(Bloomberg) -- Resy, the reservation platform owned by American Express Co., is still seeing strong consumer demand for restaurant dining, even if some cities and neighborhoods are hit harder by higher costs.
“You can see that some restaurants are hurting by high prices, inflation, their rent and so on,” Pablo Rivero, Resy’s chief executive officer, said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “People are still going out, trying to find that human connection with people, and the dining table is a perfect space for that.”
Amex acquired Resy, the brainchild of Eater’s Ben Leventhal, in 2019. The credit-card company is well-known for catering to higher-net-worth spenders that value exclusive hospitality experiences, and the deal has been a boon for Amex since travel and dining spending picked up in earnest after the pandemic.
Since the Resy deal, Amex has also acquired Tock, an event ticketing and table-management platform. It also folded Resy’s perks into its credit-card rewards.
Another travel and experience platform, Airbnb Inc., reported earnings on Tuesday that showed less appetite for bookings, indicating potential future weakening of consumer sentiment in the industry. Rivero, however, said dining remains an “extremely strong passion area,” particularly for Amex cardholders.
Resy is also working on relaunching its Android app in the next few months in addition to its existing app for iPhone and iPad users, Rivero said, to ensure “it’s just as great as the iOS one.” Resy is currently available for iOS users and on the web.
--With assistance from Sonali Basak and Matthew Miller.
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