An AI receptionist for parks and motels that use Newbook

Newbook (part of Storable since 2024) is a booking system used by holiday parks, caravan and RV parks, campgrounds and motels. Calls that come in while reception is busy or after the office has closed go unanswered.

An AI phone assistant can answer those calls. Connected to Newbook, it can check what’s free and book it during the call, instead of taking a message for someone to ring back in the morning.

What it does with Newbook

Replystate connects to Newbook through Newbook’s API. During a call, the assistant can:

• check availability and rates for a site category and dates
• create a booking with the guest’s details
• find an existing booking by the guest’s name or phone number
• change the dates of a booking
• check availability for facilities you hire out, such as a camp kitchen or function room

Bookings it makes go into Newbook like any other booking, so your team sees them where they see every other booking.

Some things guests ask about aren’t in Newbook: pet rules, check-in times, late arrivals and local information. You write these down once in the Replystate dashboard, and the assistant uses them in its answers.

Calls at a park or motel

Most calls are about a site or room for particular dates. Guests ask about site size, power, pets and minimum stays. The assistant answers from Newbook and from your notes, then books it.

A call might go like this:

Guest: Hi, have you got a powered site for this Friday and Saturday? We’ve got a 22-foot van and a dog.

Assistant: Yes, I have a powered site in the pet-friendly section for both nights. It’s $96 for the two nights. Can I take your name?

Guest: Sam Turner. We won’t get in until about eight, is that alright?

Assistant: That’s fine. Reception closes at six, so the late arrival instructions will be in your confirmation email. You’re booked in.

During that call the assistant checked Newbook for a free powered site that allows pets, read the price for those two nights, created the booking in Newbook with a note about the late arrival and answered from the park’s own instructions for late arrivals.

Guests who have already booked call to change dates or add nights. It finds the booking, makes the change if your rules allow it, and passes anything else to your team.

Calls that should go to a person

Some calls need staff. You decide which, with rules written in plain language, for example:

• Permanent residents and long-term stays go to the manager.
• Group and rally bookings go to reservations during office hours.
• A guest on site with a problem, such as no power at their site, goes to the duty manager’s phone.
• Complaints and refund requests go to the manager.

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

Setting it up

1. Ask Newbook support for API access for your account, and send the details to our team. We connect the assistant to Newbook.
2. Choose which site categories and rooms it can book, and what it should never book.
3. Write down what guests ask that isn’t in Newbook: pets, check-in and checkout times, late arrivals, the area around the park.
4. Write the transfer rules.
5. Start with calls after the office closes and calls reception misses. Read the first week of calls in the dashboard and fix any rule it got wrong.

What to ask before choosing one

Ask whether bookings go straight into Newbook, or come to your team as messages that someone has to type in.

Ask whether it reads rates and availability from Newbook during the call, or from a price list someone has to keep up to date.

Ask how it handles minimum stays and peak periods, and what the guest hears when nothing is free.

Ask who can change it. Rates, rules and opening hours change through the season, and waiting on a supplier for each change is slow.

Then call it. Ask for dates you know are full, change your mind halfway through, ask about something it can’t know. A prepared demo won’t show you how it copes with that.

About Replystate

Replystate makes an AI phone assistant that answers and makes calls for businesses. For parks and motels on Newbook, our team connects it to your Newbook account 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 booked or changed. To hear it on your own sites and rates, get in touch.