After DineOut acquisition, TimesCity starts table reservation via Twitter

After acquiring restaurant reservation service DineOut a couple of months ago, Times Internet Ltd's listing service TimesCity has introduced a new feature to enable users to book tables via Twitter.

To book a table via Twitter, one can tweet @TimesCity with the restaurant name, location, date/time, and the number of people, along with the hashtag #TweetaTable. The person handling the account will then ask for his/her mobile number, confirm the booking, and then message the details to him/her.

"Twitter is growing rapidly in India, and we thought a simple tweet is one of the easiest ways to get stuff done," said TimesCity's business head Miten Sampat. "As such we don't have predefined targets, but we expect it to be a highly engaging way to interact with users."

Sampat says that TimesCity is also planning to add table reservations to its mobile apps very soon. The company had earlier revealed that almost 45 per cent of its traffic comes through mobile devices.

In September last year, TimesCity had partnered with digital marketing startup Mobikon for real-time table reservations for its customers on the site. A month earlier, it had acquired location-based restaurant recommendation app Gawbl for an undisclosed amount.