Could Shreveport Be the Next City Hit by Reservation Bidding Apps

Those who love Shreveport's local restaurants should take a warning from our friends down in New Orleans because scalpers now threaten our ability to eat out in the great state of Louisiana.

Scalping is what it's called when someone buys something hard to get only to sell it at a higher price to someone who couldn't buy it first.

Everything from limited edition Starbucks cups to video games is being scalped for money, and now the new target by scalpers doesn't even cost them anything. Restaurant reservations are the latest thing being bought and sold online, and it doesn't seem like many are happy about it.

Restaurant Scalpers in Louisiana

Websites like Appointment Trader let people put their reservations up for auction, letting any other user place a bid for their reservation. Appointment Trader is the most popular of these services and says that over $6 million in bids were placed last year in New Orleans alone.

It's not just some fad either, people are taking this seriously. According to a report from the Louisiana Illuminator someone spent over $2,000 on a reservation during Super Bowl weekend in NOLA.

Not only can you buy and sell reservations, you can place a bounty for certain reservations. For example, at the time of writing, there are no available reservations on Friday, May 2nd at Brennan's in New Orleans, but on Appointment Trader I can offer a $360 reward to anyone who can score me the reservation.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

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Appointment Trader takes the next step and even advertises that if you place a reward for a reservation they have concierges in New Orleans ready to take you up on the offer. Going back to using Brennan's as an example, if I'm looking to place a bounty on a reservation Appointment Trader tells me some of the "finest" concierges in NOLA are "going to leverage their industry connections to set you up at the time you want."

Lucky for us here in Shreveport there are none of our local restaurants listed on Appointment Trader yet, but if the industry continues to expand it won't be long until the third biggest city in Louisiana gets added.

Louisiana Could Ban The Industry Before It Spreads

People are understandably outraged at the idea of finding out the only way to score a reservation at their favorite spot is to fork over hundreds of dollars.

NOLA residents spoke to FOX 8 about the practice of reservation scalping, and residents shared the sentiment that it's something Louisiana could do without. Some were keen to point out how AI could be used to bring down the whole system.

Louisiana lawmakers are just as aware of the issue, at least State Rep Troy Herbert of Lafayette is. Rep Herbert wrote HB 90 which if passed will make it so websites like Appointment Trader will need to get a contract from each restaurant they offer reservation auctions for.

If HB 90 passes, Shreveport may never have to worry about paying a couple grand just to sit at a table for two.

Brunch Options in Shreveport

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