Every voice agent demo is rehearsed. The way to compare properly isn't to listen to better conversations, it's to ask all vendors the same twelve questions and compare the answers in writing.
About the conversation
1. What happens when it doesn't understand?
Ask them to play you a call where the agent fails. If they have none recorded, they haven't examined that case — and it's the one that will happen most.
2. Can I hear real calls from a hotel like mine?
Real ones, not demos. A 40-room city hotel and a 300-room resort have entirely different conversations.
3. How do I change what it says?
If every tweak to a policy or an opening time needs a vendor ticket and three days, operations will always lag behind the hotel's reality.
About integration
4. Does it write to my PMS or only read?
The most important of the twelve. If the answer contains the words "task" or "notify reception", it isn't writing. We go into it in integrating a voice agent with your PMS.
5. Does it respect my sales restrictions?
Minimum stay, stop-sells, channel rates. Have them prove it with your configuration, not the sample one.
6. What does it do if the PMS goes down?
It should keep answering, collect details and flag the desk. Not hang up, and not confirm bookings that don't exist.
About the business case
7. What metrics will you give me?
At minimum: calls answered, resolved without handover, transferred, and bookings created. If the dashboard only says "calls handled", you won't be able to prove the return to anyone.
8. How do you define a resolved call?
Every vendor defines "resolved" their own way, and almost always in their favour. Get the exact definition before comparing percentages.
9. What happens at my seasonal peak?
If your volume triples in August, ask whether there's a cap on simultaneous calls and what exceeding it costs.
About the contract
10. How exactly is this billed?
Per minute, per call, per subscription, per booking created. And what counts as a call: including the two-second ones that hang up.
11. Who owns the recordings and transcripts?
This is your guests' data. Ask where it is stored, for how long, whether it trains models and how a deletion request is handled. It is also what your legal advisor will ask about when they review the AI Act.
12. What happens if I want to leave?
Notice period, number portability, and whether you take your configuration and history with you. Asking at the start is far cheaper than asking at the end.
The test worth more than the twelve
If you can do only one thing, do this: call another of the vendor's customers yourself, unannounced, at 9 p.m. on a Friday.
Ask for something that isn't a clean booking. Change your mind halfway. Ask about something that isn't on the website. Speak with background noise.
That will tell you more in five minutes than any presentation — and it's why question 2, hearing real calls, is the one that meets the most resistance.
Frequently asked questions
How many vendors should I compare?
Three is usually enough to calibrate price and maturity. Beyond five you stretch the decision without gaining information, because the answers start repeating.
Is a pilot worth running?
Yes, and what matters is agreeing beforehand what gets measured and for how long. A pilot with no success criterion turns into an argument about impressions.
Is a hospitality-specific vendor better?
For a hotel, usually yes: the difference isn't the voice technology but whether they understand what a minimum stay or a half-board rate is without you explaining it.
Before the first meeting
Bring the twelve questions written down and ask for the answers in writing. It's awkward the first time and it saves months.
If you want the context before comparing, start with what a voice agent does and doesn't do and with AI for hotels.
