Yelp introduced a new feature called "Check for Me" that lets app users deploy a voice AI agent to call a restaurant and check its current wait time. The option appears on restaurant pages in the Yelp app, where users can enter their party size and phone number. The AI agent places the call on the user’s behalf and then texts the reported wait time so the user can decide whether to go.
Yelp previously launched a voice solution for restaurants and service providers last year; with this addition it is extending the capability to the consumer side. The company notes a potential issue: a user’s agent may end up speaking with the restaurant’s agent, and agent-to-agent interactions can sometimes break down.
Updated Yelp AI assistant and OpenTable booking
Yelp has also updated its Yelp AI assistant that helps people discover restaurants and services. The update includes an OpenTable integration, enabling users to book a table without leaving the Yelp app.
Personalization has been improved: the assistant will remember preferences mentioned in prior chats. Users can access their chat history from the past 30 days in the app, and full history access will be available soon.
Reminders, lists and personalized recommendations
The assistant can now set custom reminders, for example sending weekend-activity suggestions every Friday. Users can create and manage lists, starting with two default lists — "Been Here" and "Want to Go." Lists can be filtered by location, category and cuisine, reordered, annotated with notes, and shared with others.
Starting next month, Yelp will begin showing weekly personalized recommendations based on saved items and rankings. The company is also working on converting collections into lists, redesigning the lists tab, and adding a maps view, with those changes rolling out later in the year.
Paid business product: Smart Lead Reply at $30 per month
As part of its AI push for businesses, Yelp is launching a new paid product called Smart Lead Reply that can reply to customers and engage with them to qualify leads. Business owners will be charged $30 per month for the service and can specify how an agent should handle customer conversations.
Other companies, including Meta, have been targeting small businesses with AI offerings to handle inbound customer inquiries.
Why this matters
Together, these updates make it easier for consumers to discover restaurants, check wait times and book tables, while giving businesses automated tools to manage customer interactions. At the same time, the possibility of agent-to-agent communication problems highlights that such systems are still maturing.
