The problem
Enquiries about parking, dogs, late arrival, breakfast and group bookings arrive by email and message, usually from people ready to book. If a B&B gets 40 a month and each takes 7 minutes to answer, that's 280 minutes, about 4.7 hours a month.
What the AI does
Keep one fact sheet in plain bullets: check-in and out times, parking, dog and children policy, breakfast times and prices, cancellation terms and directions. For each enquiry, paste the question, without the sender's name, and the fact sheet into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for a reply using only those facts. You edit it and send it. If a question isn't in the sheet, answer it yourself. Questions about allergies, dietary needs or whether a dish contains an ingredient are answered by you or the cook, from your recipe and supplier records, never by an assistant.
A worked example
A 6-room B&B in Whitby gets about 40 enquiries a month by email and Facebook. The owner pastes each one in with the fact sheet, edits the draft and replies the same day.
Before
7 minutes per enquiry: 40 x 7 = 280 minutes, about 4.7 hours a month
After
About 3 minutes per enquiry: 120 minutes, 2 hours a month
What it's worth
About 2.7 hours a month saved (160 minutes), worth around £48 if your time is worth £18 an hour. The free plans of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can do this; a paid plan is up to about £20 a month for one person if you hit usage limits.
How to set it up
- Write your fact sheet: times, parking, pets, children, breakfast, cancellation terms and directions. Keep it current.
- Paste the enquiry, minus the sender's name, and the fact sheet into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for a reply using only those facts.
- Check every fact against the sheet and your diary, and delete anything extra.
- Answer allergy and dietary questions yourself, or pass them to the cook.
- Send from your own email and note any booking in your diary.
What goes wrong
- An assistant can invent policies, such as free parking or pets allowed. Check every line against the fact sheet.
- A quoted price or availability must match your booking system, so check it before you send.
- Don't paste names, emails or phone numbers of enquirers into consumer AI plans.
- Free plans have usage limits; answering a backlog in one sitting may hit them.