The desk is checking someone in. The phone is still ringing.
For independent and small-group hotels, motels, inns and B&Bs. A caller who can't get through usually books somewhere else, or on a travel site. Wide Awake AI answers the front desk line when your team is busy and overnight, and books the room when it is connected to your reservation system. Without that connection it takes the reservation request and passes it to the desk.
Part of our AI solutions, built on the same AI receptionist employee we run for every industry.
Pretend you are arriving late tonight and want the desk to know.

A call nobody picks up is a room booked somewhere else
The front desk is checking a family in, sorting a key card and answering a question about parking, all at once. The phone rings through, and the person on the other end goes back to the search results.
When the desk is busy
It picks up the calls your team cannot get to during check-in and check-out, so nobody hears a ringing line or a full voicemail box.
Overnight and early morning
Reservation requests and booking questions that arrive after the desk thins out are answered and written down for the morning shift.
The guest landing at midnight
A guest who will arrive late leaves a message with the desk, so their room is not released and someone knows they are coming.
Run your own estimate
There is no independent study of how many calls a single hotel misses, so this is an estimate you run with your own numbers, not a promise. The defaults come from the published figures cited underneath, and every one of them can be changed.
What the published figures say
- The average US hotel room sold for $160.54 a night in 2025 (average daily rate). CoStar/STR, January 2026
- The average US stay was 1.61 nights in 2025, so one booking is roughly 1.61 × $160.54, about $258 in room revenue. SiteMinder data via TravelDailyNews
- Online travel agencies typically charge hotels 15 to 30% commission, so a caller who gives up and books the same room on a travel site can still cost the hotel a share of it. O'Connor et al., Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 2025
- Call analytics vendor Marchex found 14% of calls to 13 US hotel brands failed (unanswered, or abandoned on hold, in the phone menu or during a transfer), in 2017 data on brand central lines. Marchex, July 2018
- An HSMAI Americas article puts unanswered hotel calls at about 40%, and says about half of inbound reservation calls convert. The article does not cite a primary study. HSMAI Americas
Estimate only: missed calls × share that would have booked × nightly rate × nights. It leaves out callers who ring back, and bookings that come back through a travel site at 15 to 30% commission.
It answers from your hotel's own details
You give it your property's information: parking, pets, breakfast, check-in times, the shuttle, the pool hours. It answers from that and nothing else.
A caller asking about a weekend in June gets their dates, room type and number of guests handled one of two ways. Connected to your reservation or property management system, Ava can book the room on the call from your live availability and rates. Without that connection, the dates, room type and number of guests are taken down as a reservation request your front desk confirms, and Ava never says the room is booked or quotes a rate.
Group, wedding block, meeting and event enquiries are captured with the details your sales person needs to call back. Changes to an existing reservation are taken as a message for the desk. A caller who booked through a travel site is told to change or refund it through that site.
A guest calling from down the street with a problem is flagged to your team. Fire, flooding or a threat is flagged as urgent safety. It never gives out which room a guest is in, never takes a card number, and never promises an upgrade, early check-in, late check-out or refund.
It answers in English or Spanish, on the first ring and when three people call at once.
See it on your own numberCall type
Reservation requestDates
Friday and Saturday, two nightsRoom and guests
One king, two adults, one dogArrival
Late, around 11:30pm FridayRate question
Asked about weekend pricingForward the outside line, keep the rest
Nothing about how your guests reach the desk from their rooms changes.
Write down your property
Check-in and check-out times, parking, pets, breakfast, and what the desk wants passed on. That becomes what it answers from.
Forward the outside line only
Usually on overflow when the desk is busy and overnight. In-room extensions stay with your staff.
Every call written down
Your team gets a plain summary and a transcript of each call, with urgent ones flagged at the top.
What hotels ask before the phone is handed over
If yours is not here, ask it on the walkthrough. You will get a straight answer, including when the answer is that we are not the right fit.
Can it book rooms on its own?
Yes, when it is connected to your reservation or property management system, it can book the room on the call, using the availability and rates in your system. Without that connection, it takes the reservation as a request with the dates, room type and number of guests, and your front desk confirms it. In that case it never tells a caller the room is booked.
Will it quote our rates?
Not on its own. When it is connected to your reservation system it books at the rates in that system. Without the connection it never quotes a rate, and rate questions go to the front desk as a message, with the caller's dates and number.
What about guests who booked through Expedia or Booking.com?
A booking made through a travel site is changed or refunded through that site, so it tells the caller that and points them back to where they booked.
What happens if a guest calls with a problem during their stay?
It takes the details and flags the call to your team. Anything about fire, flooding or a threat is flagged as urgent safety, and a guest who needs help now is flagged as an urgent guest call.
Will it give out a room number or take a card?
Never. It does not give out which room a guest is in, it does not take card numbers, and it does not promise an upgrade, early check-in, late check-out or a refund.
Which calls does it answer?
Only the outside line you forward to it, usually on overflow when the desk is busy and overnight. In-room extensions stay with your staff.
Is it bilingual?
Yes. It answers in English or Spanish.
How much does it cost?
Wide Awake AI quotes a flat setup fee plus flat monthly management after a scope call. There is no per minute billing, and this site does not publish a dollar amount.
AI receptionist employees by industry
This is one AI receptionist employee build, tuned to each trade. Here is how it works in other industries.
Tell us what your phone is doing
How many calls a day, who picks up now, and what happens to the ones that arrive after you close. That is enough for us to tell you whether this is worth doing.
If it is, you get a flat number on the call. If it is not, you will hear that instead of a proposal.
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