How Sandpiper Beacon Used AI Voice to Clear the Line, Not Replace its People

The family is the product

Sandpiper Beacon has been run by the same family for 75 years, with JD as the third generation. Along the beach, most properties are now owned by big franchises. Sandpiper sells something different: a nostalgic, family beach vacation where the owners are at the desk every day. As JD puts it, guests get "a very hands-on, one-on-one atmosphere."

That touch extends to the phones. Keri, the front desk supervisor, has been at Sandpiper for almost 17 years. Some of her colleagues have been there for 25. Guests from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and across the Southeast call to ask which room has the best view, or which room type suits their family. They expect someone who knows.

Summer on the phones

For most of its history, Sandpiper ran on pen and paper. Calls went into a queue, and the next available person at the desk picked up. In the off-season that worked fine. In summer, the hold queue could reach 100 callers or more. There was no voicemail. A guest who gave up might get a callback two hours later and not answer. A family driving into town who wanted a room that night might simply book somewhere else.

Keri felt it at the desk. On busy summer days, one person was pulled off the desk just to answer the phone, while everyone else juggled guests checking in. "You get pulled both directions."

The worry: a bad AI phone system

When Akia asked Sandpiper to try AI Voice, JD said yes, with concern. He'd been on the other end of bad AI phone systems himself. "I'm just like, can I please speak to someone?"

He couldn't let his own guests feel that way: "It needs to be easy, not hard." His bigger worry was losing what makes Sandpiper different. Guests come for a mom-and-pop feel, not a corporate one. Keri was curious, but skeptical: with so many room types and amenities, how would an AI know what she knew?

The fix: let AI take the first ring

JD's answer was to make AI Voice the front door rather than the whole house. Every call to the main number now reaches AI Voice, which the team named Alice. Alice answers the easy questions herself. Everything else goes to the right place: the front desk, reservations, beach service or one of the restaurants on site. If a guest needs towels or maintenance, Alice creates the request for the team. JD calls AI Voice step one, "a gate that sends them to the people in the hotel."

The setup was trial and error. At first, Alice handled only simple questions, like check-in time and the pet fee, and transferred everything else. JD watched the calls, spotted paths he hadn't planned for, and expanded what she could answer. Reservations make up 37% of calls, general information 26% and check-in questions 18%. Alice now handles much of that on her own.

Booking calls followed the same path. JD turned on booking links at the end of July, so Alice could send callers a link to book on the spot instead of putting them in a queue. Now about 1 in 5 callers who ask about availability get a booking link during the call, and 62% of booking calls need no staff at all.

What changed at the desk

The summer call backlog dropped. The calls that still reach Keri are the ones that should: return guests who want a specific room, winter regulars who like to chat, and guests with a problem that needs a manager. Before she picks up, she skims the call transcript to see what the guest already asked. "If the feature's there to know what I'm walking into, why would I not use it?"

Not every guest is a convert, and that's fine

Guest reactions have been mixed, and JD is open about it. Younger guests love it. Some older guests would rather talk to Keri, and there have been a few bad reviews among many more good ones. JD doesn't see that as a problem. "That's fine," he says. "We love that."

That's the point of the setup. Guests who want a person still reach one, faster than before.

Advice for other owners

JD's advice is to treat AI Voice like a new hire. It needs to be taught about your property. Once it's set up right, he says, it works flawlessly.

Keri's advice to other front desk teams is shorter: "Don't be scared. See what it's got."