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Sector · Hospitality & travel

Hospitality & travel: AI answers the guest. Rates and refunds stay within your policy.

Early Customer Program

Last reviewed: 25 October 2026

At a hotel or a travel desk, small promises get expensive: a rate that is not on the list, an upgrade “on the house”, a refund outside the cancellation terms, a room confirmed that is not available, a package changed without its conditions. With Audact, an AI agent takes those calls (reservation questions, after-hours calls, call-backs the guest asked for, booking changes), and supported replies are checked against the business rules you set before the guest hears them. Rates, upgrades, refunds and package terms stay within your policy; anything outside it goes to a person you name, with the request already written down. The decision is recorded on a tamper-evident receipt.

What the law requires

A person interacting with an AI system must be told so, unless it is obvious from the circumstances.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Art. 50(1)
Breaching Article 50 carries a ceiling of €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover; for SMEs and start-ups it is the lower of the two.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Art. 99(4)(g) and Art. 99(6)
A traveller may terminate a package before it starts against an appropriate and justifiable termination fee, or without one where unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at or near the destination significantly affect it. Refunds are due within 14 days.
Directive (EU) 2015/2302, Art. 12(1), (2) and (4)
After a package is booked, its price may rise only where the contract allows it and only for set reasons; above 8%, or with a significant change to its main characteristics, the traveller may terminate without a fee.
Directive (EU) 2015/2302, Art. 10 and Art. 11(2)
Accommodation, catering and leisure services booked at a distance for a specific date carry no statutory right of withdrawal, so a cancellation follows the booking terms and national contract law.
Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 16(l)
In an invitation to book at a price, the price inclusive of taxes is material information, or the way it is calculated where it cannot be calculated in advance.
Directive 2005/29/EC, Art. 7(4)(c)
Information about a guest's allergy or disability can be data concerning health, a special category: processing it needs one of the grounds in Art. 9(2).
Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Art. 9(1) and 9(2)

What Audact does about it

Business rules checked before the guest hears the reply: a supported reply with a rate, an upgrade, a refund or a package term outside your policy is replaced by a fallback reply that promises nothing, patent-pending (UK IPO).
In controlled testing
The check covers supported replies and runs within an evaluation window. If it does not answer in time, the original reply is released unchanged and a FAIL_OPEN event records the miss.
In controlled testing
A hand-over to a person you name (reservations, the front desk or the duty manager), with the request and the booking details already taken.
In controlled testing
Call-backs the guest asked for: before the line opens, the call is checked against the consent and opt-out status you hold and the contact rules of that country.
In controlled testing · Germany: national policy layer active. Netherlands: in development. Belgium and Austria: planned.
The Article 50 disclosure at the start of the call, in the guest's language.
In controlled testing
A tamper-evident receipt per governed interaction: whether the reply was allowed, modified or blocked, with the input and the output as hashes. It carries an authentication code, not a signature.
Working today
The same business rules for AI chat replies, such as a booking chat on your website.
In controlled testing
The same business rules for what an AI-written email commits to, such as a reply to a booking request, before it is sent.
In controlled testing
Early Customer Program intake.
Netherlands and Flanders (BE): intake open. Germany and Austria: intake is a conversation and not a start date. Applications from Germany and Austria are welcome and answered, but onboarding there is not open yet.

The calls that cost money

Five things a guest will ask for, and an agent should not grant on its own.

“Can you do a better rate?” “Could you upgrade us?” “Can I cancel and get my money back?” “Can we move the package to next week?” “Is the kitchen nut-free?” A general-purpose assistant answers all five, because answering is what it is built for. A yes on the phone is a cost, a precedent or a risk your team did not choose.

With Audact, a supported reply is checked against your policy before it is spoken. Within it, the agent answers. Outside it, the guest hears a useful reply that promises nothing (“the rate for those dates is the one on our list, and I have passed your request to reservations”), and the request goes to the person you named. The guest gets an answer; you keep the rate.

Your rules

The business rules Audact checks before the guest hears a reply.

