Prohibits third-party restaurant reservation services from arranging unauthorized restaurant reservations with food service establishments; establishes fines for violations of such prohibition.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10215A
SPONSOR: Rules (Bores) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting
third-party restaurant reservation services from arranging unauthorized
restaurant reservations with food service establishments
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To require online third party food service reservation apps obtain
consent from a food service establishment prior to such app marketing or
making a seating reservation at such food service establishment.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:,:
Section one: This act shall be known as the "restaurant reservation
anti-piracy act".
Section two: Adds a new section 391-w to the general business law, which
prohibits third-party restaurant reservation services from listing,
advertising, promoting, or selling reservations for a food service
establishment. Third-party restaurant reservation services exclude
reservation distribution channels authorized by the food service estab-
lishment. This section also provides the civil penalty for each
violation .
Section three: Establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The explosion of predatory third-party online platforms designed to
capture the online restaurant reservation marketplace has simultaneously
forced consumers to endure enormous fees while devastating small busi-
nesses. In most cases, restaurants have no business relationship with
these third party platforms who market and sell their reservations with-
out permission. These predatory third-party platforms use bots designed
to find and secure what appear to be legitimate online reservations and
then sell them at a huge profit. The large fees charged leave New York-
ers unable to afford the experience of new and popular dining options
that would otherwise be available. In most cases, predatory restaurant
reservation platforms do not inform restaurants of their actions or
release unused or changed reservations, leading to empty seats at popu-
lar dining establishments. Additionally, numerous instances have been
reported of predatory third-party restaurant reservation platforms
double booking reservations, forcing consumers to be turned away and
without remedy to recoup their reservation fee.
This legislation is modeled after a 2021 State Law and 2021 New York
City law that has successfully reigned in similar predatory activity by
third-party food delivery apps by requiring online third party reserva-
tion platforms to obtain prior consent from the restaurant to be market-
ed on their online platforms.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall become law on the sixtieth day.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10215--A
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Bores,
Gibbs, Gallagher, Forrest, Lee, Beephan) -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection -- reported and
referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting
third-party restaurant reservation services from arranging unauthor-
ized restaurant reservations with food service establishments
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "restaurant reservation anti-piracy act".
3 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 391-w
4 to read as follows:
5 § 391-w. Unauthorized restaurant reservations. 1. Definitions. For the
6 purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following
7 meanings:
8 (a) "Food service establishment" shall have the same meaning as that
9 term is defined in section three hundred ninety-one-v of this article.
10 (b) "Third-party restaurant reservation service" means any website,
11 mobile application or other internet service that: (i) offers or
12 arranges for reserving on-premises service for a customer at a food
13 service establishment; and (ii) that is owned and operated by a person
14 other than the person who owns such food service establishment. A
15 third-party restaurant reservation service shall not include any reser-
16 vation distribution channels that are authorized to distribute reserva-
17 tions by way of a contractual relationship with either the applicable
18 food service establishment or a contractual designee of the food service
19 establishment who obtained reservation distribution rights directly
20 from the food service establishment.
21 2. A third-party restaurant reservation service shall not list, adver-
22 tise, promote, or sell reservations for a food service establishment
23 through the website, mobile application or other platform of such third-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15420-10-4
A. 10215--A 2
1 party restaurant reservation service without a written agreement between
2 such third-party restaurant reservation service and such food service
3 establishment to include reservations at the food service establishment
4 on such website, mobile application or other platform.
5 3. Any person who violates, or causes another person to violate, a
6 provision of this section or any rule promulgated pursuant thereto,
7 shall be subject to a civil penalty that shall not exceed one thousand
8 dollars for each violation. Violations by third-party restaurant reser-
9 vation services under this section shall accrue on a daily basis for
10 each day and for each food service establishment with respect to which a
11 violation of this section or any rule promulgated pursuant to this
12 section was committed. A proceeding to recover any civil penalty or
13 restitution authorized pursuant to this section may be brought within
14 any agency of the state designated to conduct such proceedings.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
16 have become a law.
