Two people just agreed to go out. They haven’t picked where.
That gap is about four seconds long and it is the only moment that decides where a couple spends Friday night. Otter is where it happens.
What a week looks likeIllustrative
89 couples planning a night out
Fri 6:30
Active in Surry Hills
Fri 7:30
Active in Surry Hills
Sat 8:30
Romantic in Surry Hills
Sat 7:00
Romantic in Surry Hills
Sat 8:00
Something to do in Surry Hills
Sun 6:30
Something to do in Surry Hills
Right now, none of them can see you.
Get in front of them — freeFigures above illustrate the shape of a week rather than a live count. We publish real numbers once they are ours to publish.
“How is this different from the booking sites I already pay?”
They charge per cover, so the better it works the more it costs you. This is a flat monthly fee with no commission layer at all, and the booking happens in your system rather than theirs. Here is the whole of it.
| Feature | Free | Rose | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per month | $0 | $89$71 billed annually | $129$103 billed annually |
| Commission per booking | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Pebble multiplier | 1× | 1.5× | 2× |
| Events at once | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Analytics | Basic | Detailed | Detailed |
| Ranking tagsChange what you match, not where you sit | — | 5 | 8 |
| Off-peak windows | — | — | Yes |
| Venues on the account | 1 | Any number | Any number |
Your plan covers your first venue. Every venue after that is $29 each on Rose, dropping to $24 from your sixth and $19 from your eleventh. On Gold it is $39, then $32, then $25.
Past sixteen venues we would rather build the plan around you, though self-serve stays open so nobody waits on us. Cancel any month and you drop to free rather than disappearing.
No card at signup, and the free tier has no clock on it.
“Can I pay to rank above someone better suited?”
No, and that is the point. A plan raises the reward a couple earns for choosing you; it never moves you up a list.
Otter asks four questions before it shows a single venue. You are either the answer to those questions or you are not shown — which is why the couples who do see you are already most of the way to a booking.
Where
The suburbs they will actually travel to on the night, not a city-wide list.
How much
A budget for the night, agreed between two people before they start looking.
What kind of night
The thing they are in the mood for, which is how you avoid being shown to the wrong couple.
When
A specific night, usually a few days out, which is enough time for you to take the booking.
Nobody buys their way past relevance. A steakhouse on the top plan is still not shown to a couple who asked for a quiet walk.
“What does the free tier actually get me?”
A venue couples can find and book, one event at a time, and basic analytics. It is a real tier rather than a trial, so there is no clock on it and no card at signup. Here is everything a plan can carry.
- Your booking system
- The button goes where you point it. We never sit in the middle of a booking and never take a cut of the table.
- Who saw you, who tapped
- Views, tap-throughs and the segments they came from, weekly in your inbox. Basic on free, detailed on a plan.
- Events
- Put a set menu, a tasting or a one-off night into the pool couples pick from. How events work.
- Off-peak windows
- Push harder on the nights you are trying to fill instead of the ones you already sell out. On Gold.
“What is a night of mine actually worth?”
Couples earn pebbles for planning a night and turning up to it, and every event carries a number they can see before they choose. It is calculated, not negotiated. Put your own event into the formula:
| Every event starts at | 20 |
|---|---|
| Ticket price $80 ÷ 10 | + 8 |
| Category bonus (higher tier) | + 3 |
| 2 hours × 2 | + 4 |
| Subtotal | 35 |
| One-off × 1.3 | 45.5 |
| Free plan × 1 | 45.5 |
| A couple earns | 46 |
A one-off rewards more than a weekly regular, because scarcity is worth something to the couple. Duration counts up to twelve hours so a multi-day event cannot run away with it.
“How much work is this every week?”
Setup runs about ten minutes, then roughly ten more whenever you want to post an event.
A set menu, a tasting, a live act, a Sunday session. An event does not run as an ad beside the results — it goes into the pool of things couples choose from, so it competes on being a good night rather than on being sponsored.
You write it
Title, description, the kind of night it is, when it starts, how long it runs, and a ticket price if there is one. Repeat it daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, or leave it as a one-off.
We read it
Every event is reviewed before it goes live. It is the reason couples trust what they are shown, and the reason being on the list is worth something.
Couples get shown it
It appears as a date idea for the couples whose suburb, budget and mood it fits, carrying the pebble reward it earns.
Caps count events running at once, not events per month. Finish one and the slot frees up.
“We run twenty venues. Is there a single account?”
Yes. One head-office login and one invoice, with per-venue numbers side by side and promotions you can push across the group. The per-venue rate falls as the group grows.
“Which cities is this in?”
Sydney, for now. We would rather be the best answer in one city than a thin answer in six, so the next city opens when the couples are there to justify it.
Somebody is getting Friday night
Setup runs about ten minutes, the free tier needs no card, and the booking button points at your own site from the first day.
Questions go to partner@otterapp.com.au.