You set the rules; Audact checks the replies against them. A few examples for a hotel and a travel desk:

  • The guest asks
    Can you do a better rate?
    Your rule
    Only rates from your approved list; no ad-hoc discounts.
    What the guest hears
    “The rate for those dates is the one on our list. I can ask reservations to look at your request.”
  • The guest asks
    Could you upgrade us?
    Your rule
    Upgrades are decided by the front desk.
    What the guest hears
    “Upgrades are decided at the front desk. I have noted your request for them.”
  • The guest asks
    Can I cancel and get my money back?
    Your rule
    Refunds only as the booking terms state; goodwill is a manager's decision.
    What the guest hears
    “Your booking's terms set what is refunded. For anything beyond that, I will pass your request to our duty manager.”
  • The guest asks
    Can we move the package to next week?
    Your rule
    Changes to a package are confirmed by the travel team, any change in price in writing.
    What the guest hears
    “Our travel team confirms changes to a package, with any difference in price. I am passing your request on now.”
  • The guest asks
    Is the kitchen nut-free?
    Your rule
    Allergen and health questions go to a person.
    What the guest hears
    “Our kitchen team answers that for your booking. I will ask them to contact you.”

Illustrative rules. Your organisation sets its own; Audact checks the supported replies against them before they are spoken.

Where it pays off first

Four kinds of call to hand to AI first.

  • Reservation questions at peak times: rates from your approved list, policies, directions and facilities, with the request written down for your team.
  • After hours and across time zones: an answer within your rules instead of voicemail, and the request recorded for your team.
  • Call-backs the guest asked for, such as an enquiry from your website: the agent calls back, takes the details and passes the request to reservations.
  • Booking changes and cancellations: the agent explains what the booking terms say and passes the change to your team. Which of your systems the agent reaches is agreed per deployment.

What goes to a person

Where the agent hands over, by rule.

You decide where the line sits. A starting set for a hotel and a travel desk:

  • Any rate or discount not on your approved list, and every upgrade or complimentary extra.
  • Refunds, cancellations and goodwill gestures outside the booking terms.
  • Changes to the price or the main characteristics of a package.
  • Allergen, dietary and accessibility questions, noted for your team rather than answered by the agent.
  • Complaints, and any guest who asks for a person.

The record

A record of each decision, not a transcript.

Every check that answers in time leaves a receipt: whether the reply was allowed, modified or blocked, with the input and the output stored as hashes rather than words.

The receipt is tamper-evident. It shows that the record is intact: a later change or reordering is detectable by recomputation against a retained commitment. It carries an HMAC-SHA256 code under a symmetric key held by Audact, so whoever can check it can also produce it: an authentication code, not a signature. It does not establish who issued it, and whether the underlying event is true. Three of its values can be recomputed without a key: the input hash, the output hash and the hash of the preceding evidence event.

Whether a booking was changed or a refund was paid is for your reservation or payment system to confirm, not for the receipt. You can recompute a sample receipt in your own browser.

The law, in short

Article 50 already applies. The booking rules were there before the AI.

Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026: a guest who calls must be told they are speaking to an AI system. It is a transparency duty, not a ban.

Where you sell packages, the Package Travel Directive sets what may change after booking, and what a traveller gets back and when. For a room, a table or a leisure booking on a fixed date there is no statutory withdrawal right: the booking terms decide. A price offered to a guest has to be stated with taxes included. That is why an agent should not improvise on rates and refunds, and why your terms belong in its rules. General information, not legal advice.

Questions

Can the agent quote rates?
From the rates you approved for it, yes. A supported reply with a rate that is not on your list is replaced by a fallback reply before it is spoken, and the request goes to reservations.
What happens when a guest asks for a refund outside the policy?
The agent explains what the booking terms say, takes the request and passes it to the person you named. A supported reply that promises money back, a voucher or a goodwill gesture your rules do not cover is held back before it is spoken.
How do we start?
With one workflow, such as after-hours calls or booking changes, scoped and tested with you before production. The Early Customer Program is open to a limited number of external agencies. Terms and figures are in the price book.
Does a guest have to be told it is an AI?
Yes. Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026: the guest is told at the start of the call that they are speaking to an AI system. It is a transparency duty, not a ban; once the guest has been told, the call carries on.

The check sits between the draft and the guest

See how Governed Voice AI checks a supported reply against your rules before it is spoken, and what each call leaves behind.

See Governed Voice AI

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