An AI receptionist is a voice AI agent that answers every call to your business 24/7. It speaks Bulgarian, responds with information about your business and records the request for your team: name, phone number and the reason for the call. In hotels, it checks which rooms are available and creates the booking directly in the hotel system.
The call might come on a Sunday morning, at ten in the evening or just as the only person on reception is busy on the other line. Without an agent like this, the customer hears the phone ring out, hangs up and dials the next number in the search results. Nobody at the company ever finds out there was a call.
What an AI receptionist is and what it handles
You will come across it under various names: AI secretary, virtual or voice receptionist, voice assistant for business or AI phone answering. The agent handles the call just as a member of your reception staff would: it listens, answers, asks for whatever is missing and notes down what needs to be done.
The customer speaks in their own words. They say, ‘Do you have a double room from Friday to Sunday?’ and get an answer to exactly that question. They do not sit through a list of options or press any numbers.
The agent works only with the information you give us: services and prices, opening hours, addresses, terms and the answers to frequently asked questions. It is set up not to make up answers: when a question falls outside that information, it takes the request and passes it on to your team.
Some topics the agent always leaves to your team: a complaint that needs a manager's decision, a request for a discount, a non-standard arrangement. In these cases it takes a request with the name, phone number and reason, and your colleague calls the customer back. We explain the difference between an agent, an assistant and a chat bot in the article what an AI agent is and how it differs from a chat bot explains the difference between a bot that answers and an agent that acts.
How a call with an AI receptionist works
The greeting. The agent answers straight away, whatever the time or day. We recommend that its greeting says it is an AI assistant and, if calls are recorded, that the call is being recorded.
The question. The customer asks their question in whatever way suits them. The agent answers with the information you have given us: how much the service costs, what time you close, how to get to you, what the customer should bring.
The request. When your team needs to step in, the agent collects the details your colleague cannot do without: name, phone number and the reason for the call. It reads them back so the customer can confirm them.
The handover. The request reaches your team together with a short summary of the conversation. The colleague who will call the customer back knows what it is about before they even dial the number.
The confirmation. For hotels, the agent completes the booking itself: it checks which rooms are available, enters the booking directly in the hotel system and sends the guest a confirmation by WhatsApp, Viber or email.
How your number is connected to the agent and where every action leaves a trace is explained on our page about the AI voice agent. You will also find three recordings of real calls there, so you can hear how the agent sounds.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, IVR menu or call centre
In the table we compare the four options by what the caller gets and by what you are left with after the call.
| In-house receptionist | IVR menu | External call centre | AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When it answers | During working hours, when free | Around the clock | As set out in the contract | Around the clock |
| Calls handled at once | One | Takes several, but each one waits for a free employee in the department | As many as there are operators on shift | Several at once, with no engaged tone |
| What the caller gets | A conversation with someone who knows the company | Button-press routing to a department or a recorded message | An operator working to your instructions | An answer to their question or a logged request |
| How well it knows your business | Best of all | As much as is recorded in the menu | As well as your instructions are detailed | As well as the knowledge base is complete, which we keep up to date |
| Actions in your systems | Works in every system they have access to | Routes the call | Depends on the access you grant | For hotels, creates and amends bookings in the PMS |
| What remains after the call | A note, if the employee makes one | Depends on the system | A report as set out in the contract | Recording, transcript and a short AI summary |
| Complex and sensitive cases | Their greatest strength | Not designed for them | Depends on the operator's experience | Takes a request and leaves them to the team for a call-back |
A member of staff remains the best choice for conversations that call for judgement or empathy. But they have working hours, breaks, holidays and only one handset. An IVR menu (the voice menu of the ‘for bookings, press 1’ kind) works at any hour, but its job is to route the call. If nobody picks up in the chosen department, the customer is still left without an answer. With an external call centre, a person answers, but how well they know your services depends on the instructions you have given. How the cost of an AI receptionist compares with a night shift on reception or an external call centre is shown on the page what to compare the price of an AI voice agent with.
The AI receptionist handles first contact and recurring questions, leaving your team the conversations that genuinely need a person. That is why we recommend it as part of the team and only rarely as a replacement for reception. Which tasks it makes sense for AI to take on and which should stay with people is covered in the article AI agent or human looks at which conversations to leave to AI and which to a member of staff.
For hotels: from an availability question to a booking in the PMS
In hotels, a large share of calls are about bookings. The guest asks whether a room is available on specific dates, how much the stay costs with a child, whether there is parking and whether breakfast is included. The agent checks availability and rates in the hotel system and offers suitable room types with their conditions.
