🚀 No more missed calls and bookings - Our Phone AI for hotels is now available. Discover it here.  🚀
The human voice is one of the most powerful interfaces for unlocking the potential of AI applications. Spoken language is the most common, information-rich, and emotionally resonant form of communication in our everyday lives. For the first time, artificial intelligence now makes it possible to program and scale this type of communication, opening up countless new use cases. Say hello to our Phone AI.‍
For businesses, this represents an opportunity to delegate tasks to AI-powered voice systems that were previously limited to human workers – more efficiently, more cost-effectively, more reliably, and often even more powerfully.
So-called voice agents allow companies to be reachable around the clock: answering questions, scheduling appointments, handling bookings or transactions – independently of office hours. Anyone who has tried to reach a hotel in the evening without success knows exactly what this means. With AI-powered voice agents, this problem is a thing of the past. Any business can now be reachable at any time.
The year 2024 has seen major breakthroughs in voice AI. In May, OpenAI introduced GPT-4o Voice, a model that enables real-time, high-quality voice interaction. At the same time, Cartesia launched “Sonic,” a technology for lifelike, synchronized speech output.
In June, Apple integrated ChatGPT into Siri, followed by Amazon’s integration of Claude into Alexa. Meta enabled celebrities to license their voices for AI voice assistants. By the end of the year, the next milestone was reached: ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode gained internet access.
These developments are being driven by enhanced infrastructure. New conversational models operate with lower latency and greater performance – a technological leap that has become especially evident in the past six months.
At the same time, costs have dropped dramatically: In December 2024, OpenAI reduced the pricing for GPT-4o’s real-time API by 60% for input and 87.5% for output. These improvements illustrate how voice AI is becoming not only more powerful but also more economical, paving the way for wider adoption across industries.
Voice AI has long evolved from a visionary concept into a practical solution, especially in hotel operations. In November 2024, DialogShift’s Hotel AI was expanded to include a Phone AI. The demand for the product was enormous, as some of the biggest challenges in hospitality are constantly ringing phones and missed bookings.
Phone calls continue to play a vital role in hospitality, whether it’s for bookings or typical guest questions about parking, EV charging stations, or check-in times. While a smaller portion of calls involves complex matters that require human intelligence, the vast majority are routine inquiries that AI can easily handle.
This is exactly where DialogShift’s Phone AI comes in: it handles incoming calls as the first point of contact, answers questions in a friendly and reliable manner — in multiple languages and around the clock. At the same time, it can take bookings without hotel staff needing to get involved.
The operational advantage is clear: hotels that switch their phone systems to AI can reduce the call volume handled by staff by up to 70 percent. This saves valuable working time and significantly reduces costs. Compared to a call center, using AI costs only about a fifth — an economic benefit that quickly pays off. Constant availability is especially crucial when it comes to booking inquiries, which directly impact revenue. Missed calls often lead to guests booking with the competition. With Phone AI as a first-level support solution, such revenue losses can be prevented.
In addition, the AI can be used strategically for overflow management during high call volume periods or for limited coverage, such as during nighttime hours. This keeps the hotel reachable at all times without adding strain to the staff.
Another decisive factor is the quality of the conversation. Modern voice AI generates speech dynamically, responds flexibly to follow-up questions, and conducts fluid, natural conversations. Guests can hardly tell anymore whether they are speaking with a person or an AI. This level of technological maturity makes Phone AI a compelling solution not only for improving efficiency but also for delivering professional guest service. This development is a clear win for hoteliers. One DialogShift customer put it perfectly: “It’s a thousand times better than being stuck on hold.”
The possibilities of voice AI today are just the beginning. With the rapid development of models and voice technologies, it will soon be nearly impossible to distinguish between a human and an AI on the phone.
While voice AI is already capable of conducting natural conversations and providing information, the technology is now taking the next step: from processing information to taking action. AI agents can independently carry out complex, multi-step workflows — and they are already a reality.
This technological shift is becoming tangible in the hospitality industry as well. Voice AI is evolving from a pure information system into an active service unit. It no longer just answers questions, but also makes bookings, cancels reservations, or modifies existing ones independently. A guest can, for instance, book a room over the phone, request special services, or make a restaurant reservation at the hotel — all handled by the AI, without staff involvement.
Even more impressive is the AI’s ability to serve guests individually. Using the caller’s phone number, it can identify the guest and access stored data in the hotel’s CRM. It can then offer personalized suggestions, recommend room categories, or propose add-ons like spa treatments or late check-out. This kind of empathetic, context-based upselling will fundamentally change how hotels manage telephone-based service and sales.
Technological development is advancing so quickly that voice AI now operates at the level of a human employee — and in many cases, it even performs better. While people can make mistakes, especially under stress or after long shifts, the AI remains consistently attentive, friendly, and efficient.
What does this mean for hotel staff? They are relieved of routine tasks and gain more time for what truly matters: providing personal, in-person guest care. While AI reliably handles phone inquiries in the background, employees can focus on guests’ individual needs. The role of humans shifts away from administrative duties and toward what no algorithm can replace: authentic hospitality.
This makes hotel operations not only more efficient but also more human — supported by a technology that redefines service.
