TripAdvisor today announced the launch of Instant Reservation, a feature that, by leveraging the recent acquisition of lafourchette, allows consumers to choose a restaurant and easily complete the reservation without leaving the TripAdvisor site experience.
Instant Reservation is currently available on the over 13,000 restaurants within the lafourchette network spanning France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium. Following the acquisition of lafourchette in May, restaurant availability search has been integrated directly into TripAdvisor's city pages in these markets, allowing users to search availability and reserve a table for a specific date and time from TripAdvisor. Until now, TripAdvisor users who wanted to book a lafourchette restaurant had to complete the process on the lafourchette site.
Some of the benefits diners receive when booking restaurants within the lafourchette network is the ability to view restaurant menus and take advantage of special offers, such as discounts of up to 50% off or fixed price menus. Discounts are automatically applied to the bill when users book online, removing the need to present a coupon at the restaurant. It also gives users the opportunity to see alternative dining times and restaurants.
“We are focused on improving the customer online restaurant booking experience and Instant Reservation will help more people find and book great restaurants. The launch also provides an exciting opportunity to further establish TripAdvisor as the go to place to research, select and book restaurants whether on a trip or close to home,” commented Adam Medros, senior vice president, global product, TripAdvisor.
Instant Reservation is available across TripAdvisor apps (iPhone and Android), desktop and mobile web and is currently available across all TripAdvisor English speaking sites, all Spanish-speaking sites as well as in Italy, France, Germany the Netherlands and Sweden.
It’s becoming more common for travellers to use their mobile during the booking process. A recent TripBarometer® traveler study¹ by TripAdvisor revealed that more than four in ten (41%) travellers around the world use their mobile to look for restaurants on holiday, and a third (31%) use their phone to make reservations.
