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Hostie AI

ChatbotsFrom $199/mo per location

About

Restaurant-focused AI voice host for reservations, call handling, guest questions, and hospitality handoff workflows.

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Key Features

AI phone answering in the restaurant's voice with custom prompts for reservations, events, takeout, and guest questions - the vendor states 85% of questions are answered automatically with the remaining 15% seamlessly forwarded to a host.

Unlimited simultaneous call handling with no busy signals, so peak-hour call surges (Friday 7pm) never hit voicemail.

Unified guest communication inbox consolidating phone calls, texts, and emails (the homepage also mentions Instagram and Google Maps messaging) into one interface.

Real-time transparency and control: live conversation transcripts, monitoring from any device, and the ability for staff to jump into a conversation or auto-transfer calls to specific departments.

Reservation and POS integrations with OpenTable, Resy, Toast, and Square, plus event-management workflows (a Slanted Door Group testimonial describes Perfect Venue integration for large-party inquiries).

Native takeout ordering by phone and text (included from the $399 Premium plan).

Multilingual support in 20 languages (Premium plan) plus guest insights and reporting with restaurant-owned data and guest history.

Pricing

From $199/mo per location

Contact Hostie AI directly for detailed pricing information, custom plans, and enterprise quotes.

What is Hostie AI?

Hostie AI is a "virtual concierge" for restaurants: an AI voice host that answers phone calls in the restaurant's own voice and consolidates calls, texts, and emails into one platform, handling reservations, takeout orders, event inquiries, and guest questions while forwarding complex calls to staff. It was co-founded in San Francisco by Randall Hom (owner of the restaurant Back to Back) and Brendan Wood (engineering leader from Uber), and raised a $4M seed round in May 2025 led by Gradient Ventures, Google's AI fund.

It is aimed at independent full-service restaurants and multi-location hospitality groups - customers include Flour + Water, The Slanted Door Group, Tonchin, and Trader Vic's. Its differentiator versus generic AI answering services is restaurant-operator DNA plus deep reservation-stack integrations (OpenTable, Resy, Toast, Square).

Hostie AI pricing

Plan	Price	Notes
Essential	$199/mo per location	For walk-in restaurants: AI call answering, unified mobile platform for calls/texts/emails, guest links for menus/reservations/takeout, standard customization, live transcripts, operator app. Free trial available.
Premium (most popular)	$399/mo per location	Everything in Essential plus full reservation integrations, premium customization (handles 85%+ of inquiries), takeout ordering, 20 languages, 24/7 support.
Hospitality Plus	$599/mo per location	Everything in Premium plus hospitality-group cross-booking, enterprise conversation scoring, white-glove onboarding, event management integrations, marketing/text features. Enterprise solutions via sales demo. No setup f

Pricing verified July 2026 from the vendor website and public sources; plans and rates can change - confirm with the vendor before purchase.

Hostie AI pros and cons

Pros

+Built by restaurant operators for restaurants - G2 reviewers specifically praise that the founders 'understand the problems in the industry,' and one 2-year user called it 'a game changer'; G2 rating 4.5/5 (19 reviews, per CloudTalk's 2026 roundup).
+Consistency and staff relief: reviewers report the AI gives the same accurate answer on every call, freeing hosts to focus on in-person guests instead of the phone.
+Documented revenue results in vendor case studies: Burma Food Group reports a 141% boost in over-the-phone covers across three locations, The Slanted Door Group +56%, and a Rodizio Grill owner credits a fast AI response with a $2,300+ private-lunch booking.

Cons

−Requires ongoing maintenance: a G2 reviewer notes you must regularly review interactions and refine AI prompts, otherwise answer quality declines as menus, policies, and guest expectations change.
−Early-stage company: founded ~2024 with a $4M seed round (May 2025) and roughly 500K calls processed - competitor Slang AI's comparison (a biased but concrete source) claims Hostie lacks call recordings, CSAT collection, and SOC 2 compliance as of that writing.
−The full feature set (reservation integrations, takeout ordering, 20 languages) only starts at the $399/mo Premium tier - the $199 Essential plan omits reservation integrations - and CloudTalk notes it lacks outbound sales dialer capabilities found in broader communication platforms.

Top Hostie AI alternatives

Slang AI

The most established direct competitor (25M+ calls handled, G2 4.4/5 on 50+ reviews, from ~$379/mo) - better if you want a proven voice AI with a longer track record and more third-party reviews.

SoundHound Smart Answering

Enterprise voice-AI vendor with a low-cost answering tier (advertised from ~$30/mo for 200 calls) and full phone-ordering products - better for large chains or budget-first single locations, though implementation is geared to enterprise.

Certus AI

Restaurant phone-AI focused on completing live phone orders end-to-end - a fit for takeout/delivery-heavy operations where order capture matters more than reservation concierge workflows.

Hostie AI FAQ

How much does Hostie AI cost?

Three published plans, all per location per month (as of July 2026): Essential $199 (call answering + unified inbox), Premium $399 (adds reservation integrations, takeout ordering, 20 languages, 24/7 support), and Hospitality Plus $599 (adds group cross-booking, event integrations, white-glove onboarding). A free trial is offered and no setup fees are listed on the pricing page.

What does Hostie AI actually do for a restaurant?

It answers every phone call with a conversational AI trained on your restaurant's voice and policies, books reservations through OpenTable/Resy, captures takeout orders, answers guest questions (about 85% handled automatically per the vendor), and hands the rest to your host - while unifying calls, texts, and emails in one dashboard with live transcripts.

What are the main alternatives to Hostie AI?

Slang AI is the closest competitor (similar ~$379-399/mo price point, much larger call volume history), SoundHound Smart Answering is a cheaper enterprise-backed option, and Certus AI targets restaurants that need live phone-order completion. Hostie's edge is its restaurant-operator founding team and hospitality-group features like cross-booking.

Who is Hostie AI the best fit for?

Independent full-service restaurants and multi-location hospitality groups that miss calls during service and already run OpenTable, Resy, Toast, or Square - its marquee customers (Flour + Water, Slanted Door Group, Burma Food Group) fit that profile. It is less suited to operators who want outbound calling/sales features or who need an enterprise vendor with long compliance track records.

Pricing and feature details verified July 2026 from vendor websites and public review platforms. Adoption figures come from RestaurantTools.ai's scan of US restaurant websites and reflect detectable integrations only.