Before you scroll down to check a restaurant’s online reviews or find out whether your favorite spot has a table available on Friday night, you might see even more pertinent information for dining out in 2021: whether you’ll be required to show proof of vaccination.
Online reservation system OpenTable has rolled out some new features as well. “If you’re in the restaurant tech space, you’re trying to figure out — just like we are — how best to help our restaurant partners,” said OpenTable Chief Executive Debby Soo. “It’s been a grueling year and a half for the restaurant industry, so any provider or partner or platform worth its weight is going to be looking to make the lives of our restaurateurs easier.
starting in September, is set to link to OpenTable via a banner at the top of an OpenTable web page once users book a reservation at a restaurant requiring proof. “For businesses that activate ‘Proof of vaccination required’ and ‘All staff fully vaccinated’ on their Yelp page, we are putting protective measures in place to proactively safeguard them from reviews that primarily criticize the COVID health and safety measures they enforce,” Yelp announced at the beginning of August.