Illinois Third-Party Reservation Ban Bill Awaits Gov. Pritzker's Approval
The Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act was unanimously passed with 58 votes on Thursday, May 22. The Illinois bill is modeled after a New York policy signed into law in December. The measure seemingly targets Appointment Trader, a website where users sell reservations to trendy restaurants. Lawmakers contend users deploy bots on sites like OpenTable and Resy to scoop up desirable times before customers can book tables. Illinois State Rep. Margaret Croke says the difficulty in finding reservations at restaurants like Armitage Alehouse led her to introduce the legislation in February in Springfield.
Appointment Trader was mentioned in a press release sent by Croke, while a release from the bill's sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, included words of support from Illinois Restaurant Association President and CEO Sam Toia.
Appointment Trader founder Jonas Frey previously told Eater that his company already takes the necessary steps to keep users employing bots off the site. Third-party sales complicate matters if no one purchases a reservation posted for sale online; a restaurant is left with an empty table that appears reserved. No-shows mean wasted labor and food costs that hurt restaurants' bottom lines. The issue became noteworthy after a New Yorker story shared the tale of a Brown University student who made $80,000 by selling reservations.
No-shows have long been an issue for restaurants and have led to the rise of prepaid meals. The business practice was pioneered by Tock, a reservation platform founded in 2014 in Chicago as a way for Michelin-starred Alinea to book tables and ensure customers took on the financial risk of reserving. Diners were skeptical about prepaying for a meal. But in 2025, it's more of an accepted practice with restaurants looking for ways to mitigate rising costs five years after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, Tock was sold to American Express for $400 million.
There's money to be made in the world of reservations. The New York Times reports how the platforms have been throwing money at restaurants, hoping they'll join their listings. American Express also owns Resy, and Visa has a partnership with OpenTable in which certain credit card holders gain exclusive access to hot restaurants. Frey from Appointment Trader argues that lobbyists from credit card companies have been behind the surge in efforts to make his website illegal. Beyond Illinois, there are also bills in California, Florida, and Nevada. The credit companies disagree that they're the catalysts behind the measures, saying that they're merely protecting the interests of their partner restaurants.
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