An answering service for vacation rentals that knows every reservation

Built for short-term and vacation rentals

This page is for managers of vacation rentals, short-term rentals, private villas and serviced apartments, where guests arrive at all hours and every stay brings questions about arrival, access and the property. If you manage long-term residential leases, a general property management answering service is likely a better fit. Running a hotel? See the AI voice agent for hotels. For everything else Una does for rentals, see AI for short-term rentals.

Why rental guests need an answer at night

≈ 58%

of rental and apartment conversations start outside weekday 9am–6pm

Una conversation data: about 72,000 conversations, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026

≈ 17%

of them start at night, between 10pm and 7am

Una conversation data: about 72,000 conversations, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026

≈ 1/3

of rental conversations are about check-in and access (median across operators)

Una conversation data: about 72,000 conversations, Aug 2024 – Oct 2026

There is no front desk in a rental. When a guest can't find the key box at midnight, the question goes to whoever answers the phone or the inbox. In Una's rental data, check-in and access is the main topic of conversation and the main reason for a hand-off to the team.

What Una answers

• Arrival and access. Self check-in instructions, arrival times, late arrival and parking, at any hour.
• The property and local questions. Wi‑Fi, amenities, house rules and what is nearby: the questions a concierge would answer, answered in conversation. More on the AI concierge.
• Bookings. Availability, prices and changes, with a direct booking link where you allow it.
• Requests and maintenance. Something broken, cleaning, towels: Una takes the request, creates the task for the right person and tells the guest it is logged.
• Unhappy guests. Una acknowledges the problem and passes it to your team with the details; compensation is always decided by a person.

Urgent cases are passed on at once

Some calls can't wait: a guest at the door without access, or something broken in the apartment. Una marks these as urgent and passes them to the person or channel you choose, with the conversation and the reservation attached. At night, the share of escalations marked urgent is twice the daytime share (40% vs 21%, hotels and rentals). About 3 in 5 check-in and access conversations go to your team, and that is intended: the instructions come at any hour, but a code that doesn't work, a key that isn't there or a door that won't open needs a person. Before access details are shared, the guest is checked the way a person at the desk would check: the name and stay dates, or the phone number on the booking plus the dates.

Calls and messages in one place

Una answers the phone, WhatsApp, SMS, website chat, email and the guest inboxes in your PMS. Most rental conversations run through PMS inboxes such as Guesty, Hospitable and Zeevou (Una + Guesty). Your PMS keeps sending its scheduled messages, such as welcome, pre-arrival and check-out; when the guest replies, Una takes over the conversation.

AI answering service or a human one?

• Human answering service: people take the call. Ask whether they can see your reservations and your property details, or whether most calls end as a message for your team.
• AI answering service built for rentals: answers from your PMS and property information, works in the inboxes your guests already use and escalates by your rules.

How to choose an answering service for vacation rentals

• Does it see the guest's reservation and the property's arrival instructions?
• Does it work in your PMS inbox as well as on the phone?
• Can you decide what counts as urgent, and who gets woken up?
• Will it say "I don't know" and escalate, instead of guessing?
• Does it answer in your guests' languages?

Writing your own guest messages? Start from our Airbnb message templates.

Una follows your rules and logs its actions

If your systems or property information don't have the answer, Una says so and escalates instead of inventing one. Refunds, compensation, rate exceptions and changes that belong inside Airbnb or Booking.com go to a person first. Every action is logged with the sentence that caused it, so a wrong answer can be traced in minutes.

How changes reach your PMS

Every change Una makes is checked by fixed rules in our software (dates, guest name, booking status, your policies), and Una confirms with the guest first. Works with: Guesty, Hospitable, Zeevou, Apaleo, Mews, Cloudbeds, Clock PMS+ and Profitroom. On the roadmap: Hostaway, Lodgify, Smoobu, Beds24 and others.