch on and off to publish information about their wait list, including walk-in availability and wait times

"With features like Rezbook 'Right Now,' we are able to easily engage guests with information they are looking for and provide a better customer service experience for them even before they enter our restaurants," said Alan Booth, Corporate General Manager for Tom Douglas Restaurants.  "At our restaurant Seatown in the Pike Place Market for example we have also seen these features translate into a more efficiently seated dining room because we're able to streamline the process of helping guests find their way through the crowds to our dinner table."

In related news, the James Beard Foundation today announced they are moving over to the Urbanspoon Rezbook system. Urbanspoon Rezbook will be used to manage reservations and event check-in for the James Beard Foundation events, including Beard House dinners, JBF Greens, Chefs & Champagne, and the annual fall gala dinner and auction.

The newly re-launched Urbanspoon app for iPhone, complete with 22 years of James Beard winners and nominees, can be downloaded for free in the iTunes store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/urbanspoon/id284708449  

About Urbanspoon

Urbanspoon is a leading online local restaurant guide, aggregating restaurant content from across the Web including newspapers, professional food critics, bloggers and diners. Urbanspoon allows diners to make restaurant reservations through its online booking service, both on the Web and mobile. In addition, Urbanspoon offers restaurants Urbanspoon Rezbook - a complete reservation and table management system built to run on the Apple iPad. Urbanspoon is a subsidiary of CityGrid Media, LLC (www.citygridmedia.com), an IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) operating company, and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Media Contact:
Jenny Davis for Urbanspoon
Dotted Line Communications
Phone: 925-935-2558
[email protected]

SOURCE Urbanspoon