ScaleTalk
    for hotels, guesthouses and inns

    AI phone assistantfor hotels

    Your front desk, staffed day and night.
    In 50+ languages, on your number.

    Marie recognizes the guest's language from the first sentence and connects to your hotel software, from Apaleo to OPERA.

    Call the AI nowBook a call
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    500+

    businesses on the phone

    50+

    languages

    24/7

    reachable

    Call · 23:47

    Language detected

    Español

    „Buenas noches y bienvenido al Hotel Lindenhof.“

    +38
    Marie hears from the first sentence which language the guest speaks and answers in it. No keypad menu, no “Press 2 for English.”

    What is an AI phone assistant for hotels?

    A voice AI that answers calls on the hotel number, answers questions about rooms, arrival and the property, and hands booking inquiries to reception in full. It is often called an AI receptionist. It works around the clock, in multiple languages, and calls out on request, for example to confirm an arrival.

    • 50+ languagesMarie answers in the guest's language
    • FrankfurtServer location, data stays in the EU, data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR
    • Art. 50AI disclosure under the EU AI Act in every greeting

    500+ businesses
    trust ScaleTalk

    View testimonials
    Multilingual

    50+ languages. Marie switches on her own.

    Whether guests come from the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey or China: Marie hears from the first sentence which language they speak and answers in it. No keypad menu, no transfer to a foreign-language hotline. Which languages are active for your property, we define in the needs analysis. Pick a language and read how the same night arrival sounds.

    83.6M

    overnight stays in Germany in 2025 were by guests from abroad, roughly one in six of 497.4M.

    Source: DEHOGA Bundesverband, Zahlenspiegel IV/2025 (as of Feb 24, 2026), share our own calculation.

    English

    „Good evening and welcome to Hotel Lindenhof. This is Marie, the hotel's AI assistant. How may I help you?“

    Guest

    I won't arrive until after midnight. How do I get into the hotel?

    Marie

    No problem. There is a key safe next to the entrance. I'll text you the code at the number in your booking.

    Twelve examples out of 50+ languages. The notice that an AI is speaking is part of the greeting in every language.

    Listen in

    Two real calls. Two languages.

    A room booking in German and a late arrival in English, recorded with our sample hotel. Marie switches languages on her own. On the right, you see what reception then finds in the system as a finished case.

    0:00

    The recording is in German; the transcript is translated.

    Press play and the transcript follows along live.

    Lands in your system

    Request
    Availability
    Room
    Name
    Email
    Arrival
    Parking
    In the system
    Try it yourself

    Call as if you were your own guest.

    Ask for a room for the weekend, announce a late arrival or switch to German mid-sentence. After you sign up, the number is shown so you can call right away.

    • free and non-binding
    • Your details are only used for this test
    • then, if you like, the needs analysis for your property

    Sign up quickly and call right away

    By calling, you agree to our privacy policy.

    Compatibility

    Fits your hotel software. From Apaleo to OPERA.

    Marie works with the systems your property already uses: PMS, channel manager, booking engine and your team's tools. She looks things up live instead of just collecting notes, and writes the result to where your reception works.

    1. 1. Before the call

      Recognize the guest

      Before Marie even says “Good evening,” she uses the phone number to check in the PMS whether the guest has a reservation and when they arrive.

      → GET /reservations?phone=…

      ← Reservation #4711, arriving today

    2. 2. During the call

      Check availability

      If someone asks for a room, Marie reads free rooms and rates live from the system and states them in the same sentence.

      → GET /availability?from=…

      ← Double room free, €129 with breakfast

    3. 3. After the call

      Write to the system

      Booking inquiry, late arrival or callback request land as a finished case in the PMS or at reception, with a summary.

      → POST /tasks

      ← Late arrival noted in PMS

    Hotel software (PMS)

    Rooms, rates, reservations, guest profiles

    • Oracle OPERA Cloud
    • Mews
    • Apaleo
    • protel
    • SIHOT
    • Cloudbeds
    • casablanca
    • GASTROdat
    • RoomRaccoon

    Channel manager and booking engine

    Availability, prices, direct booking

    • SiteMinder
    • DIRS21
    • D-EDGE
    • Sabre SynXis
    • Seekda

    Guest communication

    Upselling, messages, team tasks

    • Oaky
    • Bookboost
    • hotelkit
    • TrustYou

    Calendar, team and automation

    Notify, enter, forward

    • Outlook
    • Google Calendar
    • Microsoft Teams
    • Slack
    • WhatsApp
    • n8n
    • Zapier
    • Make

    And your own system

    If your hotel software has an interface, and the common systems do, we connect Marie directly. Through n8n, Make or Zapier we link several systems in one workflow, for example creating a reservation and notifying reception in Teams at the same time.

