From Inbox Chaos to Instant Resolution: Flae Robotics Founder on Streamlining Guest Support

In the world of hospitality technology, Filip Linek, a pioneer, engages guests and streamlines the front desk. His company’s AI Hospitality Agent, BE-A, will terminate the traditional hotel front desk and transform it into a fully integrated and efficient hotel front office operating system. BE-A runs complex requests, performs tasks, and does real work, unlike traditional chatbots that only answer in a scripted manner. BE-A is built to answer complex requests and performs work across multiple channels. BE-A engages in email, WhatsApp, and OTA channels.

This interview shows the use of AI to improve the guest experience without ignoring the importance of people in the industry. Linek describes the ways BE-A adjusts to routine requests made by guests to modify bookings, answer guest questions, and input a lengthy group booking. BE-A integrates with major Property Management Systems (PMS) like Oracle and Mews, performs real-time updates, and dramatically decreases manual data entry with automated queries, thus decreasing the average time response per guest from hours to minutes.

Linek explains how using technology to automate tasks does not mean losing the services that make the guest experience special. One of the key functions of BE-A is to do up to 90% of routine digital guest communications. Automating digital guest communications enables back of the house staff to devote their time to the in-person engagement of guests. The interview gives the reader a glimpse of how technology can be used to help staff achieve better business outcomes such as increasing direct bookings and enhancing staff utilisation and guest satisfaction.

How does BE-A transcend the role of a basic chat or voice bot to function as a comprehensive “front-office operating system” for hotels?

The fundamental difference is that a traditional chatbot answers questions, while BE-A is designed to understand requests, make decisions and complete operational tasks. We describe it as an AI Hospitality Agent because its role goes far beyond providing scripted responses or directing guests to information on a website.
Hotels receive communication through a growing number of channels, often managed by different people and systems. A guest may send an email, call the hotel, write through WhatsApp or contact the property through an online travel agency. In many hotels, each channel creates a separate workflow for the front-desk or reservations team. Employees must identify the guest, understand the context, find the relevant information in the hotel’s systems and then perform the required action.
BE-A brings these interactions into one intelligent operational layer. It can communicate with guests through email, WhatsApp, telephone and OTA messaging while maintaining a consistent understanding of the hotel, its services and the context of the individual request. The objective is not simply to reply faster, but to move the request towards a complete resolution.
For example, when a guest wants to make, modify or cancel a reservation, a basic bot may provide a link or pass the conversation to an employee. BE-A can understand the guest’s intention, collect the required information and carry out the relevant reservation workflow through its connection with the hotel’s systems. It can also prepare offers for individual enquiries and corporate customers, process rooming lists for group stays and manage communication with guests during their stay through WhatsApp.
This ability to combine communication with action is what moves BE-A closer to a front-office operating layer rather than a standalone bot. It can support different stages of the guest journey—from the initial enquiry and booking process to pre-arrival communication and assistance during the stay. Because these interactions are connected, the guest does not have to start from the beginning every time they switch channels or contact the hotel with a follow-up request.
However, BE-A is not intended to replace a hotel’s Property Management System or every piece of existing technology. A more accurate way to describe its role is as an intelligent interface between guests, hotel employees and the systems that already run the property. The PMS remains an essential source of operational data, while BE-A makes that data and the associated workflows accessible through natural conversation.
The longer-term significance is that hotels can manage guest communication as one connected operation instead of a collection of separate inboxes, calls and manual tasks. Employees gain more capacity for situations that genuinely require human judgement, empathy or an in-person presence, while guests receive faster and more consistent service across channels.
That is our vision for the AI receptionist: not a bot that imitates isolated parts of a receptionist’s conversation, but a digital colleague capable of understanding context, coordinating systems and taking responsibility for completing a growing range of front-office tasks.

What specific, repetitive guest communication and operational tasks does BE-A take over to alleviate pressure on front-desk staff?

