Foursquare has partnered with OpenTable to provide the service. It won’t work with every restaurant — just the 25,000 that allow online booking through OpenTable. Qualifying restaurants will have a “Make Reservation” button on their Foursquare pages.
The location-based app has been offering this service on its website since May.
The experience is seamless. Other integrations with OpenTable, like Stamped’s, don’t allow for in-app booking, instead sending you to OpenTable.com in your mobile browser to make a reservation.
Foursquare will presumably receive a small commission for every booking made through its app. It enlarges a new revenue stream for the not-yet-profitable startup, which continues to rely primarily on advertising for income. A Foursquare spokesperson declined to disclose the terms of the deal.