The Ruvi Journal
Practical guides for hotel and restaurant owners: answering every guest, winning more direct bookings and freeing up your team.
How a virtual receptionist works
Ruvi uses artificial intelligence to understand what a guest is asking, in their own words and language, and answers from the information you give it. In four steps:
- Phone
- Web chat
Your information
- Rooms
- Prices
- House rules
- Answered in seconds
- Booking link sent
- Passed to your team
Every conversation in your panel
It learns your venue
You share your details once: rooms or menu, prices, opening hours, house rules, how to get there. Ruvi answers from that information, not from the internet.
It answers on every channel
Phone calls, WhatsApp, email and your website chat. It understands questions written or spoken in everyday words, in the guest's language, day and night.
It solves, or passes it on
It answers the question, checks availability and sends the link to book. Anything it can't solve goes to your team with a short summary, so nobody asks the guest twice.
You stay in charge
You see every conversation in your panel, choose the tone, and change any answer whenever your details change.
Common questions about AI receptionists
What is a virtual receptionist?
A service that answers your guests' calls and messages for you, on every channel and at any hour, using your own information.
Does it use artificial intelligence?
Yes. AI lets Ruvi understand natural speech and writing in many languages. What it answers comes from the details you give it.
Does it replace my team?
No. It takes the repeated questions and the night shift, so your team has more time for the guests in front of them.
What happens when it doesn't know an answer?
It passes the conversation to your team with a summary, and you can add that answer so it knows next time.
All guides
AI receptionist for hotels and restaurants: what it is, what it costs and how to start
What an AI receptionist is, what it does on the phone and WhatsApp, what it doesn't do, what it costs and how to get one running in an Australian hotel or restaurant.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readCan AI answer your phone? How an AI voice agent takes calls for hotels and restaurants
How an AI voice agent answers your venue's phone: what the caller hears, how it understands the question, how it replies and when it passes the call to your team.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readVirtual receptionist for hotels and restaurants: what it is and how it works
What a virtual receptionist is, what it does for a hotel or restaurant, what it doesn’t do, and how it gets set up. A plain guide for Australian owners.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readMissed calls: how to stop losing bookings at your hotel or restaurant
Why bookings slip away when nobody picks up, and what you can do about it: call forwarding, instant answers and around-the-clock cover.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readWhatsApp and web chat for hotels and restaurants: answering every guest message
International visitors often message on WhatsApp, and locals use your website chat. How to answer every message on time without someone glued to a phone.Read →Hotels · 2 min readDirect bookings: how to pay less commission to booking sites
Why many guests end up booking through sites that charge commission, and how to win more direct bookings by answering quickly on every channel.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min read24/7 guest service in hospitality without hiring more staff
How to answer guests day and night, on weekends and public holidays, without extra shifts: what to cover, what to leave to your team, and how to start.Read →Restaurants · 2 min readPhone bookings during service: how not to lose tables at your restaurant
The phone rings when the dining room is full. How to handle your restaurant’s bookings and questions without pulling your team off the floor.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readInternational guests: how to answer each one in their language
Visitors from all over the world call and message your hotel or restaurant. How to reply in their language, at any hour, without hiring staff who speak every language.Read →Hotels · 2 min readThe questions guests ask most (and how to stop answering them by hand)
Breakfast, check-in, parking, Wi-Fi, pets: the questions that come up every day at a hotel, and how to answer them instantly from your own information.Read →Hotels · 2 min readOvernight reception for small hotels: alternatives to the night shift
Ways to handle late arrivals, overnight calls and messages at a small hotel or B&B without covering a full night shift.Read →Hotels · 2 min readAI WhatsApp assistant for hotels: reply instantly and win direct bookings
How an AI WhatsApp assistant answers your hotel guests at any hour, checks availability and sends the link to book direct with you.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readVoicemail, answering service or AI receptionist: which suits your venue?
A plain comparison of the ways to cover your phone when the team can't: voicemail, a human answering service, hiring more staff, or an AI receptionist.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readHow much does an AI receptionist cost for a hotel or restaurant?
What you pay for an AI receptionist: set-up, monthly plan, extra use per chat and per minute, and what to compare before you choose.Read →Hotels & restaurants · 2 min readHow to choose a virtual receptionist for your hotel or restaurant: 7 questions
Seven questions to ask before choosing a virtual receptionist: channels, languages, booking system, control, set-up, contract and price.Read →