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Probably because the cancels were followed up by aggressive sales calls that mentioned the issue. A quote from the article:

"The no-shows were accompanied by an OpenTable inquiry about Tavern’s 'sagging sales,' with a renewed attempt to convince them to switch."

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So they were too aggressive. They should have used fake bookings much less and increase them much more slowly, and don't show with "hey, wanna switch?" right after.

Should have? You realize you're arguing for something that's morally reprehensible and legally questionable (fake bookings) in the context of something else whose morality is dubious at best (how should OpenTable know about sagging sales in the first place if they're not already affiliated with OpenTable?)

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