Hostie
Virtual concierge for restaurants: AI phone, text and email that keeps hospitality from ever going unanswered.
By Hostie AI, Inc. · 4.2/5 Value-Position score (estimate)
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Independent restaurants that miss calls during service and lose reservations
- Full-service restaurants taking both reservations and takeout by phone or text
- Small hospitality groups that need cross-booking between locations
- Operators wanting guest communication in one platform across call, text, email and Instagram/Maps messaging
- Teams serving multilingual guests who need coverage in about 20 languages
Ideal size: 1–20 locations people · Independent restaurant or growing hospitality group with high call volume
Not for
- Hotels, venues and non-restaurant hospitality businesses
- Concepts that want a full POS, reservation or table-management system rather than a communication layer
- Operators who insist on fully human concierge service for every guest touchpoint
- Buyers who require published, self-serve list pricing before a demo
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
1–2 weeks
~14 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
On request
Three tiers (Essential, Premium, Hospitality Plus) priced per restaurant; no public list prices, plans are quoted through sales or a demo; free trial offered.
Implementation Friction
2/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Value-Position score
out of 5 · model estimate
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
Priced by plan/location rather than seats; no published minimums or seat counts.
Add-on costs
- None
Company & support
Who is behind Hostie, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- Not recorded
- Headquarters
- Not recorded
How you get support
- PhoneNot listed
- EmailNot listed
- Live chatNot listed
- Support portal / ticketsNot listed
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsNot listed
- Dedicated account managerNot listed
- In person / on-siteNot listed
- Hours
- 24/7
- Response time
- Not stated
24/7 support is listed on the Premium plan and above; Hospitality Plus adds white-glove personalized onboarding and enhanced support, and the vendor markets always-on support from experienced restaurant operators. Channels are not specified on the pages reviewed.
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where Hostie sits against its closest alternatives. Pick any two of cost, speed, friction and buyer score, and up to 9 companies to compare.
Quadrant view
Typical annual cost × Time-to-value
The lines cross at the median of the solutions shown, so about half sit on each side of each line.
Companies on the chart 6 / 10
- Hostie
- Zenchef
- Checkmate
- Incentivio
- Lunchbox
- Ovation
Add or change companies
Up to 10 companies including Hostie. Listed closest first.
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What Hostie ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
AI features shipped
Sources describe an AI voice and text concierge that answers guest calls, texts and emails in the restaurant's own voice, with custom prompts, live transcripts and about 20 languages. The pricing page also lists AI-powered cross-location booking recommendations. No source names the underlying model providers, says whether customer data trains models, or explains how AI usage is billed.
Your data & models
- Trains on your data
- Not recorded — ask the vendor
- Runs on
- Not recorded
- AI pricing
- Not recorded
In your ecosystem
- AI connection
- Not supported
- Model key
- Not recorded
- AI usage audit
- Not recorded
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
Hostie is a virtual concierge for restaurants: an AI phone, text and email answering service that picks up every guest call in the restaurant's own voice, books reservations, takes takeout orders and captures event enquiries. Built by operators, it targets independents and hospitality groups with live transcripts, roughly 20 languages and 24/7 support on higher plans. Onboarding is fast and three tiers (Essential, Premium, Hospitality Plus) are quoted through sales rather than published.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does Hostie do for a restaurant?
Hostie answers every inbound call, text and email in the restaurant's own voice, using custom prompts. It can book and modify reservations through integrations, take takeout orders, send menu and booking links, and reply across Instagram and Google Maps messaging. Staff can follow live transcripts and step into a conversation at any time, and the operator app alerts them to revenue and guest updates.
Will Hostie replace my host stand or my reservation system?
No. Hostie positions itself as a communication layer that complements the team so staff can focus on guests in the room rather than the ringing phone. Full reservation integrations come with the Premium plan; takeout ordering is also a Premium feature, and event-management integrations arrive on Hospitality Plus. Your existing reservation platform is integrated, not replaced.
How is Hostie priced and what does it cost?
Hostie sells three plans: Essential for walk-in restaurants needing reliable answering and follow-ups, Premium for full-service restaurants with reservations and takeout, and Hospitality Plus for groups needing outreach, cross-booking and white-glove onboarding. The pricing page does not publish list prices; plans are quoted after a demo, and a free trial plus a live demo restaurant are offered, so buyers should expect a sales conversation before committing.
How long does it take to get live?
The vendor markets quick setup and fast onboarding, with plan tiers that progressively add customization: standard prompts on Essential, premium prompts said to handle 85%+ of guest inquiries on Premium, and unlimited prompts with personalized onboarding on Hospitality Plus. There is no published implementation fee, so a realistic expectation is roughly one to two weeks to production coverage once prompts and integrations are configured.
Does Hostie support guests who don't speak English?
Yes. Multilingual coverage across about 20 languages is listed as a Premium feature, and Hostie publishes a case study on a restaurant using its multilingual capabilities to serve a diverse clientele. This matters for tourist-heavy and international markets where missed-language calls become lost covers.
What security, privacy or AI-governance assurances are documented?
The pages reviewed include a privacy policy and cookie policy but no security or trust page, and no SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP or ISO 42001 claims are stated. The vendor does emphasise data ownership and complete visibility into guest history. Buyers with strict compliance requirements should request a security questionnaire directly rather than relying on published certifications.