The OpenTable redesign is meant to counter the dreaded commoditization curse. There's a lot more money and value in being an integral part of the dining experience for consumers and widening the business relationship with restaurants than merely being a reservations platform.
Don't expect the buying binge and consolidation in online travel to slow down any time soon. Expedia, the Priceline Group and TripAdvisor all intend to keep on acquiring puzzle pieces in 2015. HomeAway anyone?
Given the consumer base of sister companies Booking.com, Agoda and Kayak, OpenTable now has the chance to expand beyond its traditional local orientation into a dining app for travelers, as well. Some of its learnings and technologies can also apply to hotels and tours and activities.
Being a leading online travel company these days means adding expensive pieces to the portfolio, and both the Priceline Group and Expedia Inc. are signaling that their acquisition sprees are far from being finished.
Will Booking.com be as good at business services for hotels as it is for selling their rooms, and will a move into enterprise services for hotels be a huge distraction? We are about to find out.
The Priceline Group is moving much closer to Ctrip with a minority stake and CEO Darren Huston points to a series of additional moves in China in the next few years. Ctrip, though, hasn't always played well with other partners so it remains to be seen whether familial relations between these new second cousins will be long-standing.