Yelp is expanding its use of artificial intelligence (AI), introducing features that can call restaurants on behalf of users, deliver personalised recommendations and help customers book services directly through its app.

Announced on October 20, 2026, the company’s latest product update introduces more than 30 features, integrations and improvements designed to make discovering and interacting with local businesses easier. The changes build on Yelp’s broader effort to turn its platform from a business-search directory into an AI-powered assistant that can help users take action. 

AI agent can call restaurants to check waiting times

One of the key additions is Check for Me, an AI-powered phone agent that contacts a restaurant to find out its current waiting time.

Users can enter their party size and phone number on an eligible restaurant page or through Yelp Assistant. The AI agent then makes the call and sends the response by text, allowing customers to decide whether to visit without having to call themselves.

The feature is expected to roll out in the coming months on eligible restaurant pages and through Yelp Assistant on iOS in the United States.

Yelp Assistant becomes more personal

Yelp is also enhancing its AI assistant to provide recommendations based on users’ preferences and previous conversations.

The assistant can use information from earlier chats alongside business reviews and other relevant context to make suggestions more tailored to individual needs. Users can also access recent conversations, with the company planning to make the full chat history available.

Another addition, called Keep Me Posted, allows users to schedule personalised recommendations. For example, someone could request weekend activity suggestions every Friday or receive ideas for dog-friendly outdoor destinations.

The aim is to make Yelp more useful beyond individual searches, helping people discover relevant places and activities over time.

Restaurant bookings and business appointments

The updated Yelp Assistant also incorporates an OpenTable integration, enabling users in the United States to discover restaurants and book tables through the app on iOS.

Yelp is expanding its scheduling capabilities for local service professionals as well. Integrations with services such as ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro are designed to help customers arrange appointments more easily.

These additions reflect a wider trend in consumer technology: AI assistants are increasingly being developed to complete tasks, rather than simply provide information or answer questions.

New tools for saving and sharing favourite places

Yelp is introducing My Lists, a feature that lets users save, rank, organise and share local businesses.

The initial options include “Been Here” and “Want to Go” lists. Users can organise saved places by location, category and cuisine, add notes and share their collections with others.

The company also plans to introduce weekly personalised recommendations based on users’ saved businesses and rankings.

AI tools for local businesses

The update also includes Smart Lead Reply, a paid AI product for service professionals. It can respond to customer enquiries and ask follow-up questions to help qualify potential leads.

The service is priced at $30 per month, according to the announcement, and allows business owners to specify how the AI agent should handle conversations.

Yelp is also expanding integrations intended to help service businesses manage scheduling, customer enquiries and lead conversion.

What this means for the future of local discovery

Yelp’s latest features show how AI is changing the way consumers interact with local businesses. Instead of searching through listings, reading reviews and making multiple phone calls, users can increasingly rely on one assistant to research options and carry out tasks.

For businesses, AI tools could help manage customer enquiries and reduce the time spent on routine communication. However, the usefulness of these features will depend on the accuracy of their responses, the availability of participating businesses and how comfortably users adopt AI-led interactions.

The rollout is currently focused on eligible features and markets, so availability will vary.