Resy’s Hannah Kelly on building community and connection

Resy transcends its practical use as a restaurant-booking platform.

So says Hannah Kelly, the CMO of Resy. It goes well beyond that transaction, Kelly tells The Current Podcast. Rather, she says, it’s about building relationships between diners and restaurants.

A lot of fine dining has been booked through the app — more than 600 million reservations — so Kelly is on a mission to transform that data to build a community, while helping restaurants thrive.

“Reservations are a form of cultural currency, which is something that we talk about inside Resy,” she says. “So, our job is to really harness that cultural zeitgeist moment and really use that as a way to help prop up more restaurants, keep them in business and drive more demand.”

Connection is at the core of Resy’s brand story; “It’s not about us,” she says. “People care about Resy because of the restaurants on our platform.”

In keeping with that, Resy has expanded its operation to enable discovery, acting as a cultural curator by making it easier for diners to discover the next great restaurant: it offers content on everything from the most popular eateries to shareable collections to underrepresented cuisines.

In the first three months of 2024, Resy spotlighted 2,000 restaurants in 300 stories through its published content. And when people discover a new place through Resy, that can likely bolster the consumer love and trust of the brand.

“It’s really about being that trusted partner...when [consumers] don’t know where to go,” Kelly says.

Elsewhere on the podcast, Kelly talks about how Resy fits into parent company American Express’ brand mission, how experiential marketing is key to its strategy and the power of connection at restaurants after the COVID-19 pandemic.