Congress moves to curb restaurant reservation platform power
H.R. 3403 — SEAT Act of 2025 · Filed by Nancy Mace (R-SC) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced May 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires third-party restaurant reservation platforms (like OpenTable, Resy, etc.) to obtain written permission from restaurants before listing or selling their reservations. It treats violations as unfair trade practices enforceable by the FTC, and voids any contract clause forcing restaurants to indemnify the reservation service for the service's own negligence or misconduct. The bill takes effect 180 days after enactment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a licensing/authorization requirement for third-party reservation platforms, coupled with liability shield for restaurants. It is fundamentally a regulatory constraint on platform business models, not a consumer protection or public-safety measure, despite the framing around 'equal access.'
What the text implies
- Platforms may respond by requiring exclusive contracts or higher commission rates from restaurants to justify the cost of obtaining authorization, potentially raising consumer prices.
- Small restaurants with limited negotiating power may face pressure to accept unfavorable terms from dominant platforms or lose online visibility.
- The indemnification void may reduce platform incentive to invest in fraud prevention or customer service quality, since restaurants cannot contractually shift liability.
- The 180-day implementation window may create a temporary surge in unauthorized listings as platforms rush to secure agreements before enforcement begins.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Restaurants gain protection against unauthorized reservation sales and liability traps, which may reduce consumer confusion and improve service quality. However, the bill may reduce consumer choice and convenience by limiting which platforms can offer reservations, and could increase restaurant operational burden if platforms demand higher fees or exclusivity in exchange for authorization.
Who stands to gain
- Independent and regional restaurant groups
- Restaurant industry associations
- Smaller restaurant chains with negotiating leverage
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Third-party restaurant reservation services (OpenTable, Resy, etc.), Food service establishments (restaurants, bars, food trucks), House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- May 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $470,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Nancy Mace, the sponsor, reported $8,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Express Company — $470,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,473 characters) on Aug 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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