    Brand names belong to their respective owners. We set up the integration for your setup in the needs analysis.

    Commission recovery calculator

    What you pay booking portals every year.

    Pre-filled with documented industry values. Enter your property and estimate how many portal bookings will land with you directly by phone in future because someone picks up.

    30

    Your property

    60.4%

    Default 60.4%: hotels in Germany 2025, DEHOGA

    €109

    Default €109: net room rate 2025, Hotelverband IHA

    32.4%

    Default 32.4%: small and mid-sized hotels in Germany, HOTREC 2026

    15%

    Standard according to the Federal Cartel Office 10 to 15%, more with ranking programs

    10%

    Your estimate. How much shifts depends on your property.

    Folio

    Commissions per year

    Room revenue
    €720,904
    of which via portals (32.4%)
    €233,573
    Commission to portals (15%)
    €35,036

    Recovered if 10% come directly by phone

    €3,504

    Every percentage point that moves from the portal directly to you: €350 per year.

    On paper, the recovered commission covers the entry price of €1,188 per year 2.9 times over.

    Simplified calculation: commission on room revenue, excluding VAT, payment fees and ranking programs. ScaleTalk starts at €99 per month; the actual price depends on your call volume.

    Sources: DEHOGA Bundesverband, Zahlenspiegel IV/2025, room occupancy 2025 in hotels with 25+ rooms. Hotelverband Deutschland (IHA), Hotelmarkt Deutschland 2026, net room rate 2025. HOTREC, European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, p. 26. Bundeskartellamt, case report B9-121/13 of March 9, 2016: standard commission of 10 to 15% on the room price, depending on ranking up to a range of 30 to 50%.

    Numbers instead of gut feeling

    The phone is the strongest direct booking channel for small hotels.

    Almost one in five overnight stays at small and mid-sized hotels in Germany was sold by phone in 2025, almost a third through portals. A call nobody answers gets booked elsewhere or not at all.

    HOTREC European Hotel Distribution Study 2026

    How small and mid-sized hotels in Germany sold their overnight stays in 2025.

    • Phone 18.6%
    • Email 17.8%
    • Own website 13.6%
    • Other direct channels 10.6%*
    • Booking portals 32.4%
    • Other 7%*

    18.6%

    of overnight stays came by phone. After the portals, the phone is the largest single channel.

    Cancellation rate

    Direct booking9.1%
    Booking.com19%

    Guests who book directly cancel less than half as often.

    26 %/ 59 %

    of the hotels surveyed use AI, 59% do not. Properties with fewer than 30 rooms are underrepresented among AI users.

    Source: HOTREC, European Hotel Distribution Study 2026 (reference year 2025), Prof. Roland Schegg, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, 2,713 hotels from 28 countries. Distribution mix: small and mid-sized hotels in Germany, n = 269, p. 26. Cancellation rates unweighted, p. 110. AI usage pp. 126 f. * Remainder from our own calculation (direct total 60.6%).

    The night shift

    Night porter or Marie? An honest comparison.

    At night, the phone is the real problem for many smaller properties. A dedicated night staff member is expensive and hard to find, and an answering machine doesn't help the guest standing at the door.

    You decide when Marie takes over.

    Always, only when all lines are busy, or only outside reception hours. Drag the slider and see which calls typically come in at that time and how Marie handles them.

    Seven nights. Two different jobs.

    Example calculation: night shift from 10 pm to 6 am

    Nightly coverage by a full-time position and Marie
    CoverageMonTueWedThuFriSatSun
    One full-time position40 hours / week––
    Marie on the phoneReachable every night

    A 40-hour position covers five nights of eight hours. For seven nights, vacation and sick leave, you need more than one person on paper. Marie is there every night and can take several calls at the same time.

    Night porter / night auditor

    €2,942

    gross per month is the median for a full-time employee in the occupational group that includes night porters and night auditors. Employer contributions come on top.

    Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency), Entgeltatlas, occupation porter (restaurant, hotel), occupational category hotel service, data as of 2025.

    Marie takes over the phone

    from €99

    per month is what ScaleTalk costs. On your existing number, every night, in multiple languages.

