WhatsDo

WhatsDo turns a conversation about going out into a booking the venue actually receives.

Ask for dinner, a massage, a gym class or somewhere to take a visiting friend, and WhatsDo returns ranked local places with photos, ratings, hours and which of them accept bookings through the app. Where a venue does, the booking is placed in the same conversation. Where it does not, WhatsDo says so and hands over the phone number or the venue's own booking page instead.

What it covers: restaurants, cafes, bars and nightlife, gyms and yoga and other fitness, spas, salons, massage, pet services, hotels, events and activities.

How it books: WhatsDo reaches each venue through whichever rail that venue supports — Square and Mindbody for partnered venues, OpenTable and Yelp for restaurants that use them, the venue's own booking site where one exists, and a WhatsDo team member who completes the request by hand otherwise. Before booking, the app reports which rail applies and what the venue requires, so the details being submitted are visible first.

Confirmation depends on the venue. Some rails confirm inside the conversation; others return a request that stays pending until the venue or the WhatsDo team completes it, and the app reports that status rather than describing a table as held. Cancellation works the same way: it is requested in the conversation and reported as requested until the venue confirms it.

It also knows the signed-in person. Their saved location means they need not name their city; their saved diet, cuisines, price range and vibes shape the ranking; their exclusions keep places they have rejected out of the results. With Google Calendar connected, it can check a proposed time against what they already have on.

WhatsDo currently covers California and Florida.