Hearst Invests in Restaurant Reservation Company

Do people who eat at places like Le Cirque clip coupons? Hearst is hoping so, because it just invested three million in VillageVines, a start-up that gives subscribers discounts at expensive restaurants when they make reservations through the site.

According to The Wall Street Journal, this might be a smart move by Hearst, because restaurants get to decide which reservations are available to VillageVines members, making it a very vendor-friendly service.

Unfortunately, something tells us with snooty restaurants having all the power, the reservations are probably only enticing to those who like eating dinner at 3:30 PM or getting wild on a Tuesday night. Vendor-friendly? Sure. Consumer-friendly? Not really.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.