AI for hotels
AI for hotels, from the guest's first question to the task for your team
Una is an AI employee for hotels. Una answers guests on the phone, WhatsApp, chat, SMS, email and OTA inboxes, checks availability in your PMS, sends direct booking links and turns requests into tasks for your staff.
What AI for hotels means
AI in hotels is software that does work people used to do by hand: reading and answering guest messages, taking phone calls, suggesting prices, sorting reviews, planning housekeeping. Most of it falls into three groups:
- Guest communication: answering questions and requests on the phone and in messages, in the guest's language, at any hour.
- Revenue and distribution: forecasting demand and suggesting rates. This is the job of your revenue management system; Una quotes the live rates it sets.
- Operations: turning requests into tasks, routing them to the right person and keeping a record.
Una works in the first and third groups, inside the PMS and channels you already use.
Why hotels start with guest communication
- ≈ 1/2
- of conversations in hotels are about booking: availability, prices, new bookings, changes
- Una conversation data, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026, hotels only
- ≈ 1/2
- of hotel message conversations start outside weekday 9am–6pm
- Una conversation data, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026, hotels only
- ≈ 1/3
- of calls arrive outside weekday 9am–6pm
- Una call data, about 31,000 calls, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026
Guests write and call when it suits them, and many of those questions are about booking a stay. When nobody answers until the morning shift, the question waits, and so does the booking.
What an AI agent for hotels does
A chatbot replies from a script. An AI agent, sometimes called agentic AI, reads the guest's reservation, checks live availability, sends a booking link or creates a task, and passes what it can't do to a person with the context attached. Una is that kind of agent: an AI digital employee for your hotel.
- Phone calls. Una answers in the guest's language, quotes rooms and rates from your systems and sends a direct booking link. When your front desk is staffed, Una transfers the call live; when it isn't, the hand-off goes to the person you choose. AI front desk for your phone.
- Messages. WhatsApp, website chat, SMS, email, Instagram, Messenger and OTA inboxes in one conversation history. AI guest messaging.
- Direct bookings. Una quotes live availability and rates and sends a direct booking link; the guest completes the booking from the link. Direct bookings.
- Check-in help. Arrival times, late arrival, parking and how your self check-in works. Hotel check-in.
- Concierge questions. Breakfast, parking, Wi‑Fi, what's nearby, transfers. AI concierge.
- Requests and tasks. Towels, something broken, an early check-in: a task for the right person on your team, sent wherever your team already works: your CRM, Slack, WhatsApp or WhatsApp groups, or Telegram. Reporting "done" back to the guest is left to your managers. More on guest requests and tasks.
I have a reservation and my check-in is planned around one in the morning.
Arriving around one in the morning is possible through our contactless check-in. Please send your reservation number so I can check the arrival details.
Types of AI tools for hotels
- Chatbot: answers from a script or a FAQ on your website. Fine for simple questions; it doesn't see reservations or take the next step.
- Guest messaging platform: an inbox where your staff answer guests across channels, often with AI-suggested replies. The answering is still done by your team.
- AI built into your PMS: AI-assisted replies inside the PMS inbox. Useful for repeated questions; it usually doesn't answer the phone or work across more than one system.
- AI receptionist or answering service: takes calls. Ask whether it sees your reservations and live rates, or whether most calls end as a message for your team.
- AI employee: answers the phone and messages from your own systems, takes the next step and hands the rest to your staff with context. That is the work Una is built for.
Single hotels and hotel groups
In a hotel group, one number can route callers to the right hotel, and the hotel's agent picks up with the context already known. Group inquiries get the same treatment: Una takes the dates, rooms and extras and quotes or passes them to your team with everything attached.
How AI improves the guest experience
Guests get an answer when they ask, in their own language, on the channel they chose. The answer is about their stay, because Una sees their reservation. Each guest has one conversation history, passed on with the guest when a person takes over. Your team spends its time on the guests in front of them and on the cases that need a person.
How Una follows your rules
- Every change Una makes in your PMS is checked by fixed rules in our software (dates, guest name, booking status, your policies), and Una confirms with the guest first.
- Refunds, compensation and rate exceptions go to a person first.
- If your systems or property information don't have the answer, Una says so and passes the question on.