A significant part of front-desk work consists of necessary, high-volume communication that occurs repeatedly throughout the day. Guests ask about room availability, rates, check-in and check-out times, parking, breakfast, transportation and hotel services. Each interaction may take only a few minutes, but across email, telephone, WhatsApp and OTA messaging, the cumulative workload becomes substantial—particularly during peak arrival and departure periods.
BE-A takes responsibility for a significant share of day-to-day guest communication and the related operational workflows. This includes frequent, repetitive enquiries as well as more complex, multi-step requests. The objective is not simply to automate basic questions, but to support the guest throughout the journey and bring each request as close as possible to a complete resolution.
Before a booking is made, BE-A can answer questions about the hotel, its rooms, services, prices and current availability. It can then prepare an offer for an individual traveller, a group or a corporate customer. Instead of simply sending the guest to a booking page, BE-A can continue the conversation, understand the context and support the process through to the creation of a reservation.
Once a booking exists, BE-A can handle many of the administrative changes that commonly generate additional work for reservations and front-desk teams. It can modify or cancel a reservation, provide confirmation and send relevant pre-arrival communication. It can also process rooming lists, which is especially valuable for group bookings where employees would otherwise need to transfer and verify a considerable amount of information manually.
During the pre-arrival stage, BE-A can proactively provide practical information about check-in, parking, breakfast, transport options and other hotel services. This reduces the volume of recurring enquiries received by the front desk while giving guests the information they need at the right moment. Because BE-A can communicate in multiple languages, hotels can provide consistent support to international guests without depending on the language skills of the employee who happens to be on duty.
The same principle continues during the stay. Through WhatsApp, guests can ask questions, request additional towels, report a maintenance issue, arrange cleaning or enquire about a late check-out. Where the request requires action by a hotel employee, BE-A can identify the nature of the task, route it to the appropriate department and follow its progress. The guest therefore has one convenient point of contact, while the hotel receives a structured operational request rather than an unprocessed message that someone must manually interpret and forward.
BE-A can also identify relevant opportunities to offer additional services or a room upgrade. The aim is not to overwhelm guests with generic promotions, but to make appropriate services available within the natural context of the conversation. This can support additional revenue while improving the guest experience.
Importantly, automation does not mean that every interaction should be handled without human involvement. BE-A is designed to recognise when a request is sensitive, unusual or requires human judgement. In those situations, it transfers the conversation to an employee together with the relevant context, so the guest does not have to explain the entire issue again.
The operational benefit therefore extends beyond removing hundreds of small interruptions. BE-A takes over a meaningful share of guest communication—from informational enquiries and reservation management to multi-step requests during the stay. This gives front-desk employees more time for guests who are physically present and for situations in which personal attention creates the greatest value. The goal is not to remove hospitality professionals from the guest journey, but to relieve them of the communication and operational workload that prevents them from delivering genuine hospitality.

With BE-A managing front-desk reception, how does the platform balance automated efficiency with the warm, personalized touch critical to the hospitality industry?

We do not believe that automation and genuine hospitality are opposites. The real question is where technology creates value and where human presence remains essential. BE-A is designed to handle the volume, speed and consistency required in digital guest communication, while allowing hotel employees to devote more attention to situations in which empathy, judgement and personal interaction matter most.
Personalisation begins with context. BE-A can address the guest by name and work with relevant information connected to the guest’s request and reservation. It can understand whether the person is making an initial enquiry, preparing to arrive or already staying at the hotel. This makes the interaction more relevant than a generic chatbot conversation based on a fixed list of questions and answers.
For example, a guest asking about parking before arrival needs a different response from someone already at the property reporting a problem with their room. Similarly, a request to modify a reservation requires BE-A to understand the booking and the change being requested, rather than simply provide general information. The aim is to respond to the guest’s actual situation and move the request towards a resolution.
Speed is also an important part of a positive guest experience. A warm response loses much of its value if it arrives several hours later, particularly when a guest is travelling, trying to change a booking or needs assistance during a stay. BE-A can remain available across email, telephone, WhatsApp and OTA messaging, providing timely and consistent support even when front-desk employees are occupied with guests at the property.
However, we are very clear that AI should not pretend to be human. Guests are informed that they are communicating with an AI agent. We see transparency as an essential part of trust. The objective is not to deceive guests with artificial friendliness, but to provide useful, respectful and context-aware assistance.
There are also situations that should involve a person. A sensitive complaint, an emotionally charged interaction or an unusual request may require empathy, discretion or authority beyond what an automated system should exercise independently. BE-A can recognise these situations and transfer them to a hotel employee together with the relevant context. This means the employee can continue from where the AI interaction ended, and the guest does not have to repeat the entire story.
The most important contribution to hospitality may therefore happen away from the digital conversation. Front-desk employees are frequently interrupted by calls, emails and repeated questions while also trying to welcome guests standing in front of them. By taking responsibility for a meaningful share of this communication, BE-A gives the team more capacity to make eye contact, solve complex problems and create memorable personal experiences inside the hotel.
Our goal is not to automate warmth or manufacture empathy. It is to use AI where immediacy, consistency, language availability and operational efficiency are valuable, and to involve people where human understanding creates the greatest difference. In that model, technology does not remove the personal touch from hospitality—it helps hotel professionals deliver more of it where it matters most.

How seamlessly does BE-A integrate with existing Property Management Systems (PMS) to handle live room assignments, billing, and real-time updates?

