Amazon expands Alexa+ with AI integrations for Expedia, Yelp, Square, and Angi in 2026

Amazon's AI assistant Alexa+ now works with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp | TechCrunch

Amazon is expanding its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ with new capabilities. The company announced on Thursday that it's adding four new integrations to the service that will allow the assistant to work with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp starting in 2026. These additions allow customers to book hotels, get quotes for home services, and schedule salon appointments, among other things. With Expedia, customers can compare, book, and manage hotel reservations, or tell Alexa their preferences to get personalized recommendations. (e.g. "Can you find me pet-friendly hotels for this weekend in Chicago?") The new services join Alexa+'s existing integrations with Fodor, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber. Similar to how ChatGPT is now integrating apps into its chatbot, Amazon aims to make it easier for consumers to use various online services through its digital assistant. For instance, you could ask Alex to call you an Uber or book a table for dinner with OpenTable. You can also converse with the AI assistant in natural language, having back-and-forth conversations, refining your request as you go. Whether users will take to this idea, of course, remains to be seen. However, Amazon did offer a small glimpse as to how Alexa+ early adopters have been using the integrations, noting that, so far, home and personal service providers like Thumbtack and Vargaro have seen "strong" engagement. Using AI assistants as app platforms is a model that's being tested across the industry as another way to bring AI to consumers more broadly. But this will require users to adapt to a new way of doing things, as many are used to engaging with online services through the web or mobile apps. To be successful in getting consumers to change their behavior, using apps via AI will need to be seen as being as easy, if not easier, than the existing model. For that to work, the AI providers would need to at least match the breadth of online services provided by a traditional app store, which is already a more curated selection than what's available via the web. Or, providers will need to get very good at suggesting apps to use at the right time, without seeming overly pushy, as users can perceive unwelcome prompts as ads.

Alexa+ adds conversation AI shopping and travel planning for Expedia, Yelp, and more

Alexa+ signals Amazon's most serious attempt yet to make voice assistants useful beyond timers, weather checks, and trivia night flexes. The e-commerce giant Amazon has announced a major expansion of its AI-based assistant, Alexa+, adding several third-party integrations. The assistant can now handle real-world tasks, such as booking travel tickets or reservations, hiring services, ordering food, and managing payments, all via natural language commands. The first wave of partners includes Expedia (travel planning and bookings), Yelp (local business information), Angi (home repairs and professional services), and Square (digital payments). Why Alexa+ finally feels useful So, instead of juggling multiple apps to do all these things, users can simply ask Alexa+ to do the work for them. For instance, one can ask the digital assistant, "Find a well-rated restaurant or cafe near me and reserve a dinner table for two," and the assistant should handle the rest. Recommended Videos Voice assistants have struggled with a simple problem: you can talk to them all you want, but they can only do a limited number of tasks. However, Amazon's new approach aims to fix this problem by leaning heavily on conversational AI and deeper integration with dedicated services. The conversational Alexa+ carries relevant context, allows users to ask follow-up questions, and completes multi-step tasks, marking a significant shift from command-based voice interactions to a personal concierge-like experience. In other words, Amazon is positioning Alexa+ as a useful tool. If you've ever abandoned a voice request because it was faster to grab your phone and handle the task yourself, Alexa+ should save you time by combining search, comparison, booking, and payment into a single voice-based conversation. In the near future, Amazon should announce collaborations with more partners, expanding Alexa+ into areas such as healthcare, subscriptions, and other recurring services that require some level of technical or non-technical assistance. Moreover, Alexa+ can act on your behalf and handle the mundane tasks that take up a lot of your time.

