Latest news with #TroyHebert
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana House passes bill that aims to stop reservation reselling without restaurant consent
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A proposed bill that would crack down on companies that book and resell restaurant reservations without the restaurant's permission was passed by the Louisiana House unanimously Thursday. House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Troy Hebert (R-Lafayette), would prohibit third-party platforms from listing or selling restaurant reservations unless they have a written agreement with the food service establishment. Hebert told lawmakers during the April 15 House Commerce Committee meeting that the bill was created after complaints from restaurants about AI-powered bots and booking services getting high-demand reservations and reselling them for a high price. Under the bill, the Louisiana Attorney General would have the authority to fine violators up to $1,000 per violation, per day. All fines collected would go into the state's consumer protection fund. The bill now heads to the Louisiana Senate. If passed, the law would add a new section titled the 'Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy' provision to the state's consumer protection statutes. Michelin Guide expands to Southern US, includes Louisiana Republicans plan to focus on tax cuts when they return from break Phones, wallets and a Viking horn: Uber shares which items were left behind in 2025 Trump store is selling 'Trump 2028' hats BRPD searching for man accused in deadly home invasion Louisiana House passes bill that aims to stop reservation reselling without restaurant consent Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers spar over attorney penalties in proposed insurance bill
BATON ROUGE, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Business owners and legislators testified before the Louisiana Legislature's Civil Law and Procedure Committee in support of several bills related to vehicle crash litigation. The bills introduced in committee covered many proposed changes to present law that would favor claimants and business owners in civil actions related to crash settlements and lawsuits in Louisiana. More Louisiana News Representative Troy Hebert shared a personal story about a minor crash involving his daughter and another driver. During testimony, Hebert said nearly a year after the accident, he was notified that the other driver had filed a lawsuit. He also shared that his insurer had advised him that the woman had received a personal injury settlement that year. Hebert's bill HB439 would put a 10% cap on contingency fees that can be charged by an attorney. The discourse between Hebert and many of the lawmakers became a little contentious as they discussed the portion of the proposed law that would subject attorneys to sanctions and disciplinary review. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers look to end restaurant reservation trading
(Canva image) A proposal to restrict buying and selling of restaurant reservations online is sailing easily through the Louisiana Legislature and could pass the House this week, though lawmakers have yet to hear both sides of the issue. House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Troy Hebert, R-Lafayette, seeks to ban companies such as Appointment Trader, Dorsia and ResX from arranging reservations through their platforms without explicit contracts with restaurants. 'I'm not preventing the business model from existing,' Hebert said in a phone interview Monday. You just have to have the restaurant's permission.' His bill cleared the House Commerce Committee last Wednesday with the unanimous approval of 17 lawmakers, and Hebert said it could come up for a full House vote as early as this week. No one spoke in opposition to the bill at the hearing, and several lawmakers said they're opposed to the idea of paying for reservations. Appointment Trader founder Jonas Frey, who lives in Miami, said he intends to speak with lawmakers before the bill goes up for a final vote. Founded in 2021, Appointment Trader lets sellers set their own prices for reservations, and bidders can make offers at any price. Additionally, prospective buyers can use the platform as a concierge service, offering a flat fee to anyone who can secure them a reservation at a particular establishment. Someone paid $2,138 for a reservation at a French Quarter restaurant. Should this be outlawed? Though still relatively new to Louisiana, the Appointment Trader drew attention after the Illuminator reported on its sale of hard-to-get bookings in the New Orleans market during Super Bowl weekend — including a $2,138 reservation at Antoine's. Hebert said he sponsored the legislation at the request of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, which argues the sale of reservations without restaurant consent can lead to empty tables, missed opportunities for real customers and diminished service. The LRA modeled Hebert's bill after legislation New York adopted last year with the backing of major online restaurant booking platforms OpenTable and Resy. Booking sites let diners reserve tables for free and make money by charging restaurants a fee every time someone books through their apps. Louisiana Restaurant Association president Stan Harris told lawmakers Hebert's bill would not affect those booking apps 'other than actually probably helping protect their business model a little bit.' Hebert's bill calls on the Louisiana attorney general to impose a $1,000 fine against a trading platform for each day a table reservation is offered without a restaurant's consent. Appointment Trader is actively trying to partner with restaurants, its founder Frey said, offering them half of the final bid proceeds for each reservation. If the bill clears the House floor, it will next head to the Senate for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana bill aims to stop reservation reselling without restaurant consent
