When I saw everyone posting about the Chase Dining 10X offer for Sapphire members, I knew something wasn’t right. In fact, I even wrote an article about how the Chase Dining website wasn’t ready for prime time.
However, it was Miles to Memories that wrote the article that I really wanted to write:
No, You’re Not Going To Earn 10X On Dining With The Sapphire Cards
I really wished the internet had an easy way to post this to any website link. It would make all of our lives much easier.
However, while doing research for my post, I dug a little deeper into Tock. Since there are already several dining reservation websites out there, what are they doing different than everyone else.
It turns out that Tock doesn’t really care about making a reservation for you at a restaurant. They’re much more interested in your preferences. In other words, they’re another “big data’ company.
They’re not shy about it either. Take this interview that their CEO had with Tech Crunch at the beginning of 2020.
He has too many ideas of where to take it, including turning Tock into a kind of Spotify that recommends and customizes booking experiences for diners around the world
What does that mean, to become the Spotify of dining? Imagine a service that knows what you like, such as Netflix. Based on what you’ve watched before, they suggest things that you might like. Why not do the same for restaurants? Let everywhere you eat to know what you like. If you’re likely to get the special or if you always like your steak medium-rare.
One of the most important pieces of data within a restaurant group that we don’t share across, is that we want to know your preferences, your dietary restrictions, your spouse’s birthday — all those things. Those are for better hospitality. Now, for the next step we want you to give us that information. We already know your dining history — why is there no platform like Spotify or Netflix for restaurants that anticipates your needs, knows what you enjoy and suggests little nudges to you [like], ‘Hey, your anniversary is coming up in a little while — maybe you should book something now, and we’ve got these great five choices that are in your (playlist).’ So that mass personalization for the consumer is coming, that’s something that we’re building. You have to get to a point where you have enough of that data to do it well enough that it’s meaningful, but we’re there now.
Restaurants can’t do that yet because the data they have on you isn’t linked. But what if it was?
That’s what Tock wants to do and their partnership with Chase gives them access to an additional 30 million users.
Exactly what information does Tock collect about its users? It’s all in their privacy policy.
When you book a reservation through Tock, we collect information about your transaction, including the name and location of the restaurant, bar, winery, brewery, or other venue (“Business”) at which you booked the reservation, the date and time of your reservation, your credit card information, and the amount you pay.
When you place or pay for an order in-person through Tock, we collect information about your transaction, including the name and location of the Business at which you order, the date and time at which you order and pay, the experiences or items you order, your credit card information, and the amount you pay.
Everything you order through the app, where you get it from, and what you paid is stored and used to suggest future purchases.
Is this a bad thing? Not if you ask Tock’s CEO, who comes straight from Wall Street.
[I wanted a way to] look up every single thing that you eat and what you liked and what you didn’t like and left on the table, and your wife or spouse likes to drink.
If we’re honest with ourselves, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Amazon knows what we like to buy. Netflix knows what we like to watch. Why shouldn’t a service know what we like to eat? Tock wants to be that service and Chase Sapphire cardholders are a way for them to get into that market.
Do I hate Tock for this? Of course, I don’t. They have as much of a right to collect information as people let them. In addition, they have this listed as one of their employees on their website. 
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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