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American Express today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Resy, which is the digital platform for booking and managing restaurant reservations.
Acquisition of Resy by Amex
American Express says their acquisition of Resy builds on the growing range of digital services that go beyond traditional rewards and points, to give card members access to more types of products.
For those of you who are not familiar with Resy, they are a competitor of OpenTable. So, if a restaurant is not bookable on OpenTable, it may well be that you book it with Resy. Resy works with 4,000 restaurants in 154 US cities and 10 countries, and can accommodate more than 2.6 million people a week.
Amex expects this acquisition to be completed in the summer of 2019.
The Senior Vice President Global Loyalty and Benefits of American Express stated the following about this acquisition:
"Resy was created to connect restaurant-loving people with new and exciting restaurants that are hard to get into restaurants around the world, and to help restaurant businesses grow and prosper. Similarly, American Express has close relationships with upscale catering partners and restaurants around the world and offers our cardholders access to incredible dining experiences through our exclusive programs and benefits. We look forward to working with the Resy team to further develop Resy's digital platform and to develop new ways to further connect our map members and catering partners through access and experiences. unique. "
Regarding the agreement, the CEO of Resy said the following:
"American Express is a brand we admire and we have been seeking to partner with since our inception. There is a myriad of points of synergy between Resy and American Express that we look forward to pursuing together to create a comprehensive end-to-end catering platform that will delight diners and restaurants. As today, Resy will continue to focus on providing world-class hospitality software to its outstanding catering partners, connecting customers to insider experiences and in-house reinventing the future of the restaurant. "
Amex says that after the acquisition, Resy will retain much of the same management and that their existing booking and management services will continue to be offered.
My point of view on the acquisition of Resy by Amex
In recent years, we have seen credit card issuers embark on a real war of reward points. We are seeing more and more bonuses, and at some level it will simply not be viable to offer even more points.
Card issuers are therefore looking for more and more ways to differentiate themselves. This can include access to experiences and other rewards.
Even though a credit card company taking up a meal reservation platform may seem strange, I can understand the logic. Amex will be able to work with Resy to offer cardholders access to exclusive tables and will also be able to better integrate the booking platform into their app, website, etc.
In early 2019, Capital One and Resy have launched a partnership that should give you an idea of what a credit card company could try to accomplish here. Through this partnership, Capital One cardholders had early access to off-menu restaurants in different cities and also had access to additional rush hour bookings.
I think it's safe to say that the partnership is ending soon.
What do you think of the acquisition of Resy by Amex?
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