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A Louisiana lawmaker wants to crack down on companies that book and resell restaurant reservations without the restaurant's permission. House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Troy Hebert (R-Lafayette), would prohibit third-party platforms from listing or selling restaurant reservations unless they have a written agreement with the food service establishment. The bill was approved unanimously by the House Commerce Committee and now heads to the full House for consideration. The legislation was prompted by complaints from Louisiana restaurants about AI-powered bots and booking services that snap up high-demand reservations and resell them for hundreds or even thousands of dollars online. Hebert pointed to one instance during Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans when a four-top table at a fine dining restaurant was resold for more than $2,000. 'We're not trying to prevent anyone from operating this kind of business,' Hebert said during the April 15 committee meeting. 'All we're saying is, if you're going to do it, you need to have the written authorization of the restaurant owner.' Michelin Guide expands to Southern US, includes Louisiana The Louisiana Restaurant Association supports the bill, citing confusion and frustration from diners who unwittingly purchased reservations through unauthorized resellers. LRA President Stan Harris said complaints first surfaced at Commander's Palace when guests began asking about fees they had paid to third-party sites. Under the bill, the Louisiana Attorney General would have the authority to fine violators up to $1,000 per violation, per day. All fines collected would go into the state's consumer protection fund. A 'third-party restaurant reservation platform' is defined in the bill as any website, app, or online service that facilitates reservations at restaurants but is not operated by the restaurant itself. Exceptions are made for platforms that have a contractual relationship with the restaurant. If passed, the law would add a new section titled the 'Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy' provision to the state's consumer protection statutes. Trump targets ticket scalpers and high live event fees: 'Price-gouging' Long journey to the NFL draft is only the beginning for college prospects aiming to make the pros Stocks and the dollar tumble as investors retreat from the US Kristi Noem's belongings stolen while she was at dinner in DC Louisiana bill aims to stop reservation reselling without restaurant consent FTC files suit accusing Uber of deceptive practices Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Someone paid $2,138 for a reservation at a French Quarter restaurant. Should this be outlawed?
Getty Images People are buying and selling table reservations at iconic New Orleans eateries for eye-popping amounts via third-party websites, often without the restaurant's knowledge. Critics want lawmakers to ban the burgeoning online business they consider a racket, arguing that it undermines the fine-dining experience and could potentially leave restaurants with empty tables. However, proponents of the practice say it benefits both diners and restaurants when done properly. Some iconic restaurants topped the list during a recent scan of the New Orleans section of Appointment Trader, one of several platforms designed to let people with scheduling conflicts sell highly coveted reservations on the open market. A Saturday night reservation at Brennan's later this month is available for a suggested bid of $235 — a discount compared to the whopping $2,138 someone paid for a four-top at Antoine's during the Super Bowl weekend. Are those prices based on genuine demand for seating at the restaurants, or is it artificially inflated by technology built to cash in on wealthy tourists desperate to dine in the city's elite culinary corners? That's a question Louisiana lawmakers will try to answer in the coming months as they consider House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Troy Hebert, R-Lafayette. The legislation could ban companies such as Appointment Trader, Dorsia and Wuw Wuw from operating in Louisiana. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Specifically, Hebert's bill prohibits third-party companies from offering or arranging reservations at any restaurants that have not agreed to the service through a contract. Hebert could not be reached for comment, but the Louisiana Restaurant Association, a trade group that asked Hebert to file the legislation, said it is modeled after similar laws recently enacted in other states such as New York. They all describe the legislation as a measure to prevent 'restaurant reservation fraud.' Appointment Trader, founded in 2021, lets users buy and sell reservations and appointments of all kinds through auction-style bidding. Sellers can set their own asking prices, and bidders can make offers at any rate. Additionally, prospective buyers can use the platform as a concierge service, offering a fee to any user who can secure them a reservation at a particular establishment. In its early days, the platform was limited mostly to hotspots such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. It has since gained popularity and expanded into smaller markets including New Orleans and virtually anywhere else one has a reservation they want to sell. As of Thursday, the platform had clocked over $6 million in trades within the last 12 months. In a phone interview, Louisiana Restaurant Association spokeswoman Wendy Waren said platforms like Appointment Trader are selling reservations without the restaurants' permission or knowledge. If no one buys the reservations, tables just sit empty, which can cause seating delays or prevent genuine customers from getting a reservation and actually bringing business to the restaurant, she said. 