Friday afternoon, twenty-three unread emails
The reservations inbox has twenty-three unread emails. A family asking about two rooms for three nights at half term. A couple asking whether the suite is free for their anniversary. A company asking for five singles for a training course. A returning guest asking for her usual room. And a mixture of confirmations, OTA notifications, spam and invoices.
The reservations manager is also covering reception because of sickness. She answers the easy ones in between check-ins. The family's enquiry waits until Monday. By then they have booked a hotel that replied in the evening with a link.
Why direct enquiries wait
Every reply to a direct enquiry involves the same few steps, and each one takes a few minutes. Together they make a single email a quarter of an hour's work.
- Reading the email and working out dates, rooms, guests and any special needs.
- Checking availability in the PMS for the right room types.
- Finding the right rate, including any packages, offers or corporate agreements.
- Writing a reply with rates, policies and how to book.
- Following up if the guest does not reply.
The inbox also mixes enquiries with everything else, so the valuable emails are not always the first to be opened.
What slow replies cost
Direct bookings carry no OTA commission and give you the guest relationship. Enquiries that wait too long often turn into OTA bookings or bookings at another hotel. Nobody records how many are lost, because the guest just stops replying.
When replies are rushed, mistakes creep in: the wrong rate quoted, the cancellation policy left out, a promise about a room type that is not available. Those turn into disputes later.
There is a pattern to which emails wait longest. The complicated enquiries, such as a family needing interconnecting rooms, a group of friends wanting four rooms on one floor, or a guest with access needs, are the ones that take longest to answer and so get put off. They are also often the most valuable bookings in the inbox, and the guests most likely to come back if they are looked after well.
Returning guests are a special case. They email rather than book online because they want a particular room or want to be recognised, and a slow or generic reply undoes the loyalty that made them write in the first place.
How we build a reservations inbox assistant
- The assistant reads every email arriving at the reservations address and sorts it: new enquiry, change to a booking, cancellation, supplier, OTA notification, spam.
- For new enquiries, it extracts dates, room needs, number of guests, children, special requests and any mention of a company or returning stay.
- It checks live availability and rates in your PMS or booking engine through its API.
- It drafts a reply in your hotel's own tone, with the options available, the rates, the key policies, and a booking link that pre-fills the dates.
- The reservations team reviews, edits if needed, and sends. Nothing goes out without a person approving it.
- Enquiries that were quoted but not booked get a follow-up draft after a gap you choose.
| Enquiry | What the assistant drafts |
|---|---|
| Two rooms, three nights, half term | Family room options with rates and a link for those dates |
| Suite for an anniversary | Suite availability, a note about celebration extras |
| Five singles for a course | Availability and any corporate rate the company holds |
| Returning guest's usual room | Whether that room is free, from the PMS |
AI models such as Anthropic Claude or OpenAI's models do the reading and drafting. Rates and availability always come from your systems, never from the model.
What Friday afternoon looks like after
When the family's enquiry arrives, a draft reply is waiting within moments, with two family room options and a link. The reservations manager checks it between check-ins, adds a line about the pool, and sends it. The family books that evening.
The inbox shows enquiries first, sorted by arrival date, with everything else below. Follow-ups go out on schedule. Over time you can see how many enquiries turned into bookings, which you could never see before.
Signs your inbox is losing bookings
- Direct enquiries wait hours or days for a reply.
- Replies involve looking up rates in the PMS by hand.
- Quotes are not followed up if the guest goes quiet.
- Enquiries are mixed in with supplier and OTA emails.
- You do not know how many enquiries become bookings.