What would it look like, algorithmically, for reservation systems to be more fair [1] for customers? There would be two goals:
1. Let normal users, who don't have bots, have a reasonable chance at a reservation.
2. Kill the secondary market for tickets, or at the very least, allow restaurants themselves to keep the revenue generated from people willing to pay more rather than a 3rd party.
One approach would be to add people to a queue and randomize who gets a reservation. They could be bucketed by when they reserved (say, to the 1 hour) and selected from there. That could help with bots.
But it's not clear to me how you'd work on the secondary market - would you require a photo id for each reservation? A specialized app that's tied to your identity (phone, google oauth?)
How would it work? And for restaurants who are already using other platforms (Resy, Tock, OpenTable, etc) what would it take for them to switch?
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/why-you-cant-get-a-restaurant-reservation
The pay to play model is ideal for people where the current system costs loose change. It's idea for restaurants that cater to such people. Having regular customers who will spend a lot of money relative to the general population is a very good business model. Sure catering to "tourists" can also be ok. But not as good.
The "restaurant reservation problem" is only a problem for aspirational fine diners who can't afford being regulars. They are not starving.
Restaurants use the existing platforms for business reasons. When the imagined "fairness" becomes a business problem, an alternative platform will arise from within the industry. It's normal market segmentation. Ferrari's aren't fair either.
Good luck.