By Jordan Hollander, Co-founder of HotelTechReport - 6.4.2025
Phone inquiries haven’t gone away—but the way hotels handle them has. In fact, the guest journey is becoming increasingly voice-enabled, and AI is stepping in to handle the rising demand for instant, intelligent communication.
According to HotelTechReport’s research in The 2025 State of Guest Tech Report:
- 70% of guests find chatbots helpful for simple inquiries, signaling growing comfort with AI-driven service for routine tasks like Wi-Fi requests or room service orders.
- 58% believe AI can improve their hotel stay, especially when it anticipates their needs and offers personalized recommendations like upsells via mobile check in software.
- And nearly half of guests now use technology other than the phone to order room service, showing a clear shift in how travelers prefer to interact with hotels.
So while guest behavior is changing, many hotels still struggle with high call volumes, missed inquiries, and limited staff availability—especially during peak periods or after hours.
That’s where AI voice tools come in. By answering calls, handling reservations, and even upselling services, these technologies aren’t just futuristic—they’re fixing real operational bottlenecks today.
In this article, we’ll spotlight four cutting-edge AI voice tools changing the hotel tech landscape—Cloudbeds Engage, Canary AI, KITT by The Hotels Network, and PolyAI—that are transforming how hotels handle reservations and guest communication.
What Are AI Voice Tools in Hospitality?
AI voice tools in hospitality are natural-language-powered systems designed to interact with guests by phone in a human-like way. These tools can answer common questions, guide guests through the reservation process, upsell amenities, and even book rooms directly—all without human intervention.
Key Use Cases:
- Handling missed or after-hours reservation calls
- Managing peak booking periods without adding staff
- Providing multilingual support for international travelers
- Reducing wait times and increasing guest satisfaction
Core Benefits:
- 24/7 service without increasing labor costs
- Higher conversion rates from phone inquiries
- Consistent and accurate guest communication
- Reduced pressure on front desk teams
Cloudbeds Engage
Cloudbeds, best known for its popular all-in-one property management platform, recently introduced Engage—a tool designed to help hotels capture more leads and reduce missed calls by adding AI-powered voice and SMS automation to the front desk phone line.
Rather than letting potential bookings slip through the cracks during off-hours or busy shifts, Cloudbeds Engage acts as a digital receptionist. It can answer common questions, capture lead details, and route complex inquiries to the right team member—all without requiring a staff member to pick up the phone.
What makes Engage especially compelling is how seamlessly it integrates into the Cloudbeds ecosystem. It knows your availability, your rates, and your policies—and can communicate them to guests without hesitation. Properties using Engage report measurable improvements in lead conversion, especially from missed calls, which historically have been one of the biggest blind spots in the reservation journey.
Canary AI
Canary Technologies has built a strong reputation for helping hotels digitize operations with tools like contactless check-in and guest messaging. Its AI voice solution builds on that legacy, providing a next-generation phone concierge that uses generative AI to handle guest inquiries in real time.
What sets Canary AI apart is its ability to respond with context. It doesn’t just understand the words—it understands your hotel. Whether a guest is calling about pet policies, late checkout, or how to book a spa appointment, Canary AI tailors its responses using property-specific data, ensuring accuracy and consistency every time.
Hotels adopting the tool report major time savings and a noticeable drop in call abandonment rates. In one case, a boutique property in New York was able to automate more than 60% of its inbound calls, freeing up staff to focus on in-person service while ensuring phone support remained fast and reliable.
KITT by The Hotels Network
KITT, developed by The Hotels Network, takes a unique approach to voice AI: it taps into your hotel’s website content to fuel its conversational abilities. That means everything your guests can find on your site—rates, amenities, special offers—is also available to them over the phone, spoken in natural, conversational language.
This approach is powerful for hotels looking to drive more direct bookings. When guests call in with questions, KITT can guide them through the booking process, clarify any doubts, and even highlight limited-time deals, just as a well-trained reservation agent would.
It’s also designed with branding in mind. KITT can be customized to reflect a hotel’s voice and tone, ensuring the experience feels like a true extension of your team. For hoteliers worried about OTA dependency or missed voice inquiries, KITT turns the reservation line into a high-converting, always-on direct booking channel.
PolyAI
Among the most sophisticated voice AI platforms in the market today, PolyAI has become a go-to solution for hotel groups and call centers managing thousands of calls per day. It’s not just a voice bot—it’s a full conversational AI engine capable of handling complex, multi-step interactions with remarkable fluency.
PolyAI supports dozens of languages, offers branded voice experiences, and integrates with core hospitality systems like CRMs and PMS platforms. The result is a tool that can truly act as a frontline agent—handling 70–90% of calls without needing human assistance.
Its impact is especially evident in larger operations. For example, one global luxury hotel chain uses PolyAI to manage all incoming reservation calls across several properties, enabling their in-house agents to focus exclusively on VIPs and complex bookings. The efficiency gains are massive, but what’s equally impressive is the consistency of service PolyAI delivers across languages, time zones, and guest profiles.
Choosing the Right Voice AI Tool for Your Hotel
Not all voice AI tools are created equal. Here’s what to consider when deciding which one fits your property:
Factors to Evaluate:
- PMS Integration: Tools like Cloudbeds Engage offer native integration for seamless operations.
- Call Volume: High-volume properties may benefit more from enterprise tools like PolyAI.
- Customization: Tools like Canary AI and KITT allow deep personalization to match your brand voice.
- Languages Supported: Multilingual capabilities are a must for international or resort properties.
Pro Tip: Start small. Many hotels begin by automating after-hours calls, then expand to full reservation handling once they see results.
Ready to modernize your reservation & guest request processes?
Hotel software tools have evolved and AI voice tech is no longer experimental—they’re practical, proven, and increasingly essential for hotels aiming to boost efficiency and capture more bookings.
Whether you’re a boutique inn trying to stop missing calls or a large group hotel looking to scale without increasing headcount, tools like Cloudbeds Engage, Canary AI, KITT, and PolyAI offer smart ways to transform your phone line from a bottleneck into a booking engine.
Start by reviewing your call logs. If you’re missing leads or losing time on repetitive guest questions, it might be time to let AI answer the phone.
Jordan Hollander is the co-founder of HotelTechReport, the hotel industry’s app store where millions of professionals discover tech tools to transform their businesses. He was previously on the Global Partnerships team at Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Prior to his work with SPG, Jordan was Director of Business Development at MWT Hospitality and an equity analyst at Wells Capital Management. Jordan received his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management where he was a Zell Global Entrepreneurship Scholar and a Pritzker Group Venture Fellow.
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