How To Get Those Hot Reservations - And Help Places Who Need You

Tips for the summer dining season

There has been a wave of stories lately about the difficulties in getting reservations at trendy restaurants.

The problem seems endemic in places such as New York and Los Angeles, where dining in hot spots is as coveted as landing an Hermes Birkin bag. In New York at least, reservations have become big business.

NBC News reported on Appointment Trader, where people can pay to claim a spot — on top of their food and drinks, which can easily add up to hundreds of dollars at New York prices.

The platform works this way. Its 15,000 vendors scoop up the best reservations on various services, such as Resy, then post the slots on Appointment Trader, where users place their bids. The higher the demand, the higher the final price tag.

Appointment Trader sold $5.7 million in reservations in the last year, according to its founder, Jonas Frey. Customers have been buying an average of $20,000 in reservations a day in recent weeks.

While all this is going on, restaurants in a number of Southern and Western cities are dreading the arrival of summer. They fear hot temperatures will keep locals home and tourists from visiting.

How are you going to navigate this situation? Here are some tips.