An AI receptionist for a hotel costs from about $80 to $1,900 a month for the same call volume, depending on how the vendor charges. Per-minute pricing is the cheapest for most independent hotels: at $0.053 a minute, 1,500 minutes of calls costs about $80. Per-call and per-room pricing cost more, though per-room plans often bundle guest messaging. All of them cost less than one overnight front-desk shift, which runs about $5,000 a month in the US once you add benefits.
This post covers the pricing models you'll see, what each one costs for a 60-room hotel and a 200-room resort, and the costs that don't show on a pricing page. If you're still deciding whether you need one, start with what an AI receptionist for hotels can and can't do.
What a person at the front desk costs
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for hotel, motel and resort desk clerks at $16.86 an hour in its May 2025 data, or $35,070 a year. In traveler accommodation, where most of the 261,420 desk clerks work, the median is $16.84.
Wages are about 81% of what a leisure and hospitality employer pays per hour worked. In the BLS employer cost survey for June 2026, benefits added $4.08 to $17.25 of wages, for $21.33 in total. Multiply a desk clerk's wage by about 1.24 to get the hourly cost.
Covering the phone overnight, from 11pm to 7am, takes 2,920 hours a year. At the median wage plus benefits, that comes to about $61,000 a year, or $5,070 a month. One person can't work every night, so that one shift needs about 1.5 people on the payroll. The night clerk also runs the audit and checks in late arrivals, so the phone competes with the work in front of them.
An AI receptionist doesn't replace that person. It takes the calls they can't get to, and it takes all the calls on nights when you'd rather not staff the desk at all.
How AI receptionists are priced
Vendors use four models. The prices below come from each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.
| Model | Example | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Per minute | Osvi | From $0.053 a minute, falling with volume; one number included |
| Per minute, with a bundle | Frontdesk | $99 a month for 200 minutes, then $0.25 a minute |
| Per call | Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $150 a month for 75 calls, then $2.50 a call |
| Per unique caller | Goodcall | $79 for 100 callers, $129 for 500, $299 for 2,000 |
| Per room | HelloShift | AI voice from $2.50 a room a month, 40-room minimum |
| Human answering service | Ruby | $395 for 100 minutes, $1,725 for 500 minutes |
Sources: Frontdesk, Smith.ai, Goodcall, HelloShift and Ruby. Developer platforms such as Retell AI charge $0.07 to $0.31 a minute, but you build and maintain the agent yourself.
Per minute tracks your call volume. If an average call lasts two minutes, you pay about 11 cents a call at Osvi's rate.
Per call and per caller pricing suits a business with few, long calls. A hotel gets many short ones: "is breakfast included?", "can I check in early?" Each of those costs the same as a 10-minute booking call.
Per room pricing is easy to budget. Check what it includes: HelloShift bundles guest messaging, and it passes telephony beyond the included allowance through to you.
Worked example: a 60-room hotel
Say the hotel takes 25 calls a day and the average call lasts two minutes. That's 750 calls and 1,500 minutes a month.
| Option | Monthly cost | How we got there |
|---|---|---|
| Osvi voice agent | $80 | 1,500 minutes × $0.053 |
| Per-room plan (HelloShift Guest+, yearly) | $150 | 60 rooms × $2.50 |
| Goodcall | $299 | Fewer than 2,000 unique callers |
| Frontdesk | $424 | $99 + 1,300 extra minutes × $0.25 |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $1,838 | $150 + 675 extra calls × $2.50 |
| Human answering service (Ruby) | Over $1,725 | Largest plan covers 500 of 1,500 minutes |
| Overnight desk clerk | $5,070 | Median wage plus benefits, 8 hours a night |
The AI options all answer around the clock. The night clerk covers eight hours and can also hand over a key.
Worked example: a 200-room resort
A resort takes more calls, and they run longer: packages, transfers, spa bookings, dinner reservations. Say 80 calls a day at two and a half minutes, or 6,000 minutes a month.
- Osvi: 6,000 × $0.053 = about $320 a month.
- Per-room plan: 200 × $2.50 = $500 a month.
- Frontdesk: $99 + 5,800 extra minutes × $0.25 = about $1,550 a month.
At this volume the gap between per-minute and bundled pricing widens. Osvi's per-minute rate also falls once you pass 50,000 minutes a month, which matters for groups that route several properties through one agent.
Costs that aren't on the pricing page
Phone numbers. Osvi includes one number and charges $5.26 a month for each extra one. If you keep your existing numbers, you forward calls through a telephony provider instead.
PMS access. An agent that only answers questions is cheap to set up. To quote live rates and create bookings, it needs API access to your PMS or booking engine. Osvi connects to Cloudbeds, Apaleo, Mews and Oracle OPERA. Some PMS vendors charge for API access, so ask yours.
Messaging fees. If the agent sends payment links on WhatsApp, Meta charges per delivered template message. The WhatsApp pricing page lists the rates by country.
Your team's time. Someone has to write the handoff rules, review a sample of calls each week and keep property information current. Budget a few hours a week for the first month and an hour a week after that.
Guest messaging. Most hotels want chat and WhatsApp alongside the phone. Osvi's hotel plans start at $59 per property per month for website chat and $309 for WhatsApp with online check-in, billed yearly, plus a one-time setup fee from $59. The voice agent is added on top at the per-minute rate.
What it pays back
The fastest payback is the booking you would have lost. OTAs charge 15% to 25% of the booking, according to Mews. If a caller who reaches voicemail books a $300 stay on an OTA instead, you pay about $60 in commission. That's more than a month of call minutes for most independent hotels.
Missed calls are common. Canary's CEO said in December 2025 that hotels miss up to 30% of inbound calls, and a third of those are booking calls. Count your own for a week before you buy anything. Your phone provider's call log shows answered, missed and voicemail calls by hour.
At Zostel, about one in five property calls arrives before 9am or after 9pm. The voice agent answers those, and the group agent calls back guests with unpaid quotes. About one in three groups it reaches confirms on the call.
To price your own volume, use the calculator on our pricing page, or see how the AI voice receptionist for hotels handles bookings, missed calls and handoffs.