A Thursday table at Carbone has been listed for 340 dollars before you order anything, and the fixes restaurants reach for do not remove the class filter on the hard table. They rename it.
Bots grab the slot at machine speed; Appointment Trader resells it for a 20 to 30 percent cut. What the defenses actually do:
- Deposits, booking fees, and non-transferable named tables beat the bot but charge the diner.
- London rooms now attach per-head minimum spends: Gymkhana 100 pounds, Inca 150.
- Dorsia sells access outright, up to 25,175 dollars a year, and says so.
- New York's anti-piracy law hits resellers, not the restaurant's own cover charge.
The table is rationed by money now, out loud, instead of by connection, quietly.
