An AI assistant for small hotels and guesthouses

A small hotel or guesthouse gets the same messages every day. What time is check-in? Is breakfast included? Can I bring the dog? Is there parking? What happens if I cancel? Your website already says, but guests ask anyway, often late at night while they are comparing three places to stay. Botsmith reads your site and answers at any hour, so the guest gets a straight answer and you get your evening back. It will not promise a room it cannot see.

What guests ask before they book

Most of these questions come before a booking, not after. A guest who cannot find out whether you allow pets or how late they can arrive will often book somewhere that answers faster. A website assistant answers the routine part straight away and sends anything about a particular booking to you.

Ask a sample guesthouse

This assistant belongs to Saltbush Guesthouse, a place we invented for this page. Every rate, time, address and phone number is made up. Try asking what time check-in is, whether breakfast is included, how much a room costs, or whether you can bring your dog. Then ask if there is a room free this Saturday and see what it does.

Before we put it on this page we asked it six questions a guest would ask. It got four right and missed two. Asked "can I bring my dog?" and "if I cancel two days before, do I get my money back?", it said it did not have that information. Both answers were there, but the pet rule sat in one entry with children and accessibility, and the refund rule sat inside a longer entry about deposits. We gave each its own short entry, written the way guests ask, and both came back right. On the question about a free room on Saturday it said it could not check availability in the chat and pointed to the Book now button and the phone number, which is what the standing instruction tells it to do. That is the kind of fix you will make in your first week.

It answers about the property, not about a booking

The line a small hotel has to hold is between published information and a promise. "Rooms start from this much and check-in is from 2pm" is information. "Yes, we have a room on Saturday and I can hold it for you" is a promise the chat cannot keep, because it cannot see your booking system. Botsmith answers only from your content and says it is not sure when the content does not cover a question. On top of that you write a standing instruction, and it applies to every reply as soon as you save it. The demo guesthouse's says never promise a room, a price for particular dates, an upgrade, an early check-in or a refund that has not been published, and send availability questions to the booking button or the phone.

Cancellations need the same care. Guests ask about them in their own words: "if I cancel two days before", "can I get my money back", "what if I don't turn up". Write your policy out in full, with an example or two in those words, and keep it in its own entry. The demo guesthouse's policy entry says what happens at seven days, at three to six days and inside 72 hours, and the assistant quotes it rather than guessing. If you would rather a person handle every refund question, say so in the instructions and the assistant will give your contact details instead.

What it does not do

• It does not connect to your booking engine or channel manager. It cannot see availability, live prices, bookings or payments.
• It does not take, change or cancel bookings. It gives your booking link or phone number, the way your site does.
• It does not approve early check-in, late check-out or a refund. It can explain your rules and how to ask.
• It does not replace your reviews or your listing on booking sites. It answers the questions guests ask on your own website.
• If a guest wants you to call or email them, it can collect a name and phone number or email and send them to your inbox with the conversation attached. Read AI chatbot privacy for small businesses before you switch that on.

Getting it ready

1. Create a bot with your property's website address and let it read your pages.
2. Upload or paste what is not on the site: the house rules you email after booking, the late-arrival instructions, the full cancellation terms. Keep one topic per entry, and add the everyday words guests use, such as "bring my dog" next to "pets" and "money back" next to "refund". Our guide on what to put in a chatbot knowledge base explains why this matters.
3. Write your standing instructions: no promises about availability or prices for particular dates, where to send booking questions, and what to say about refunds.
4. In the dashboard preview, ask the questions you answered by email last week, in the guest's words. Include one about a room on a particular night and check where it sends them.
5. Put the chat on your site, or print the chat link's QR code on the card in each room so guests can ask about breakfast or check-out without calling reception. See the WordPress, Wix or Google Sites guides.

Many guests write in a language other than English. The assistant answers in the language each visitor writes in, from the same English entries, so you keep one set of facts.

What it costs

A single property fits Starter at US$19 a month: one bot and 2,000 messages a month. A small group with several properties and a website for each can use Pro at US$49 a month for five bots and 10,000 messages. The trial is 14 days with no card. Late-night questions are a large part of what a guesthouse gets, and our guide to handling after-hours enquiries covers the wider setup.