AI Receptionist for B&Bs, Holiday Rentals, Motels, Hotels and Resorts
Last updated: 10 November 2026
Accommodation never really shuts. Someone rings about tonight's room at 10pm. Someone else's flight is delayed and they're ringing at midnight. At dawn the heater in room 4 has packed it in. And in between, people want to know about next month's long weekend. Steve answers all of it, so you or the night manager only get woken for the things that need a person.
Free, 30 minutes, with Niel
Pretend you're a late arrival.
Quick Answer
An AI receptionist for a bed and breakfast, holiday rental, motel or hotel answers guest calls around the clock. It handles availability and rate questions, check-in times, late arrivals and after-hours problems, sends future guests your booking link, and alerts your on-call contact about anything urgent. You get each call by SMS and email in seconds.
Three calls that come in after reception closes
Some callers want to book. Others are already staying and need help now. We set the receptionist up to handle those two very differently.
| The guest says | What Steve does | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, 9pm: "Do you have a room for two adults and a baby over the long weekend? Do you have a cot?" | Explains your room types, cot policy and minimum stay for long weekends, takes the dates, and texts the caller your booking link. | A booking request with dates, guests and the cot noted, plus the link already sent. |
| Friday, 11:20pm: "Our flight was delayed. We won't get in until 1am. Will someone let us in?" | Takes the booking name and new arrival time, explains your after-hours check-in process, and alerts your night contact. | An SMS with the guest's name and ETA, so nobody is left standing at reception. |
| Sunday, 6am, at a holiday rental: "There's no hot water and we've got kids to shower." | Runs through the checks in your house guide, such as the switch on the hot water system, then sends a priority alert to you or your maintenance contact. | An urgent message with the property, the problem and the guest's number. |
Scenarios are illustrative, based on common guest call patterns.
A delayed flight and an 11:30 check-in
Steve: Evening, Riverbend Motor Inn, Steve speaking.
Guest: Hi, we're booked tonight under Nguyen but we won't get there till about 11:30.
Steve: No problem. After 9pm, your key is in the after-hours box at reception, and the instructions are in your booking confirmation. Do you have that handy?
Guest: Yes, I've got the email.
Steve: Great. I'll let the manager know you're arriving around 11:30. Is this the best number if he needs you?
Guest: Yes, thanks.
Steve: All noted. Safe travels.
Illustrative call. The property and process are examples.
How full Australian rooms actually get
Australians took 113 million domestic overnight trips in 2025, and establishments with 10 or more rooms averaged 72.9% occupancy, according to Tourism Research Australia. When rooms are that full, the calls worth the most are the ones that fill the last few vacancies. Plenty of those come in after hours.
Bed and breakfasts
Most B&Bs are run by one or two people who do the lot: cooking, beds, bookings, the garden. Steve covers the phone while you're flipping eggs or turning rooms over. He answers questions about each room, the breakfast (including dietary needs), parking, pets, children and nearby wineries or walks you recommend.
Booking requests come to you to confirm, so you stay in control of who stays and when.
Holiday and vacation rentals
A holiday home has no front desk. The phone is the front desk. Steve knows each property's house guide: wifi, heating, the barbecue, bins, beach access and check-out steps. When something breaks, he logs the property, the problem and how urgent it is, and sends it to you or your cleaner or handyman.
For managers with several properties, every call is tagged with the right address so nothing gets mixed up.
Motels, hotels and resorts
Larger properties usually have staff on, but not always at the desk. Steve takes overflow calls during the 3pm check-in rush and covers the overnight shift for smaller motels with no night porter. He answers rate, room-type, restaurant and pool questions, takes group and corporate enquiries, and transfers callers to a real person when needed.
What you read over your morning coffee
- Guest name, mobile and email
- Dates, number of adults and children, and room or property
- New booking request, existing booking, or in-house guest issue
- Arrival time for late check-ins
- Urgency, for problems such as lockouts or no hot water
- Whether your booking link was texted
Each call arrives as an SMS and email within seconds, with the recording and transcript in the portal. If you run Cloudbeds, Little Hotelier, NewBook or RMS, Steve works alongside it: he sends you the request to load, and direct integration is quoted on request.
A four-room B&B or a 30-room highway motel
A four-room B&B might take about 35 calls a month. At roughly 2.5 minutes a call, that's around 88 minutes, inside Starter at $149 a month.
A 30-room highway motel could get 200 calls, or about 500 minutes. That points to Growth at $499, with 700 minutes included. Busy holiday periods won't blow out the bill: extra usage is capped at the next plan's price.
All prices in AUD, excluding GST. Your Australian phone number and call charges are included. Volumes are illustrative. Full pricing.
Fiona's 3am phone
Fiona and her husband run a six-room B&B in Daylesford, Victoria. Their landline diverts to Fiona's mobile overnight. Most late calls were people asking about rooms for next month, which could have waited, but she had to answer in case it was a guest locked out.
With Steve on the line, booking enquiries get answered and emailed to her for the morning. Only real guest problems reach her phone at night. Most nights, she sleeps right through.
Illustrative example based on common patterns. Fiona is not a real client.
Send us your house guide and on-call numbers
- You share your room types, policies, house guides and on-call contacts.
- We build the call flow, including what counts as urgent at your property.
- Live in 3 business days, then up to 2 weeks of tuning on real guest calls.
Month to month. See how the AI receptionist works in general, or browse more industries.
Related pages
Questions from accommodation owners
Sources and notes
Trip and occupancy figures: Tourism Research Australia, Australia's visitor economy in 2025. Software names appear only to say the receptionist works alongside them; Google Calendar is the one direct connection. The receptionist never takes card details or reads out access codes.