Why more and more companies are considering an AI receptionist
In many companies, hotels, professional firms and local businesses, the phone is a constant source of interruptions. Missed calls, customers on hold, busy lines right while you’re assisting a live customer. Meanwhile, the same requests keep coming in: opening hours, room availability, menu, prices, how to reach you, order status. The traditional front desk, or the classic secretary always on the phone, struggles to keep up, especially when you can’t afford more dedicated staff.
This is where the AI receptionist comes in: an artificial intelligence-based system that answers calls, provides information, and routes requests automatically. It doesn’t necessarily replace people, but frees up time and reduces repetitive calls. More and more companies are considering alternatives to the traditional reception desk to get 24/7 coverage, more predictable costs, and switchboard management that depends less on physical on-site presence.
Also at the market level, several analyses of the contact center sector, such as the reports published by McKinsey on customer service, show steady growth in automated solutions for first-level customer interactions.
What is an AI receptionist and what it really does
An AI receptionist is a kind of virtual receptionist that uses voice to talk with your customers when they call. It’s not a simple automated answering system with tone menus: it’s an AI phone assistant able to understand natural language and respond more flexibly to questions.
Typical functions of a virtual receptionist
In practice, a good AI switchboard system can:
- Answer calls in real time, with no waiting;
- Provide basic info on hours, services, prices, directions, and company policies;
- Manage appointments or bookings when connected to the right systems or available info;
- Transfer calls to someone on your team when human support is needed;
- Collect useful data (name, reason for the call, contact) and send it by email or to a dashboard;
- Filter out non-priority or irrelevant requests.
Compared to a simple answering machine, an AI receptionist can tailor replies to the context, handle questions that differ slightly from one another, support multiple languages, and keep a tone consistent with your brand image. In many cases it becomes the first point of contact that welcomes the customer, guides them and, if needed, hands things over to a real person.
How much does a traditional secretary really cost
When comparing an AI receptionist with a traditional secretary, people often focus only on the monthly salary. But to get a realistic picture of costs you must consider the full package: pay, charges and operating limits. A full-time secretary involves gross salary, contributions, severance pay, 13th-month pay, possible 14th-month pay, plus holidays, leave and replacements in case of absence.
Added to these factors are indirect costs: workstation, PC, phone, training, staff management. Also, coverage is limited to the working hours set by the contract. After a certain time, on weekends or in case of illness, the line may be left unattended or end up in voicemail. For many SMEs, restaurants, hotels or professional firms, supporting multiple front-office roles to cover extended hours is not economically sustainable.
This doesn’t mean the role of secretary or receptionist should be eliminated. It does mean, however, that using a highly qualified person to keep answering the same questions about parking, hours, or the menu risks being an inefficient use of time and budget.
How much does an AI receptionist cost and why it’s more scalable
The costs of an AI receptionist depend on the provider and the model (pay-per-use, minute bundles, monthly subscription, etc.), but they follow a different logic than human work. Typically you have a predictable fee or a cost tied to call volume, with no extra charges, holidays, or sick leave. Coverage is potentially 24/7: the AI always answers, even at 11 pm on a Saturday night or during peak periods, when the team is under pressure.
Another key advantage is scalability. While a person can handle one call at a time, a good AI switchboard system can manage many conversations in parallel without losing quality. This makes the cost per call much lower as volume grows. Plus, there are no extra costs tied to overtime or evening shifts. For businesses that get calls clustered in a few time slots (e.g., lunch hours or evenings for a restaurant), being able to pay only for actual usage – or a flexible plan – is often more sustainable than having someone always waiting for a phone call.
Finally, the costs of updating information are reduced: you update the answers once in the system interface and the AI repeats them consistently to all customers.
Riplia: the AI switchboard that becomes your AI receptionist
Riplia is a smart AI switchboard designed specifically to act as an AI receptionist for companies that receive many calls. It answers business calls 24/7, with a natural and professional voice, so the customer always feels like they’re speaking with someone who is truly listening.
The special thing about Riplia is that it learns from your company’s website: it analyzes pages, content, and public information to build an initial knowledge base. This means faster setup and less manual work for you. From the dashboard you can then enrich everything via the Knowledge Base section, adding answers on pricing, cancellation policies, specific services, internal procedures, and much more, with no technical skills needed.