    What Marie can't do

    Open the door, carry luggage, look after a guest who feels unwell at night. If your property needs someone on site at night, Marie doesn't replace that person. She takes the phone off their hands.

    Front desk clock

    Front desk closed

    23:40

    Marie alone on the phone

    Example call at this time

    Late arrival, the guest speaks English

    “Hello, my flight was delayed. I'll arrive around one in the morning.”

    Marie: Marie switches to English, finds the booking, explains the key safe and texts the code to the number on the booking. The early team knows in the morning.

    Front desk closed: Marie answers every call and transfers urgent matters to on-call staff.

    Drag the slider or pick a time. The calls are examples from everyday hotel life, not statistics.

    Your guests' perspective

    How a guest searches when nobody picks up at reception.

    Real search queries from Google in Germany. Behind them is almost always the same situation: It is late, reception is closed or busy, and the guest has a question that would be answered in two minutes.

    Key board

    Your guests' searches

    • 101hotel reception not staffed
    • 102hotel check in after midnight
    • 103late check in hotel
    • 104hotel 24 hour reception
    • 105call hotel to ask about a guest
    • 106can you book a hotel by phone
    • 107hotel reservation by phone binding
    • 108cancel hotel booked by phone

    Source: Google Autocomplete Germany, September 2026.

    From the trade press

    Hans R. Amrein called hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for hotelinside.ch, explicitly without scientific claims. He describes hold queues with canned music, keypad menus, repeated transfers and being pointed to email instead of getting an answer.

    “Anyone who calls the hotel directly is considered particularly close to booking.”
    Sources: hotelinside.ch, Hans R. Amrein, Sep 9, 2026. ahgz.at, Anne-Kathrin Velten, “Wenn das Telefon zur Buchungshürde wird” (When the phone becomes a booking hurdle), Sep 9, 2026.

    And how hoteliers search

    booking com how much commissionbooking com commission calculatorwhat commission does booking takenight porter salaryhotel night receptionhospitality skills shortagehotel no show feehotel group inquiry

    Commission, night shifts, staff, no-shows. You'll find the math for it right below.

    Source: Google Autocomplete Germany, September 2026.

    Outbound calls

    Marie makes calls too. Before, during and after the stay.

    Confirming arrivals, following up on group offers, inviting regular guests: these are the calls that get left undone at reception because someone is standing at the desk. Pick a point in time.

    Three days beforeService for the booking

    Confirm the arrival

    Marie confirms arrival and arrival time. Guests who aren't coming say so now, and the room can still be sold.

    “You're arriving on Friday. Does that still hold, and roughly when will you be here?”

    Cancellation rate 9.1% for direct bookings, 19.0% for Booking.com (HOTREC 2026, unweighted).

    Phone marketing to consumers only with prior explicit consent (§ 7 (2) no. 1 German UWG). The best approach is to collect consent during the booking process. Calls about an existing booking count as service; as soon as something is sold during the call, advertising law applies in case of doubt. Not legal advice.

    Legal and data protection

    What a hotel needs to consider with AI on the phone.

    AI disclosure, recording, data protection, marketing calls: these are the questions that should be settled before launch. Here are the short answers.

    Yes. Since August 2, 2026, Art. 50 of the EU AI Act requires callers to know they are speaking with an AI. Marie says so right in the greeting, in every language. Violations can be fined up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover.

    Only with the caller's consent. Anyone who records the privately spoken word without authorization commits a criminal offense under § 201 of the German Criminal Code. Without consent, we keep it to the summary and the details captured.

    On servers in Frankfurt, so the data stays in the EU. We sign a data processing agreement with you under Art. 28 GDPR. We agree the privacy notice for callers under Art. 13 GDPR with you.

    Only with consent. Phone marketing to consumers without their prior explicit consent is not permitted under § 7 (2) no. 1 of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG). The best approach is to collect consent during the booking process. Calls about an existing booking count as service. As soon as something is sold during the call, advertising law applies in case of doubt. This is not legal advice.

    Only if you want that. We recommend a rule of giving no information about guests. Marie then takes a message with a callback number, which reception passes on to the guest. She puts authorities or emergencies straight through.

    Codes don't belong in the general house info. You decide whether Marie sends a code to the number on file after checking name and booking, or whether she transfers to night staff on call.

    From the guest book

    What a vacation rental host told us.

    These quotes come from a conversation with an operator of around 60 vacation rentals. His guests face the same questions in the evening as yours.

