Great folks, but overall mediocre - Anonymous employee OpenTable Employee Review

2.0
Nov 24, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The best part about OpenTable is the company culture and the people. Your colleagues are approachable and a delight to work with on a day-to-day basis. The company also throws fun happy hours and parties to allow you to get to know your colleagues and enjoy each other's company. The company's products and future vision is much more practical and well-defined under Christa's leadership.

Cons

The company is very cheap. The systems are severely outdated, which creates a lot of manual work. Efficiency is not a priority and never discussed. The common complaints to why the company does not have the basic necessities is "it's not in the budget." I imagine this is because the Priceline Group examines every single penny the company is spending. Growth opportunities and promotions are determined closely linked to how close you are with your manager rather than merit. Despite making repeated cases for a promotion or a growth plan, your manager holds the key to whether you get to move up or have the support to foster growth in your role. This is quite a contradictory vision given that the People & Culture team emphasizes how much employee growth matters, but the team does absolutely nothing to enforce this. The company also needs to invest in mandatory manager training (again - cheap!) to establish some sort of uniformity. A lot of folks have moved into manager or team lead positions who have not managed teams before because of high turnover rates the company experienced in 2014 and 2015. Compensation and benefits are severely below market. My salary is 50%+ higher at my new company for the same role. The company is very far from being competitive from other bay area tech companies.

Explore other reviews about OpenTable

5.0
Mar 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place to work - really good work life balance and culture.

Cons

Not much to say, everything is good

1.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* It's a great brand * Great partners * Decent product with strong distribution

Cons

* Management style was heavily top-down, with decision-making concentrated among a small group of senior leaders. * This was the same when they were all working at KAYAK under the same group * I observed what I felt was preferential treatment of certain employees (notably of a certain ethnicity - IYKYK), which negatively impacted perceptions of fairness and inclusivity within the organisation. * The workplace environment could be highly stressful, and concerns raised by employees were not always addressed effectively. * Staff wellbeing, retention, and morale appeared to be ongoing challenges during my time with the company.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All