Chatbot and AI receptionist: how they help small businesses
The visitor lands on your website at eleven at night. They look for a chat. A chatbot answers. An AI receptionist, if you have taught her, answers about your business and does not invent the place.
What a chatbot is, and what an AI receptionist is
A chatbot is a chat on the website that gives automatic answers. It handles questions that repeat: hours, delivery, the price of a service. It saves an email or a phone call when nobody is at the phone.
An AI receptionist is a chatbot that reads the business profile. In Hostly she lives on your website. She answers hours, prices and the instructions you have given her. If it is not written down, she says so. She does not invent a table or an opening.
The difference is not the box in the corner. It is where the answers come from, and who is in charge when the conversation goes off script.
How a chatbot helps a business
Small businesses do not have a support team 24 hours a day. The chatbot on the website handles several visitors at once, including on a public holiday. The owner sees the thread the next day.
That takes the load off calls and emails about the same things: whether you are open, what a service costs, whether there is a terrace. A customer who would rather not phone can ask without picking up the phone.
A generic chatbot stays on canned lines. If the visitor asks for a booking or files a complaint, you need a person, or an engine that knows the real openings in the calendar.
What the customer gets
- An answer straight away, at night or on a public holiday, without hunting for a phone number.
- The usual questions, in the same place where they look at the menu or the price.
- A handoff to a person if the customer marks a complaint, or if you take the thread.
What the business gets
- A shorter queue of simple questions. You keep the ones that need judgement.
- Inbox: you see every conversation. If you reply, the AI stays quiet.
- Optional bookings: the engine offers free times. A name does not list appointments.
- A usage cap by plan. From 29,90 € a month, VAT not included.
- A button to your WhatsApp if you want it: your chat opens and you reply yourselves. The AI does not enter there.
Should you put a chatbot on your website?
It makes sense if the questions repeat, if the day already runs you off your feet, and if you can write in the profile what the customer needs to know. A box that interrupts reading, or that promises something the business does not have, does not.
What Hostly, the AI receptionist, does
Hostly is an AI receptionist for any website. You paste one line of code. The chat appears on your page. The AI reads the profile and the catalogue. You open the dashboard, see the inbox, and switch the AI off for the whole place, by schedule, or in one thread.
It is not a generic chatbot with your logo. It is not an AI inside WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a Meta brand. Hostly does not use that name as a product. The button, if you turn it on, opens your number. You reply by hand.
Restaurants, clinics and shops each have a page for the trade. Same rule: the AI receptionist speaks in the chat on your website. Restaurants Clinics Shops
How it goes on the website
You create an account, fill in hours and prices, copy the snippet and paste it on your website. The detail is in the documentation. You can try it first with the demo. Documentation. Try it on your website.
Questions about a chatbot and an AI receptionist
Are a chatbot and an AI receptionist the same thing?
A chatbot gives automatic answers. An AI receptionist, like Hostly, reads your profile and does not invent the business. You see the inbox and you can mute her.
Does the Hostly chatbot reply on WhatsApp?
No. The AI speaks in the chat on your website. The optional button opens your WhatsApp and you reply yourselves.
How much does an AI receptionist cost on Hostly?
From 29,90 € a month, VAT not included. The plan sets the cap on conversations and AI replies. Bookings are turned on in the dashboard, on every plan.
Does a chatbot work for a small business?
Yes, if the questions repeat and there is not someone on the phone at every hour. Hostly is built for a venue or a sole trader who pastes one line of code on their website.
More about Hostly: How to put an AI receptionist on your website, Chat on the website, or a button to WhatsApp, Bookings from the chat, with no invented openings, How to switch the AI off and take over yourself.