    „They get automated messages, but they just don't read them.“
    Operator of around 60 vacation rentals, in conversation with ScaleTalk

    Marie takes exactly these calls. She patiently explains check-in for the fifth time that evening, in the guest's language.

    „Like 90 percent, 95 percent are from abroad. German isn't always spoken there.“
    Operator of around 60 vacation rentals, in conversation with ScaleTalk

    Marie answers in the language the guest speaks. Which languages are active for your property, we define together.

    „The code just changes, I don't know, monthly.“
    Operator of around 60 vacation rentals, in conversation with ScaleTalk

    That's why access codes aren't part of the general house info. Whether Marie passes on a code after checking the booking or transfers to on-call staff is up to you.

    „… that you start, like, at night first, or from a certain time.“
    Operator of around 60 vacation rentals, in conversation with ScaleTalk

    That works: call forwarding only kicks in at night or only when busy. During the day, everything at your reception stays as it is.

    Frequently asked questions

    What hoteliers want to know before getting started.

    An AI phone assistant is a voice AI that answers calls on your hotel number, answers questions about rooms, arrival and the property, and hands every request to reception as a finished case via interface or email. It is also called an AI receptionist on the phone. It can also place calls itself, for example to confirm an arrival.

    ScaleTalk starts at €99 per month. The price depends on your call volume. We work out together in the needs analysis what that means for your property.

    Four things matter for a hotel: Does the assistant run on your existing number? Does it speak your guests' languages, without a keypad menu? Can it also place calls itself, for example before arrival or for open group offers? And are servers and data processing in the EU? The fastest way to check is a real test call.

    Yes. According to the HOTREC study 2026, 18.6% of overnight stays at small and mid-sized hotels in Germany came by phone in 2025. The prerequisite is that someone picks up. Marie takes booking inquiries even when reception is busy checking in a guest or already closed.

    For the hotel, almost always, because a direct booking carries no portal commission. Whether the guest pays less too is up to the hotel. The German Federal Cartel Office declared Booking's best-price clause anticompetitive (case report 2016), so hotels in Germany are allowed to offer lower prices directly.

    In its 2016 case report, the Federal Cartel Office cites a standard commission of 10 to 15% on the room price. Those who pay for a higher ranking pay considerably more according to the same report, in a range of 30 to 50%. The calculator on this page shows what that means for your property.

    That depends on your property's booking and cancellation terms. Marie tells guests on the phone exactly the terms you have stored. She can also confirm the arrival by phone beforehand. Guests who aren't coming can then say so in time, and the room can still be sold. This is not legal advice.

    The guest registers online in advance and receives a room or door code, often with no reception at all. If something goes wrong, they still pick up the phone. Marie explains the process, checks the booking and transfers to on-call staff if needed. How this works with your check-in system, we clarify in the needs analysis.

    According to the Entgeltatlas of the German Federal Employment Agency (data as of 2025), the median for full-time staff in the hotel service occupational group, which includes hotel clerks, night porters and night auditors, is €2,942 gross per month. Reception staff in assistant roles earn €2,639. Employer contributions come on top.

    Yes. Marie runs through call forwarding on your existing number. You decide whether she always answers, only when busy or only outside reception hours.

    With any hotel software that has an interface, and the common systems do: PMS such as Oracle OPERA Cloud, Mews, Apaleo, protel, SIHOT or Cloudbeds, channel managers and booking engines such as SiteMinder or DIRS21, and your team's tools such as Outlook, Teams or Slack. Marie can recognize the guest before the call, check availability during the call and create records in the system afterwards.

    Through n8n, Make or Zapier we link several systems in one workflow. What that looks like for you, we clarify in the needs analysis. Until the integration is live, every request reaches reception as a summary by email.

    Over 50 languages, including German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Marie recognizes from the first sentence which language the guest speaks and answers in it. No keypad menu is needed. Which languages are active for your property, we define in the needs analysis.

    No. An AI receptionist takes over the phone, especially at peak times and at night. Welcoming guests at the desk, resolving complaints in person, living hospitality: that stays with your team. If a human is needed, Marie does a warm transfer. She briefly summarizes the request and then connects.

    Further reading: AI phone assistant for e-commerce · AI phone assistant for car dealerships · GDPR and AI phone assistants

    Next step

    We look at your property's phone nights.

    30 minutes: when your calls come in, which requests Marie can take over, which languages your guests speak and what it costs for your property.

    Book a callRequest a free agent