Riplia can answer customers’ FAQs, support bookings, sales requests and first-level assistance. If your site is built with the Flazio system, it can also check availability and book directly (rooms, tables, services, appointments, e-commerce products). In all other cases it can provide detailed information and send emails with the data collected during the call, so your team can call back or handle the case when it’s most convenient.
The system is multilingual, a real advantage for hotels, restaurants, and businesses that work with tourists and foreign customers. Riplia can handle over 1000 concurrent calls, avoiding bottlenecks during peak times: the classic Saturday night at a restaurant or the high-season days of a hotel. It’s easy to set up, thanks also to resources like the official tutorial and the FAQ section.
The core message is clear: your job is not answering the phone. Riplia intercepts calls when the team is busy, after hours or under pressure, so you don’t lose business opportunities, bookings and important requests. A real example is FUD Bottega Sicula, a restaurant that adopted Riplia to handle calls during peak times and improve the customer experience, as told in the dedicated case study.
When the AI receptionist is the best choice
The AI receptionist isn’t always meant to fully replace a person, but there are contexts where it becomes the ideal solution or the first contact channel. For example, with after-hours calls: many businesses close the switchboard at 6 pm, but customers call in the evening or on weekends. A system like Riplia can answer, provide key information, take a booking request, or collect details for a callback.
Another scenario is handling repetitive FAQs. If your team spends hours answering the same questions over and over, an AI phone assistant can take over these requests, leaving staff the more complex cases. This is especially useful for small businesses and professional firms where the same person must handle in-office clients, administration, and the phone.
Hotels and restaurants gain huge benefits from a virtual receptionist: guests can ask about availability, check-in times, menus, allergens, cancellation policies and directions without clogging up the front desk. Riplia, in particular, was designed for these sectors too and lets you turn the phone from an operational interruption into a lever for bookings, sales and a smoother customer experience.
For those who fear customers won’t like AI, real-world experience shows that, if the voice is natural and the answers are clear, most people value one thing above all: having someone who replies right away, with no endless waits or missed calls.
When you still need a person and why the hybrid model works
However, there is a part of reception work that remains typically human. Complex situations, delicate negotiations, handling VIP clients or major complaints often require empathy, flexibility and decision-making skills that today are better managed by experienced people. The same applies to advanced administrative tasks, internal coordination between departments, managing documents or sensitive files.
For this reason many companies choose a hybrid model: AI handles the first contact, screens calls and answers standard questions; the human operator steps in only when truly needed. In this setup, the virtual receptionist becomes an ally of the team, not a replacement. It lightens the load, better organizes the workflow and reduces the number of unnecessary interruptions.
An article by Harvard Business Review on the use of AI in services highlights exactly how the best results come from combining AI and people, not from total replacement. AI acts as a filter, sets the stage, gathers data; the human operator steps in for complex decisions and to build long-term relationships with the most important customers.
In this model, using a system like Riplia makes it possible to focus staff time where it creates the most value, without leaving critical time slots or peak call periods uncovered.
How to tell if an AI receptionist like Riplia is right for you
To assess whether an AI receptionist fits your business, start with a few practical questions: how many calls do you miss each day or end up returning at day’s end? How many of these are repeat requests that could be handled by an AI virtual secretary? How much does it cost you, in time and stress, to have the phone ringing nonstop while you’re serving a customer or dealing with an emergency?
If you recognize these issues, it’s worth testing an AI phone system like Riplia. Setup is designed to be simple: you sign up, connect the number, let the system learn from your site, then fine-tune the answers in the settings. At any time you stay in control of the content and can decide which calls the AI should handle and which to transfer to your team. If you prefer, you can also call Riplia directly at +39 02 211 099 54 to hear with your own ears how it responds.
There’s no need to overhaul your organization right away: you can start by having it work only after hours or on certain call types, measure the impact, and then decide whether to expand its use. If you want to learn more, you can explore the official website riplia.com, follow the step-by-step tutorial, check the updated FAQs, or register for free at app.riplia.com/register to try it directly in your business.
This way you turn the phone from a source of interruptions and stress into a structured channel for service, booking and sales, without giving up control over the relationship with your customers.
