New Jersey Moves To Ban Third-Party Restaurant Reservation Resale Sites Before World Cup

Legislation prohibiting third-party websites from reselling restaurant reservations without authorization cleared the state Senate and Assembly on March 23. Governor Mikie Sherrill now holds the bill. This action arrives as the World Cup approaches in June.

Bill A3318 mandates written agreements between third-party reservation platforms and restaurants before advertising or selling reservations. Sites like Appointment Trader allow users to book and sell reservations without restaurants knowing.

Senators Kristin Corrado and Joseph Lagana sponsored this bipartisan measure. Empty tables might result as resellers chase profits instead of serving actual diners, the lawmakers contend.

“That is a reasonable standard,” said Corrado to NJ.com on April 1. “It does not impact legitimate reservation services that already operate with restaurant consent, but instead addresses unauthorized actors who are effectively selling something they do not own.”

Bidding wars erupted for seats at popular restaurants. Tables cost hundreds of dollars at spots like Pasta Ramen in Montclair and Mezcal in Old Bridge. The Saddle River Inn faced similar problems. So did Ember and Eagle in Eatontown, plus 15 Fox Place and Razza in Jersey City.

Chef Robbie Felice told NJM in 2024 that customers mentioned buying reservations to eat at his pastaRAMEN restaurant in Montclair. Empty tables appeared on busy nights. Scalped reservations hadn’t sold to patrons.

Sophisticated web-crawling bots help most users scalp coveted tables at the state’s most in-demand restaurants. Platforms like Resy, OpenTable and Yelp get bombarded with bookings using phony email addresses, fake names, and bogus or stolen credit-card numbers for reservations requiring deposits.

Other states took similar action. New York banned unauthorized third-party restaurant-reservation sites in February of last year. Florida and Illinois have also prohibited the reservation trading practice ahead of the World Cup.

“This is a growing national issue, particularly in major markets where high-demand reservations are being resold at inflated prices without a restaurant’s knowledge,” said Corrado. “New Jersey is positioning itself ahead of major events like the World Cup to ensure that our restaurant industry is protected.”

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