What is a hotel answering service, and how does it work at a lodge?
It is the service that answers your guests when you cannot: the phone, the website chat, the e-mail and the web forms. Zanus AI does it with one AI that knows your cabins, activities, seasons and house rules. It answers questions, holds cabins, books guides and rentals into their own calendars, calls guests before arrival and passes everything that needs a person to the right one.
Can the AI hold a cabin and book guided trips or rentals?
Yes. Each cabin, guide, boat or piece of gear can have its own calendar or hold. The AI checks what is free on the guest's dates, holds the cabin, books the guided half day or the kayak, and sends a confirmation. Confirmation calls follow before arrival, and a no frees the cabin for the next guest.
Does it take deposits or card payments?
No. The AI never asks for a card number and takes no payment. Once the cabin is held, it passes the deposit to your office or sends the guest to your own booking link, as you choose. The hold, the guest's questions and the whole conversation stay on one record for your desk.
Does it replace our lodge booking software?
No. Zanus AI is the front office in front of it. It answers, holds, books activities and follows up, and keeps the record of every conversation with each guest. Your lodge booking software and the way you take payments stay as they are today, and your desk finishes each booking there.
We run a fishing lodge. How does it sit next to our fishing lodge booking software?
Side by side. The AI answers the angler who calls at dawn or writes at midnight, tells him which days a guide is free, books the guide's half day on that guide's own calendar and holds a boat. Your fishing lodge booking software keeps the stays and the deposits, and your desk closes each booking there.
We are out on the lake or the trail all day. Who answers the phone?
The AI does, on the number your guests already know. You forward the lodge line, with no porting and nothing to install, and every call is answered at once, day or night. When a caller needs you, the AI transfers the call and says who is calling and why, or takes a message and reads the callback number back.
Can it answer questions about fishing licenses, hunting tags or conditions?
Only from what you approved. Write down what you tell guests about licenses, tags, trail and lake conditions or snow, and the AI repeats it in your words. It sells and issues no license, tag or permit, and whether a trip goes out is always left to your guides.
What happens if a guest calls with an emergency?
You write an always-say rule for it. A caller who mentions an injury, a fire or someone missing on the water hears your instruction to call emergency services, and the call is put through to the person on duty. The AI books nothing on that call and gives no safety advice of its own.
Which languages does it speak with guests?
The guest's own. Callers are answered in their language, the website chat works in 40 languages by text or by voice, and a call can go to the team member who speaks it. A talking avatar can greet visitors on your website as well.
Can it help fill the shoulder season and quiet weekdays?
Yes. Send an e-mail campaign to a filtered group, such as last fall's hunting parties or the families who came in July. Sell gift cards for a weekend away on every channel, quote retreats from your own price list, and let follow-ups run until the guest replies, then stop on their own.
How much does a hotel answering service cost for a small lodge?
You pay per company, never per seat, so the owner, the hosts and every guide work under one subscription. Pick the modules your lodge needs, from the phone alone to the whole front office; the plans are on the pricing page.
What is the difference between the free trial and the demo?
The free trial builds a sandbox of your own lodge from your website and runs for 7 days, with no card. The demo is ready-made: you watch the AI front office at work without setting anything up, and the link reaches your inbox in about 2 minutes.
How fast can it start answering our guests?
In about 2 minutes. Forward the lodge line, tell Lisa your cabins, activities, seasons and rules, and the AI starts answering. Every change Lisa proposes is shown to you first and goes live only when you say yes.