Amazon adds Angi, Expedia, Square and Yelp to Alexa+

Amazon announced on Thursday that its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ will integrate with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp starting in 2026 to enable users to book hotels, obtain home-service quotes, and schedule salon appointments. The expansions target practical consumer needs by connecting Alexa+ directly to service providers. Angi provides quotes for home services such as repairs and maintenance tasks. Expedia handles hotel comparisons, bookings, and management. Square supports scheduling for salon appointments, streamlining personal care reservations. Yelp contributes local business discovery and reviews within these interactions. These features activate through voice commands, allowing seamless access without switching devices or apps. Expedia integration permits detailed user requests. Customers compare options based on location, price, and amenities. They book reservations instantly and manage changes like cancellations or modifications. Personalized recommendations emerge from spoken preferences. For example, a user states, "Can you find me pet-friendly hotels for this weekend in Chicago?" Alexa+ processes the query, filters results, and presents matches with availability and ratings. Alexa+ already connects to Fodor for travel planning, OpenTable for restaurant bookings, Suno for music generation, Ticketmaster for event tickets, Thumbtack for local services, and Uber for ride-hailing. These partnerships form the foundation, handling diverse tasks from dining reservations to transportation. Amazon positions Alexa+ to facilitate a broad array of online services through natural-language conversations. This approach mirrors ChatGPT's app integrations within its chatbot interface. Users engage in fluid exchanges, issuing commands like requesting an Uber ride or securing an OpenTable dinner table. The system supports back-and-forth dialogue, where initial requests refine progressively based on follow-up clarifications or adjustments. Early adopters demonstrate usage patterns. Amazon reports strong engagement with home and personal service providers, including Thumbtack for task-based hires and Vagaro for salon and spa bookings. These interactions highlight preferences for service-oriented queries over other categories. The industry explores AI assistants as platforms for app-like functions to distribute AI capabilities widely. This model shifts from web or mobile app interactions to voice-driven commands. Adoption hinges on perceived simplicity matching or exceeding traditional methods. Users accustomed to app stores or browsers require minimal friction in transitions. AI providers must replicate app store breadth, which offers curated selections narrower than the open web. Alternatively, they excel by delivering timely suggestions at opportune moments. Prompts avoid perceptions of intrusive advertising, maintaining user trust through relevance and restraint.

Amazon Intros AI Integrations For Alexa With Square, Expedia, Yelp and Angi | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The new integrations are set to debut on the virtual assistant device next year, Amazon wrote on its blog Tuesday (Dec. 23). "We understand that a truly useful personal assistant needs to connect with services that customers rely on every day," said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo. "Every new integration we add brings Alexa+ closer to handling more of life's everyday tasks, changing how customers interact, discover, and book services. We can't wait for customers to experience these new capabilities and are excited to continue adding even more." The post goes on to say that customers will be able to reserve hotel rooms, get quotes on home services and schedule hair salon appointments via Alexa+'s agentic capabilities. For example, the integration with Expedia will see Alexa respond to customer requests to find, suggest, compare, book, and manage hotel bookings using Expedia's lodging inventory. The integrations with Angi and Yelp will expand the number of home services available to customers with Alexa+. There's also a collaboration with Square, which helps local businesses manage inventory, communicate with clients, book appointments and process payments. "With Square's integration, Alexa+ will allow customers to discover local beauty and wellness providers in Square's network, including spas, hair and nail salons, barbershops, and more," the blog post said. "In addition to gaining visibility into scheduling availability, users will be able to make, manage, and reschedule appointments with service providers directly through Alexa." The announcement follows reports from earlier this month that Amazon had rebuilt Alexa+ with agentic AI, moving beyond scripted commands to autonomous task execution. In other agentic AI news, PYMNTS spoke about the role of this technology in commerce with Adam Hiatt, vice president of fraud strategy at Spreedly. Agentic AI "inverts the responsibility of the purchasing experience from one where you have a customer going out to the merchant to saying, 'Hey, you come to me with what the proposal is.'" Under this model, intent becomes an actionable asset. The agent's understanding of the consumer in things like airline loyalty, preferred brands, environmental constraints and dietary needs becomes ingrained into the shopping architecture. "We're obviously only in the very first inning of the AI agentic driven personalized shopping," Hiatt said. Still, even in this early stage, he sees "this idea that the personal intent behind shopping can be put into these personal agents" as the key transformation that will reconfigure the infrastructure of commerce.