A restaurant with three Michelin stars is now trying to up its customer service game by Googling its customers before they arrive. According to a report from Grub Street, an Eleven Madison Park maitre d’ performs Internet recon on every guest in the interest of customizing their experiences. [***]
Would love to hear thoughts on this.
This probably doesn’t affect a table most of the time. Reservation is given under one name, so the staff only can find out one person’s information. Maybe you can find out info on the person’s partner/spouse. Maybe it’ll help the staff avoid blunders: daughter vs date haha.
To spin this another way, it makes perfect sense for a restaurant to google names, if the diner is dumb enough to use his real name and is a bonafide critic, or is dumb enough to use the same alias twice. Also occasionally you get a minor diplomat, celebrity, or CEO who makes a res in their own name.
Thought they have been doing this for years
This is the new world. Privacy is a privilege now, vs. a right, if available at all. If you are using OpenTable, I would be surprised if they are not serving the restaurant up data on you and your dining patterns. This is hardly different than Amazon, Google, etc tracking your movements and using it to serve up more relevant search results or recommendations.