Once the guest decides, the agent creates the booking directly in the PMS. If the dates or the number of guests on an existing booking change, the agent can amend it in the system, provided the connection to your PMS supports that action. The confirmation reaches the guest by WhatsApp, Viber or email. Everything the voice agent does in a hotel, from checking availability to the PMS integrations, is described on the page AI voice agent for hotels page.
As of October 2026, we have ready-made integrations with Clock PMS+, Oracle, Cloudbeds and Mews, and an integration with Exely is in development. If your hotel uses a different system, we will discuss it at the consultation.
We built a voice agent like this for Grand Hotels – Grand Assist. How it handles real conversations with guests is covered in our case study on the Grand Hotels AI voice agent.
AI secretary for clinics, salons and service companies: questions, requests and call-backs
Outside hotels, calls usually fall into two types: a question with a ready answer, and a request that a person needs to act on. The AI receptionist answers the first kind straight away and organises the second so that your team does not waste time on clarifications.
Clinics and practices. Patients ask how much an examination costs, whether they need a referral, how to prepare for a test and where to park. When a patient wants an appointment, the agent records their name, phone number, the reason and when suits them, and reception calls back to arrange the appointment. In clinics, the agent is set up not to give medical advice and, in an emergency, to direct the caller to 112.
Beauty salons. Customers ask how much treatments cost, how long they take, what they include and whether the salon is open on Sundays. When a customer wants an appointment, the agent takes the request with the days and times that suit them, and the salon confirms with a call-back.
Service companies. Repairs, air conditioning, plumbing, car servicing. The customer describes the problem and the agent asks the questions your technician would ask: address, make and model, how long the problem has been going on, how urgent it is. Your team receives a well-organised request and can plan the visit without first having to ring for details.
When the agent is connected to your calendar or CRM, it books the appointment directly there and the customer hangs up with a confirmed time. A connection to one such system is included even in the smallest package. If the appointment depends on your team's judgement, the agent takes a request and your colleague calls the customer back.
A customer who has left a request knows they will be called back and is less likely to look elsewhere. If your customers message you as often as they call, an agent with the same information can also reply in writing, through a chat bot for your website and a chat bot for Viber and WhatsApp.
Recording, transcript and a short summary of every call
Calls can be recorded and transcribed. A short AI summary is added to each call: who called, what they wanted and how the conversation ended. Calls are sorted by topic and outcome, so without listening to any recordings you can see what customers are asking and which calls ended with a request.
If the agent often does not know the answer to a particular question, this shows up in the summaries and we add the missing information. If a customer claims they were told something different, the recording shows exactly what was said.
Recording, however, is processing of personal data. In its guide for small and medium-sized enterprises, the European Data Protection Board states that, when they call, customers must be told the purpose of the recording, who will have access to it and that they have the right to object and to request access to the recording. That is why we recommend that the agent announces the recording at the start of the call and that the details are set out in your privacy policy.
From 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) also applies: people must know they are talking to an AI system unless this is obvious from the circumstances. This article is not legal advice. For the legal basis and the retention period of recordings, consult a lawyer or your data protection officer.
AI receptionist pricing and what to prepare for a quote
The price of a voice agent depends on call volume, the number of locations and the integrations needed. An agent that answers questions and takes requests is a simpler project than one that creates bookings in a hotel system. You will find current prices and a comparison with the other options on the page how much an AI voice agent costs. We give the exact figure for your case in a written quote after a short conversation.
Before that conversation, it is worth reviewing your calls:
- how many calls you receive a month and what share of them come outside working hours;
- which questions come up every day;
- what should follow the call: an answer, a request for the team or a booking;
- which system you use and, for hotels, which PMS you have;
- who on your team will handle requests and call-backs.
An AI receptionist makes sense where calls are numerous and similar to one another. We are open on the pricing page about when you do not need a voice agent yet. If that turns out to be the case for you, we will tell you at the consultation.
Before launch, you hear the agent in a test call and can ask for changes. After launch, we keep maintaining it: when your prices or opening hours change, we update its information so that it does not give outdated answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI receptionist?
Does the caller need to know they are talking to AI and that the call is being recorded?
What happens when the customer wants to speak to a person?
Do I need to change my phone number?
What languages does the AI receptionist speak?
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
If you would like to hear an AI receptionist handle your customers' questions, request a test call based on a scenario from your industry. We will look at the calls you receive and show you how the agent would answer the most common ones.
Digital Agent (AI AVTOMATIZATSII OOD) is a specialist agency for AI automation, AI agents and integrations. We build practical, durable solutions for hotels, restaurants, online shops and B2B companies in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania.
