What is missed here is that this will create zero additional seats, it just changes the dynamic of how you get one.
There might have been an after-market for these reservations where you could buy one if you want to. But now what? I guess it's just a race to call the restaurant? Or to reload their reservations page over and over again on the day they open them for the day you want? If I want to eat a Fancy Restaurant, but they are normally fully booked - what do I do now?
The folks that resell reservations like this are addressing an actual problem in the market. Perhaps you do not like that they are earning money doing so, but preventing it doesn't fix the problem either.
To be a blunt as possible here: Then you don't get to go.
I recognize that the particular demographic that this board attracts probably doesn't like that answer. But among the general public, I'd say it's an extremely popular answer - and "addressing a problem in the market" this way looks like yet another way to make society unfair and biased to the rich, and the average person absolutely hates it. Which is why this law will have broad popular support.
What you do now is go eat at a different restaurant. Lots of good ones out there. I can't understand why any customer would be stupid enough to put up with that much hassle and expense just to eat at one particular popular restaurant.
And if you really like a restaurant enough to eat there all the time and become friendly with the staff then you can always get a reservation.
I thought the way people got reservations was to pay the concierge.
One way or another, you're going to have to pay to get a reservation at a hot restaurant.
It's like under communism, where the price of bread was set by the state. The result was shortages. So the real "price" a customer would pay was how long they were willing to wait in line. Customers would then pay other people to stand in line for them.
It's not possible for government to legislate away the price.
There might have been an after-market for these reservations where you could buy one if you want to. But now what? I guess it's just a race to call the restaurant? Or to reload their reservations page over and over again on the day they open them for the day you want? If I want to eat a Fancy Restaurant, but they are normally fully booked - what do I do now?
The folks that resell reservations like this are addressing an actual problem in the market. Perhaps you do not like that they are earning money doing so, but preventing it doesn't fix the problem either.