'It creates artificial scarcity,' Waren said. 'It's like somebody's hijacking the process.' 'Our backs are really against the wall': New Orleans restaurants brace for new tariffs New York hospitality trade groups have accused the platforms of using software bots to snap up reservations and sell them on what they call a 'black market.' Appointment Trader founder Jonas Frey said he is just trying to solve a problem with a legitimate service that can benefit all parties, particularly the restaurants. The 37-year-old software engineer is a German immigrant who came to the U.S. five years ago and came up with the idea for his platform while waiting in a long line at his local motor vehicles office in Las Vegas. He now lives in Miami with his wife and is serious about maintaining legitimacy on his platform, he said. 'I've basically lived in a computer all my life, and nothing gives me more joy — well almost nothing — than when thousands of people use the software I built to solve a problem in their life,' Frey said. In phone interviews this week, Frey explained how users on his platform must sell at least half of the reservations that they post or risk account suspension. This prevents people from trying to book all the available tables and hoard them to create artificial demand. Also, the free-market style platform means that unsold reservations put downward pressure on the prices in a given area, he said. The app is still quite new in the New Orleans market as there have only been a handful of transactions, so the current 90-day average bid prices have been skewed by reservations sold during special events such as the Super Bowl. Frey said those 'one-offs' are not the norm. In a market such as New Orleans, diners can typically get reservations without paying if it's a normal weekend, but it can be next-to-impossible at certain restaurants in other cities. Reservation trading lets people sell valuable bookings that they, for whatever reason, can't use or no longer want, When someone has a coveted reservation but a scheduling conflict prevents them from using it, they might not bother calling to cancel, leading to what restaurants call 'no-show reservations.' Just a few no-shows can disrupt a restaurant's operations and cost it thousands in lost sales. Approximately 28% of American diners have admitted to ghosting on their reservations, according to a 2021 OpenTable survey. 'Wouldn't it be better for everyone if you could just resell it?' Frey asked. Lisa Blount, director of marketing for Antoine's, said she's all in favor of entrepreneurs figuring out new ways to make money in the restaurant industry. She's less worried about no-shows because Antoine's requires credit cards to make reservations, but she does have a few other concerns. At Antoine's and other fine dining eateries, the staff take a lot of time to learn about their customers when they make a reservation, Blount said. They might be on a tight schedule, have diet restrictions or could be visiting for a special occasion. This kind of information allows the restaurant to make preparations with food ordering, shift scheduling and other arrangements. 'There's a lot more to coming to our restaurant than just buying a ticket,' Blount said. 'We try to know a lot about you before you even get in the door.' Blount said she worries that trading or selling reservations to unknown customers could stymie a restaurant's ability to offer its best level of service. She also said she hates the idea of an unwitting customer paying for a reservation and then showing up and seeing empty tables because it turned out to be a slow evening. The customer would feel scammed, and it could damage the restaurant's reputation, she said. Still, Blount said she's open to the concept of reservation trading if there are ways to control for those kinds of issues. Frey said he is actively trying to partner with restaurants to make the app better for all parties. His platform currently takes a 30% cut of each transaction, and he offers partner restaurants an equal share of the net proceeds. So far, Frey said he has not landed any partnership agreements as he tries to keep his company alive through an onslaught of state legislation. Seafood testers find Shreveport restaurants deceiving customers with foreign shrimp Bans on reservation trading apps are already in place in New York and Arizona, and a similar bill is currently pending in the Illinois legislature. Some large corporations could lose a chunk of their business if reservation trading catches on. Restaurant booking platforms such as OpenTable and Resy are free for customers to use. They make money by charging restaurants a fee for every reservation made through their app. Platforms like Appointment Trader threaten to disrupt the online booking sector by flipping that business model on its head. Under Frey's partnership model, restaurants would get paid just to let customers inside. But all that depends on genuine demand existing in a particular market area. 'There's so many restaurants here,' Blount said from her New Orleans office. 'We're not New York.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
