Amazon is expanding its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ with new capabilities. The company announced on Thursday that it will be adding four new integrations to the service, enabling Alexa+ to work with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp starting in 2026.
These new 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 receive personalised recommendations. For example, users could say, "Can you find me pet-friendly hotels for this weekend in Chicago?"
These new services join Alexa+'s existing integrations with Fodor, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber.
Image Credits: Amazon
Similar to how ChatGPT is now integrating apps into its chatbot, Amazon aims to simplify how consumers access various online services through its digital assistant. For instance, users can ask Alexa to call an Uber or book a dinner reservation with OpenTable. Additionally, Alexa+ supports natural language conversations, allowing users to refine their requests as they go.
Whether this approach will catch on remains to be seen.
Image Credits: Amazon
However, Amazon did provide a glimpse into how early adopters have been using the integrations. The company noted that home and personal service providers such as Thumbtack and Vagaro have seen "strong" user engagement.
Using AI assistants as app platforms is an industry-wide trend aimed at bringing AI to consumers more broadly. This model, however, will require users to adapt to a new way of interacting with services, as many are used to engaging with online services via web or mobile apps. For AI-driven app interactions to succeed, they must be perceived as at least as easy as, if not easier than, existing models.
For this shift to be successful, AI providers will need to either offer a selection of services comparable to a traditional app store or become very good at recommending the right apps at the correct times, without overwhelming users with perceived unwanted prompts or advertisements.
