The Hotel Voice Agent Buyer's Checklist: 60 Questions Before Signing

TL;DR

Before signing with any hotel voice AI vendor, ask these 60 questions. Covers architecture, PMS integration, multilingual support, compliance, analytics, and pricing.

Architecture (1–10)

1. Is this a single-agent chatbot or a multi-agent system?
2. How many specialist agents does the product include?
3. Which LLM powers the agents?
4. Is voice latency under 1 second?
5. How do handoffs between agents work?
6. What happens when an agent can't handle a situation?
7. Is there a human escalation path?
8. Are conversation transcripts available?
9. How is state persisted across multi-turn conversations?
10. Can I customize agent behavior?

PMS Integration (11–20)

11. Does it integrate with my PMS (Opera / Mews / Cloudbeds / ASI / RoomRaccoon)?
12. Is the integration bi-directional?
13. Can the agent actually create reservations?
14. How does it handle rate parity?
15. Does it sync inventory in real time?
16. What happens when the PMS API is down?
17. How long does PMS integration take to set up?
18. What PMS data fields are accessible?
19. Can it handle multi-property portfolios?
20. Does it support custom PMS integrations?

Multilingual (21–28)

21. How many languages does it support natively?
22. Does it auto-detect the caller's language?
23. What's the quality difference across languages?
24. Does it handle regional dialects?
25. Can I configure per-language voice personas?
26. How does it handle code-switching (guest mixing languages)?
27. What's the latency in non-English languages?
28. Can it translate transcripts?

Compliance (29–38)

29. Is it GDPR compliant?
30. PCI DSS compliant for payment handling?
31. SOC 2 certified?
32. HIPAA compliant (for wellness properties)?
33. Where is data stored (US / EU / APAC residency)?
34. How long is call data retained?
35. Can guests opt out?
36. Is there a BAA for regulated industries?
37. How are transcripts secured?
38. Is there an audit trail for brand standards compliance?

Features (39–48)

39. Does it handle reservations end-to-end?
40. Can it issue mobile keys?
41. Does it integrate with door lock systems (Salto / Assa Abloy)?
42. Can it handle group sales RFPs?
43. Does it support upsell offers?
44. Can it coordinate housekeeping via voice?
45. Does it handle room service orders?
46. Can it run post-stay review calls?
47. Does it integrate with loyalty programs?
48. Can it handle emergency escalation?

Analytics (49–54)

49. What metrics does it report?
50. Is there a real-time dashboard?
51. Does it track sentiment?
52. Can I export data to BI tools?
53. Does it integrate with my CRM?
54. How is conversion attribution handled?

Pricing (55–60)

55. Is pricing flat or per-call / per-minute?
56. Are there setup fees?
57. What's included in each plan?
58. Are integrations extra?
59. Is there a pilot option?
60. What's the cancellation policy?

CallSphere's Answers

For reference, CallSphere answers all 60 questions positively:

• 11 specialist agents
• Native integrations with 8+ PMS platforms
• 57+ languages
• GDPR, PCI DSS, SOC 2 compliant
• Flat pricing ($149–$1,499/mo)
• 14-day pilot
• 30-second rollback switch

FAQ

Q: What should I do before asking these questions? A: Test the vendor's live demo first. If they don't have one, skip them.

Q: How long should vendor evaluation take? A: 2–3 weeks max.

Q: What's the single most important question? A: #2 — "How many specialist agents?" Single-agent products can't handle hotel complexity.

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Related: Hotel GM evaluation playbook | Hotel industry

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