- Philadelphia has officially outlawed the resale of restaurant reservations without the restaurant’s permission, aiming to curb the growing “reservation scalping” market.
- Beginning in April 2026, third-party services profiting from unauthorized bookings can face fines of up to $1,000 per violation.
- The law gives restaurants greater control over their booking systems and guest relationships while allowing them to partner with third-party platforms only if they choose.
Officials in Philadelphia are leveling the playing field when it comes to securing some of the city’s most coveted restaurant reservations.
In late 2025, the Philadelphia City Council passed new legislation that prohibits third-party restaurant reservation services, such as Appointment Trader, from “arranging unauthorized restaurant reservations” without the restaurant’s consent. On Jan. 7, the city’s mayor, Cherelle Parker, signed it into law. Here’s what it means for diners in the city.
How bad, really, are these restaurant reservation scalpers?
The practice of buying and selling hard-to-get restaurant reservations has grown in recent years. Think of it the same way concert and sporting-event scalping works: Someone snatches up as many tickets as possible to resell at a huge markup to fans. It’s the same for reservations, with either a person or a platform gobbling up those seats to resell to you. And everyone appears to be on edge about it.
As Food & Wine previously noted, a 2025 National Restaurant Association survey found that 72% of consumers are concerned about the practice of reselling reservation slots, which they described as the “Ticketmaster-ification” of the dining industry.
“We wanted to look at the issue more broadly, so we asked consumers if they were aware of this issue,” Mike Whatley, vice president of state affairs and grassroots advocacy for the National Restaurant Association, told Food & Wine. “The results are pretty remarkable from our perspective — you have 80% of consumers who think it’s important for restaurants and consumers to be protected from resale companies.”
What does the new law explicitly say?
The newly signed ordinance, officially added as a new chapter to Title 9 of the Philadelphia Code, specifically targets “third-party restaurant reservation services.” Under the law, a third-party service may not charge, collect, or receive a fee for one or more restaurant reservations without the restaurant’s written authorization. That means platforms or websites that list reservations for restaurants they don’t own or partner with are prohibited from profiting from those reservations.
The law takes effect in April 2026. For each violation (i.e., every unauthorized restaurant reservation they resell), the city can levy a civil fine of up to $1,000.
Are there ways around the legislation?
Where there’s a will, there’s often a way. The Philadelphia law focuses on third-party reservation services, meaning it’s aimed at organized platforms that list and profit from unauthorized bookings. However, there’s nothing really stopping individuals from scooping up reservations and reselling them on their own (think: selling them over Instagram DM or Facebook Marketplace).
How do restaurants feel?
As the National Restaurant Association, a network of 52 individual state organizations, shared with Food & Wine, it’s not that restaurants want these third-party services to disappear entirely, but rather that they want to maintain some semblance of control. “We want [the restaurants] to have the ability [to work with third-party sites]. If they want that to happen, that’s their prerogative, and they should be able to enter into a relationship,” Whatley said. “But we want restaurants to be able to have control.”
This way, restaurants can still engage directly with guests to learn about any special events they may be celebrating, any allergies to be aware of, and other needs that ensure their dining experience is memorable.
Are there other states with similar laws?
Yes, several cities and states have similar measures, either on the books or under consideration, all targeting the restaurant reservation black market. New York adopted a similar statewide law, the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act, in 2024, which also prohibits third-party restaurant reservation services. California has Assembly Bill 1245, which prohibits third-party reservation services, on the docket for consideration this year.