- Every action is logged with the sentence that caused it.
How to choose AI for your hotel
- Does it work inside your PMS, with live availability and each guest's reservation?
- Does it cover the phone as well as messages, or will you need two tools?
- Does it take the next step (a booking link, a task), or only reply?
- Who decides on refunds and exceptions, and how does the hand-off reach your staff?
- Does it answer from your hotel information, and say "I don't know" instead of guessing?
- How is guest data processed, and can you export and delete it?
- How long does setup take, and who does it?
Our blog has a longer checklist: how to choose an AI employee for hospitality operations.
Integrations and setup
Una connects to your PMS and booking engine, and doesn't replace them. Works with: Apaleo, Mews, Guesty, Cloudbeds, Clock PMS+, Hospitable, Zeevou and Profitroom. On the roadmap: Opera, SiteMinder, Beds24, Lodgify, Hostaway, RoomRaccoon and Smoobu. All integrations: PMS integrations, and what an AI agent can do in your PMS. Una answers on your website and QR code within minutes of subscribing, with a knowledge base drafted from your website for you to review. Phone and WhatsApp follow once you share access to your Twilio and Meta accounts: we add the number to Una, and Meta verifies your business, usually within 2–5 business days. There is nothing to build or configure: Una comes trained on hospitality operations, and your rules and tone are added as you go. Anything Una doesn't have the information for goes to your team.
More on Una for hotels
Questions about AI in hotels
To answer guest messages and calls, suggest rates, sort reviews, plan housekeeping and route tasks. Guest communication is usually the first step, because most of it is repeated questions that arrive at all hours.
Yes, with limits. Una checks live availability and rates and sends a direct booking link; the guest completes the booking from the link, and the reservation lands in your PMS.
Una answers questions about changes and cancellations and explains the conditions. Changes and cancellations run only under your policy and after the guest confirms; refunds and exceptions go to a person.
They do different parts of the work. Una answers calls at any hour, from your live systems, and sends the booking link. Your reservation agents handle groups, exceptions and the guests who want a person, with the context passed on.
Yes. A virtual assistant for hotels answers guests on the phone and in messages. Una goes further and takes the next step: a booking link, a task for your team or a hand-off with context.
A hotel where guests check in, get their keys and find answers without a staffed desk, using kiosks, codes or their phone. An AI employee answers their questions and passes requests to the team, so self-service still has someone to ask.
Software that manages communication with guests across their stay, from booking to after check-out. Some are messaging inboxes for your staff; Una answers guests directly and passes the rest to your team.
Yes. Una answers guest emails from your hotel information and their reservation. For scheduled emails you write yourself, start from our hotel guest message templates.
Thank the guest, acknowledge the problem without repeating private details, say what you changed and invite them to contact you directly. See our review response templates.
Una takes the repeated questions and routine requests, so your team spends time on guests in the hotel. Decisions about money, exceptions and safety stay with people.
Yes. You keep your hotel's number and forward calls to a number in your own Twilio account, through SIP or ordinary call forwarding. The number stays yours, and the call history and recordings are yours to download from the dashboard; setting up the account takes a few minutes (some countries require Twilio to verify your address first; in the US, text messages also need a one-time A2P 10DLC registration, which takes a few days), and we add the number to Una.
Yes: the first 14 days are free. You can start Una on one channel, for example the website chat widget, and add the phone and WhatsApp when you're ready.
Una comes with a 14-day free trial, and you can cancel at any time. There is no contract to sign: you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy when you sign up.
Wrong answers come from information Una wasn't given. Every subscription includes ongoing training: send us an example chat where Una's answer could be better, with the way you'd handle it, and we implement it right away. That is how Una follows your property's rules and takes over more and more workflows from your managers. No business has complete written procedures for every case; the longer Una works in yours, the more of your rules Una knows.
Una is another channel for answering guests. Compare Una with the cost of staff covering phones and messages around the clock, not with OTA commission.
Una works as a member of your team, under your rules and with your information, and everything Una does is logged. The terms, including liability, are set out in our Terms of Service.
See an AI employee at work
Talk to Una or text a question your guests ask, or book 30 minutes with the team. The price depends on your number of rooms and your plan: calculate it. Run short-term rentals too? See AI for short-term rentals.