AI pre-arrival calls for hotels
A short call a few days before arrival catches wrong dates, late arrivals and special requests while there is still time to act. An outbound voice agent makes those calls for guests who agreed to them and logs every answer for your team.
What happens on an AI pre-arrival call?
A few days before check-in, the voice agent calls guests who consented to be contacted. It says which property it is calling for, confirms the arrival and departure dates and the expected arrival time, and asks about requests such as a crib, an airport pickup or a quiet room. It logs those requests for staff to approve; it does not promise upgrades or change rates. Every call is recorded with a transcript.
Worked example
Calls for one week of arrivals
The numbers below are an example; replace them with your own arrivals list.
| Example week | Count |
|---|---|
| Arrivals with phone consent | 120 |
| Reached within two attempts | 78 |
| Dates corrected on the call | 3 |
| Late arrivals (after 10pm) flagged for the night team | 9 |
| Requests logged (cribs, transfers, accessible rooms, celebrations) | 21 |
The three date corrections alone can prevent a no-show charge dispute or an overbooked night. Requests reach staff days ahead, so housekeeping can place the crib before the family walks in.
The script
A pre-arrival call in under two minutes
"Hello, this is the guest assistant calling for the Harbor View Hotel about your stay arriving Thursday the 14th for three nights. Is that still correct?" Then: rough arrival time, number of guests, and "is there anything we can prepare for you?" The agent reads requests back, explains that the team will confirm them, and ends politely. If the guest asks about an upgrade, it notes the interest for the front desk rather than offering one.
Consent and calling rules
Before you call any guest
- Collect consent at booking. US calling rules treat AI-generated voices as artificial voices, so you need prior consent; have counsel check the wording.
- Call within reasonable hours in the guest's own time zone, which matters for international travelers.
- Cap attempts, for example two calls and then an email.
- Identify the property at the start and stop calling anyone who asks.
Cost
Estimating minutes for a month of arrivals
Outbound minutes count toward the Voice AI plan's 1,500 included minutes a month ($299 a month), together with any inbound calls. As an example, 400 reached guests at about two minutes each is 800 minutes, and about 500 unanswered attempts at 30 seconds add 250, so pre-arrival calls use about 1,050 minutes. If inbound calls take another 700 that month, the total of 1,750 is 250 over, which means two extra blocks of 200 minutes at $35 each: $299 + 2 × $35 = $369.
To keep minutes down, skip guests who already confirmed by email and keep the call to the three or four questions your team actually acts on. Read a sample of transcripts weekly to trim questions guests find pointless.
See hospitality AI take a booking change request
Book a demo to map booking questions, change requests and guest FAQs onto Botcadence before peak season.
Common Questions
Pre-arrival call questions
Guests who consented to calls, starting with longer stays, families, groups and direct bookings where you hold the relationship. Many hotels skip one-night business stays and use email for those.
It can mention upgrades you have listed and log interest, but it does not confirm or price them. Staff approve and confirm, so you never promise a room that is not available.
Each call ends with a transcript and an outcome summary. Requests can go to a Google Sheet, a shared inbox, or through a webhook or Zapier into the system your front desk uses.
Only call if you hold the guest's consent and contact details yourself. If the booking came with no phone consent, use the channels the agency allows and leave those guests off the call list.
Start with booking questions or guest FAQs
Begin with pre-booking questions on website chat, then add WhatsApp and phone overflow once answers match your policies.
- Reader-first workflows
- Human handoff when needed
- Grounded in your content