The problem
Breakfast goes wrong when a guest's dietary need arrives by phone or email and never reaches the cook. If a guest house gets 55 bookings a month and each takes 5 minutes to ask guests, note answers and pass them on, that's 275 minutes, about 4.6 hours a month.
What the AI does
Make a Google Form for guests to complete before arrival: name, room and arrival date, dietary requirements, and any allergies, with a line saying the host will speak to them on arrival. Add the link to your confirmation message. Responses land in a Google Sheet. A two-step Zapier automation starts on each new form response and sends an email through Gmail to the person cooking breakfast. A person reads it, speaks to the guest, and checks any allergy against your own recipe and supplier records before serving. This is a way to pass information along, not to decide whether a dish is safe. The email is never a substitute for talking to the guest.
A worked example
An 8-room guest house in Keswick takes about 55 bookings a month. It adds the form link to every confirmation message and the cook checks the emails and the sheet each evening.
Before
5 minutes per booking to ask, note and pass on: 55 x 5 = 275 minutes, about 4.6 hours a month
After
About 1.5 minutes per booking to check the response: 83 minutes, about 1.4 hours a month
What it's worth
About 3.2 hours a month saved (192 minutes), worth around £48 if your time is worth £15 an hour. Zapier's Free plan allows two-step Zaps and 100 tasks a month; about 55 emails a month fits if each email counts as one task. Allergy answers can be health data, so use a Google Workspace business account, not a free one: Google Workspace Business Starter was €6.80 (about £6) per user a month excluding tax on Google's pricing page (workspace.google.com/intl/en_uk/pricing, checked 17 October 2026; the page showed euros, so check the sterling price at sign-up). The owner and the cook is two users, about £12 a month.
How to set it up
- Make a Google Form in a Google Workspace business account, not a free personal one, with room, arrival date, dietary requirements and allergies, and a line saying the host will speak to the guest.
- Add the link to your confirmation message and check responses go to a Google Sheet.
- In Zapier, start a Zap on each new form response and add one action: send a Gmail email to the cook with the response.
- Test with a dummy response and read the email as the cook would.
- Before every breakfast, the cook reads the guests' notes, speaks to any guest with an allergy, and checks your recipe and supplier records.
What goes wrong
- Allergy and dietary details can reveal health or religion, which UK GDPR treats as sensitive. A free Google account doesn't come with a business data processing agreement, so use Google Workspace, limit who sees the answers and delete old responses.
- A form answer isn't a check. Not every guest fills it in. Ask on arrival, too, and keep a way for guests to tell staff in person.
- Zapier can fail silently. Compare responses with emails sent every week, and make sure the cook has the sheet as a backup.
- Zapier's Free plan allows two-step Zaps and 100 tasks a month; busier houses may need Pro at $19.99 (about £15) a month on annual billing.