Last updated: 28 October 2026
In short
- Night receptionist: Essential if you need a face-to-face welcome and someone on the phone. But it's the most expensive option, and it only works in the languages the person on shift speaks.
- WhatsApp Business auto-replies: Free and set up in minutes. But they only send canned text; they don't understand the question or show availability and prices.
- Classic (menu-based) chatbot: Simple and predictable. But it keeps guests inside a menu and gets stuck on anything the menu doesn't cover.
- General AI chat (connecting a chat model to your website): Talks fluently. But it doesn't know your current availability and may make up an answer when it isn't sure.
- AI receptionist: Understands free-text questions and answers in four languages using the property's own information, availability and prices, and collects booking requests. It doesn't answer the phone and doesn't replace a face-to-face welcome.
For most small and mid-sized properties the right answer isn't one option but a combination: AI handles the repetitive written questions, and complex or sensitive matters stay with your team.
Comparison table
| Night receptionist | WhatsApp auto-reply | Classic chatbot | General AI chat | AI receptionist (Mira) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours | Depends on shifts | 24/7 | 24/7 | 24/7 | 24/7 |
| Understands the question? | Yes | No, sends canned text | Only the menu options | Yes | Yes, in the guest's own words |
| Languages | Whatever staff speak | The language you wrote it in | Usually one | Many | English, Turkish, German, Russian |
| Live availability and prices | By checking the system | No | Usually not | Not without an integration | From your dashboard, discounts included |
| Booking requests | Takes them | No | Links to a form | Usually not | Collects them in chat, you confirm |
| Unknown questions | Looks it up | Repeats the same text | "I didn't understand" | May make up an answer | Says so, hands over to your team, tells you |
| Phone and face-to-face welcome | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Setup | Hiring and training | Minutes | Designing the flow | Software development | Setup wizard, same day |
| Cost | Salary and shift costs | Free | Varies by tool | Development and usage fees | Basic free, Pro €49/month |
1. Night receptionist or extra staff
What it does well: Human warmth, a face-to-face welcome, the phone, emergencies and anything unexpected. No software replaces that.
Where it struggles: Cost and coverage. Keeping a night shift staffed all year is a significant expense for a small property. A receptionist also can't look after the guest at the desk and incoming messages at the same time, and if they don't speak German or Russian, those messages wait until morning.
The right choice for: Properties with late check-ins, many bookings by phone, or where personal service is part of the brand. Here an AI receptionist doesn't replace anyone; it simply takes the written questions off your team's plate.
2. WhatsApp Business auto-replies
What it does well: The greeting message, away message and quick replies in the WhatsApp Business app are free and take minutes to set up. At least the guest knows their message arrived.
Where it struggles: They're canned text; they don't understand what the guest is asking. "Price for 2 adults and 1 child, 15–18 July?" gets "Thanks for your message, we'll get back to you soon." While the guest waits, they may message another property.
The right choice for: Properties with few messages that can reply quickly during the day. It also works alongside an AI receptionist: when Mira doesn't know an answer, she shows the guest your WhatsApp button and you take the conversation from there.
3. Classic (menu-based) chatbot
What it does well: It follows a pre-drawn flow with buttons such as "Room prices", "Location" and "Contact". What it says is completely predictable.
Where it struggles: Guests write in their own words instead of picking from a menu. A message that asks two things at once, like "Can we bring our dog, and do you have a room with a garden?", doesn't fit a menu bot's flow. Every new question means updating the flow by hand. Most classic bots work in one language and don't show live availability or prices.
The right choice for: Properties that get very few, always identical questions and only want to point guests to the right page.
4. General AI chat
What it does well: Connecting a general-purpose AI chat model to your website gives you fluent, multilingual conversation. It understands questions written in the guest's own words.
Where it struggles: A general model doesn't know your property. Unless it's connected to your calendar, prices and discounts, it can't correctly answer "do you have a room on these dates?" Where it lacks information, it may give an answer that sounds plausible but is wrong, such as mentioning a pool you don't have or a cancellation policy you don't apply. Preventing that, collecting booking requests and reviewing conversations all take software development.
The right choice for: Properties with their own development team that can build and maintain these integrations.
5. AI receptionist
What it does well: An AI receptionist combines the language understanding of a general AI model with the property's own data. AIroomier's assistant, Mira:
- Understands free-text questions and replies in English, Turkish, German or Russian.
- Reads availability and prices from your dashboard and applies your last-minute, early-booking and long-stay discounts.
- Collects booking requests in the chat. The request lands in your dashboard, and you confirm it.
- Only uses the information you've entered in the dashboard. When she doesn't know an answer, she doesn't guess: she hands the guest over to your team and shows you the question in the "Missing Topics" list.
- Sends in-stay requests (towels, a fault, late check-out) to your team's guest requests board.
Where it struggles: Mira works in writing; she doesn't answer the phone or welcome guests in person. She isn't a channel manager: bookings from other channels are entered in the dashboard by hand for now. And the more complete your information is, the better her answers are.
The right choice for: Hotels, guesthouses and boutique hotels, holiday apartments and villas, and campsites and glamping sites where most questions come in the evening or at night, many guests are international, there's no night desk, or the team can't keep up with messages during the day.
Which one suits you? Decide with four questions
- When do most messages arrive? If it's evenings and nights, every message left until morning is a booking you might lose. You need something that answers 24/7.
- Which languages do your guests speak? If you get many German or Russian messages, you can't depend on what your staff happen to speak.
- What's the most common question? If it's "do you have a room, and how much?", canned text or a menu bot won't do; you need something that reads live availability and prices.
- How important is the phone? If most of your bookings come by phone, a written assistant won't solve that part; you need staff or a call-answering service.
7 questions to ask when choosing an AI receptionist
Whichever provider you're looking at, ask these:
- What does it do with a question it can't answer? Does it guess, or say it doesn't know and hand over to your team?
- Where does it get availability and prices? Is it really connected to a calendar, or talking from static text?
- Who confirms bookings? If the assistant confirms them on its own, who is responsible for a wrong booking?
- Is there a commission on bookings? The gap between a fixed fee and commission grows in high season.
- Which languages does it really speak? Test it yourself in your guests' languages.
- Can you read the conversations? You can't check quality without seeing what the assistant tells your guests.
- How long do setup and a trial take? Can you try it for free, with your own information and your own questions?
AIroomier's answers: Mira says when she doesn't know and hands over to your team; she reads availability from your dashboard; you confirm bookings; there's no commission; she speaks four languages; every conversation can be read in the dashboard and Mira checks her own answers automatically; Basic is free forever. See the Pricing page for details.