🍝 ChatGPT can book restaurant reservations for you
ChatGPT will find open tables, book them and even join a Yelp waitlist without you leaving the chat. Here’s how to do it, the prompt that gets the best results and the catch about cancellations.
What’s new: ChatGPT doesn’t just suggest restaurants. It books them.
ChatGPT/Kim Komando
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OpenAI wired in OpenTable, Resy and Yelp, so you describe the night out in plain English and get open times in the answer instead of a pile of links to check yourself.
Then you narrow it down with follow-up questions:
- Any patios?
- Anything before 6:30?
- Which places have vegan options?
- What’s available within walking distance?
When you pick one, ChatGPT collects your party size, date, time and contact details, passes along special requests like a vegan menu or birthday, then does the booking.
I can see all the main chatbots doing something like this soon. For now, the piece nobody else has is the Yelp waitlist. For packed places that don’t take reservations, you can join the queue from the chat instead of hovering by the hostess stand pretending to read the menu.
Coverage by platform:
- OpenTable: Worldwide
- Yelp: U.S. and Canada
- Resy: U.S. only
It’s rolling out across all ChatGPT plans, including free, on mobile, web and desktop.
⏱️ The 60-second setup
1. Update ChatGPT. Make sure your app is up to date, or open ChatGPT on the web and start a new chat.
2. Type your request. Include the four things it needs: where, when, how many people, what you care about (vibe, view, allergy awareness, etc.).
3. Approve the connection: If ChatGPT asks permission to connect OpenTable, Resy or Yelp, approve it right there in the chat.
That’s it. If Step 3 never appears, look in your ChatGPT settings for the connected apps section and check OpenAI’s release notes, linked below, for the exact path.
đź“‹ Try this prompt:
Find me a table for 4 this Saturday at 7 p.m. Italian, downtown [your city], under $50 a person, and one of us is vegan, so it needs real vegan entrees, not a side salad. Show me the actual open times, tell me which ones have outdoor seating, then book the best one, and note it’s an anniversary.
⚠️ The catch: Once the reservation exists, ChatGPT is done. Changes and cancellations happen back on Yelp, OpenTable or Resy. Don’t no-show thinking the chat will cancel for you. It can’t, and that could mean a strike on your account or even a fee. Oh, and Yelp bookings only work at restaurants that use Yelp Guest Manager, and plenty don’t.
There’s no payment step. Nice for you, since it means no card and no cover charge, but it also means prepaid tastings and ticketed dinners are off the table.
Booking hands your name, phone number and email to the restaurant’s reservation platform, and its privacy policy takes over from there.
Also, ChatGPT will never ask you for a card number to hold a table. If something ever does, that’s not the feature. That’s a scam.