AI receptionists for resorts: what they do and how to choose one

A resort’s phone tends to ring most when its staff have the least time: during check-in and checkout, in peak season, and in the evening, when guests abroad are planning trips. When nobody answers, some callers ring back. Others book elsewhere, or book the same resort through an online travel agency, which takes a commission.

What an AI receptionist is

An AI receptionist is software that answers phone calls and talks with callers in ordinary speech. Callers say what they want in their own words instead of pressing numbers, and it answers during the call.

What it can do depends on what it is connected to. With access to your booking system it can check availability, quote rates and make bookings. Without that access it can answer general questions and take messages, and little else.

Some can also make outgoing calls, for example to confirm a guest’s arrival time.

Calls it can handle at a resort

New bookings come first. The assistant checks availability and rates, explains the differences between room types and books the stay. Changes to existing bookings work the same way: extra nights, new dates, an extra guest, a late checkout.

Resorts also sell things other than rooms. A guest might want a massage, a table for dinner, an excursion or an airport transfer, and each of those often belongs to a different department. If the assistant can see the spa and restaurant diaries, it can book them during the same call.

Then there are questions about check-in times, parking, pets, dress codes or getting from the airport. The answers rarely change, so they are easy to give the assistant.

Guests from abroad can speak their own language. Replystate’s assistant speaks 23 languages and changes language if the caller does.

Outgoing calls cover the rest: calling guests a few days before arrival to confirm times and transfers, or calling back someone who asked about a stay and didn’t book.

A booking call might go like this:

Guest: Hi, we’re looking at four nights in August, two adults and our daughter. She’s seven.

Assistant: I have a garden suite free from the 12th to the 16th. It’s £1,140 for the stay with breakfast, and the kids’ club is included. Shall I book it?

Guest: Yes please. Could we also get a couples massage on the first evening?

Assistant: You’re both booked in for 6pm on the 12th. I’ve emailed your confirmation with the spa details.

During that call the assistant looked up which suites were free and their price, checked the spa diary, made both bookings and sent one confirmation email.

When it is most useful

It is most useful for calls that would otherwise go unanswered. At a resort these are usually:

• calls during check-in and checkout, when front desk staff are with guests
• calls at night, often from guests in other time zones
• calls in peak season, when there are more calls than staff
• calls passed between departments that nobody picks up

It doesn’t have to take every call. You can have it answer only outside office hours, or only when the front desk hasn’t picked up after a set number of rings. Starting that way makes it easier to check its work before giving it more.

Calls that should go to a person

Wedding and group enquiries, complaints and refund requests are better handled by staff. You decide which calls go to whom with written rules, for example:

• Weddings and group bookings of 8 rooms or more go to the events team.
• A guest who is unhappy with their stay goes to the duty manager.
• Refund requests go to the reservations manager.

When it transfers a call, it passes on what the guest has already said. If nobody is available, it takes a message with the details.

Compared with other options

	AI receptionist	Answering service	Extra seasonal staff	Phone menu
Hours	Any hours you choose	Usually 24/7	Staffed hours	24/7
Makes bookings	Yes, if connected to your systems	Usually takes a message	Yes	No
Knows the resort	From the information and rules you give it	From a script	After training	No
Languages	23, switching during a call	Depends on who answers	Depends on who you hire	Recorded options
Several calls at once	Yes	Callers queue	One call per person	Routes calls to the same people
Weak points	Needs setting up and keeping up to date; not suited to complaints or complicated events	Works from a script; often can’t book	Cost of hiring and training for a short season	Someone still has to answer

These can be combined, for example staff on the desk during the day and an AI receptionist taking the calls they miss and the calls at night.

What to check before choosing one

Find out whether it can work with your booking system, and with your spa and restaurant booking tools if you want those calls handled. Ask who sets up the connection and what happens when one of those systems is down.

Call it in the languages your guests speak and listen to how it handles names, dates and prices.

Check who can change it. Rates, offers and opening hours change during the season, and waiting on a supplier for each change is slow. Some products let you edit the information and rules yourself.

Ask what records you get. You should be able to read each call and see what the assistant booked or changed.

Ask how transfers work and what the guest hears if nobody picks up.

Make test calls before you decide. Interrupt it, change the dates halfway through, ask something it can’t know. A prepared demo won’t show you how it copes with these.

Setting one up

1. For a couple of weeks, note what people call about and when.
2. Collect the information it needs: room types, rates and what each includes, spa treatments, restaurant hours and your policies. Most of this is already on your website or in your booking system.
3. Write rules: which calls go to which person, what it may offer and what it must not promise.
4. Start with night calls and missed calls. Read the first week of calls and correct the rules where it got something wrong.
5. Add daytime calls and outgoing calls once you’re satisfied with it.

About Replystate

Replystate makes an AI phone assistant that answers and makes calls for businesses, resorts among them. Our team connects it to your systems and writes the first rules with you. After that you can change it yourself in the dashboard, where you can read every call and see what the assistant did. The resorts page has an example call, or you can get in touch.