Deep integration with a hotel’s existing technology is fundamental to BE-A. An AI agent cannot reliably complete operational tasks if it only has access to static information or if employees must manually transfer the outcome of every conversation into the Property Management System. For BE-A to act as a digital colleague, it needs to work with the same live operational data that hotel teams use.
BE-A is currently integrated with a range of leading hospitality technology platforms, including systems from Oracle Hospitality, Mews, Protel and D-EDGE, among others. Depending on the hotel’s technology environment, this may involve the PMS, the booking engine or other connected systems. These are direct, deep integration designed to support an active, two-way exchange of information rather than a superficial connection that only retrieves basic data.
Through these integration, BE-A can access current room availability, rates, reservation details and relevant guest profile information in real time. This enables it to answer questions and carry out reservation-related tasks based on the hotel’s actual operating data. If a guest asks about availability, requests a quotation or wants to change an existing booking, BE-A does not rely on a manually updated database or a predefined response. It checks the connected hotel system and works with the information available at that moment.
The connection is also transactional. BE-A can create, modify or cancel a reservation and write the change directly into the PMS. Updates are reflected immediately, which reduces duplicate work and avoids the delay and potential errors that arise when an employee has to copy information from an email, telephone call or WhatsApp conversation into another system.
At present, BE-A works with available room types and inventory, but it does not independently assign a guest to a specific room number. Automated room assignment is part of our future development direction. We believe it should only be introduced when the AI can take into account the operational factors that experienced hotel teams consider, rather than treating room assignment as a simple database action.
The same principle applies to billing. BE-A does not currently manage guest billing or final account settlement. This is an area we plan to address, but financial processes require particularly robust integration, clear permissions and appropriate safeguards. We prefer to be transparent about the current scope rather than describe a future capability as if it were already in operation.
Reliability also means knowing when not to proceed. If an integration is temporarily unavailable, the data is inconsistent or BE-A cannot verify that an action has been completed correctly, it does not guess or provide the guest with false confirmation. The case is transferred to a hotel employee with the available context so that it can be handled safely.
Our approach to integration is therefore based on three principles: real-time access to operational data, the ability to write confirmed actions back into the hotel’s systems, and a clear human fallback when the technology cannot complete a task reliably.
Ultimately, the quality of an AI hospitality agent depends not only on how naturally it communicates, but on how accurately it can interact with the systems that run the hotel. Conversation creates convenience, but deep integration is what turns that conversation into operational value.

What measurable impact does BE-A have on a hotel’s bottom line regarding reduced labor strain and minimized operational errors during peak hours

The financial impact of BE-A comes from a combination of lower operational pressure, faster response times, reduced dependence on manual processing and the ability to convert more enquiries into direct revenue. The exact result varies according to the size and type of hotel, its communication volume and its existing operating model, but we are seeing several consistent patterns across implementations.
BE-A typically resolves between 80 and 90 per cent of guest communication without requiring an employee to take over the interaction. For many hotels, this represents approximately 35 to 50 hours of work released every week. This does not simply reduce labour costs. It gives front-desk and reservations teams additional capacity during the periods when they are under the greatest pressure.
Response time is one of the clearest measurable improvements. In a traditional operating model, a guest enquiry may wait in an inbox for around three hours before an employee has time to respond. With BE-A, the average response time can fall to approximately three minutes. This difference is commercially significant because guests comparing several hotels are more likely to continue with the property that provides an accurate and relevant answer while their purchasing intention is still active.
The impact becomes particularly visible during peak periods. A human employee can realistically handle only one telephone call and a limited number of written conversations at once. BE-A can manage dozens of simultaneous requests across email, telephone, WhatsApp and OTA messaging. The quality and speed of service therefore do not have to deteriorate simply because many guests contact the hotel at the same time.
BE-A also helps reduce errors associated with manual work. Reservation teams regularly transfer information between emails, telephone conversations, rooming lists and hotel systems. Every manual step creates an opportunity for information to be missed, copied incorrectly or processed too late. Because BE-A works directly with live data from the PMS, booking engine and hotel knowledge base, confirmed actions can be written back into the relevant system immediately.
We do not position AI as infallible. If BE-A cannot find or verify the required information in the connected systems or knowledge base, it does not invent an answer. It transfers the request to a hotel employee with the available context. This controlled fallback is an important part of minimising operational risk.
The business impact is not limited to cost and efficiency. Our case studies indicate that BE-A can increase the volume of direct reservations by up to 30 per cent within several months. Faster responses help prevent valuable enquiries from being lost, while active cross-selling can generate additional revenue from services or upgrades relevant to the guest’s situation.
For hotels operating a central reservations department, this level of automation can reduce the required team capacity by as much as half, depending on the property portfolio and volume of enquiries. We see this primarily as an opportunity to operate more efficiently, manage growth without increasing headcount at the same rate and redirect employees towards higher-value activities.
Ultimately, the strongest return does not come from a single metric. It comes from combining 24/7 responsiveness, released employee capacity, fewer manual errors and higher conversion of direct enquiries. Together, these improvements create a front-office operation that is more scalable, more consistent and better equipped to perform during the hours when the hotel is under the greatest pressure.