How Resy Can Get You Into New York and L.A.'s Most Exclusive Restaurants

Through Resy’s new loyalty program, some select “power” users will be granted access to book at some of the most hard-to-get-into restaurants on either end of the country.

How, exactly, the reward system — rolled out in both New York City and Los Angeles on Monday — decides who qualifies is a bit of a grey area, Fast Company reported. Instead of using a traditional points system that users rack up each time they book a reservation, the booking platform is evaluating user metrics and seeing, for example, how often someone uses its app or no-shows for their dinner, to determine if they’re elite enough for what’s being called Resy Select.

“We look at several indications of what we think drives values,” Resy cofounder and CEO Ben Leventhal told the magazine.

Leventhal left it at that, and declined to provide any more insight into how the VIP program works, but, as Fast Company noted, the app’s terms of service says that it might also have info on its users like dietary preference, past visits to other establishments and average check amount, among other things, which would all likely factor into the “power user” decision-making process.

For now, the program is free, and the few select users who are chosen will see exclusive opportunities to dine at premier restaurants with “primetime reservation slots” available to them. The Select program will also allow users to access special events, like the ticketed dinner series Resy did in partnership with Bollinger Champagne just last week.

Some restaurants already signed up include New York’s Union Square Cafe and ABC Kitchen as well as Los Angeles hot spots Nightshade and Majordomo.

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