Student earned $70 by selling table reservations in New York restaurants

Alex Eisler earned $70 thousand by selling reservations for tables in popular New York restaurants. Moreover, he does not even live in the city, reports NYPost.

Dining out in New York City, especially at established restaurants, has become a challenge. Demand for tables significantly exceeds supply. So reservation resellers can now earn tens of thousands of dollars a year. What to expect from a blindfolded date in a restaurant, read our article.

At Ralph Lauren's swanky Polo Bar, the tables were reserved by an Ivy League math student named Alex Eisler. The Brown University sophomore made a business out of booking tables at popular establishments. He used different phone numbers and different mailing addresses to catch bookings and resell them for a good profit.

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“Sometimes people in restaurants recognize my voice. That’s why I have to speak with a different accent,” Eisler admitted. – Sometimes I even imitate a girl’s voice. I have several Resy accounts with female names.”

Under the alias GloriousSeed75, he received a hefty $850 just for selling a dinner reservation at Soho hotspot Maison Close.

Booking resale service Appointment Trader is among the sites that make big money. It reportedly earned a whopping $6 million in secondary bookings last year, more than double what it will make in 2022.

How much can you earn

The black market numbers speak for themselves: A table on Thursday night at Italian restaurant Carbone in the West Village (receipt not included) could be reserved for $340, while the coveted Polo Bar was nearly double that at $650.

Even Hollywood stars such as Justin and Hailey Bieber are reported to be using the secondary booking system.

Last February, when Hailey wanted to dine at 4 Charles Prime Rib in the West Village, she reportedly approached a man named Nicky DiMaggio. He owns a waste management business but also takes reservations at popular restaurants and typically charges fees ranging from $500 to $1000.

“My client list is the NBA, Megan Fox,” DiMaggio said. He did not say how much the Biebers allegedly paid for his services.

Last year, DiMaggio made more than a thousand booking sales, meaning his staggering profits could reach six figures.

This business has an open market: many are willing to pay up to $1000 for the chance to feel like a big shot for an evening. Some people like to make thousands simply by selling table reservations. This is a side hustle with minimal effort.

“Some people play Candy Crush on their phone. “I play Dinner Reservations,” noted a reservations reseller who earned $8000 from the online business last year.

Restaurants against

Last year, a booking scalper targeted Yoshino, a Michelin-starred sushi bar on the Bowery. He booked available tables through a group in the Chinese version of X, earning $180 per seat.

“If a restaurant has scalpers taking reservations, it makes it difficult for the average person to get in,” said Andrew Righi, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. “This makes establishments even less accessible.”

"It's bad for business," said celebrity chef Eric Ripert. He warned that his team would be on the lookout for strange email addresses or phone numbers.

“We spend hours every day trying to track down bots and fake bookings. Just last week, eight fake bookings were discovered,” he stated.

The popular Bangkok Supper Club in the West Village, recently named one of the hardest venues to rebook, has been hit by bots. They checked availability up to 100 times per minute.

“We're losing money all the time,” said restaurant spokeswoman Jenn Saesue. “Basically, we don’t have many regular guests, but these people rely on us.”