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Blogs · July 2026

Do guests mind talking to an AI?

Yes, quite a lot of them do. The honest evidence says so, and it should change how you use it, not whether you use it.

The short answer: yes, some of them do, and anyone selling you AI who says otherwise has not read the research. Deloitte found 61% of UK consumers are less inclined to engage once they know they are talking to a generative AI assistant. But that only matters if the alternative is a faster human reply, and at 9pm on a Saturday it is not. The real choice in hospitality is usually AI or voicemail, and guests hate voicemail more: 54% will not leave one. So the useful question is not whether guests are wary. It is where you put the machine and where you keep your people.

Start with the uncomfortable numbers

We are not going to cherry pick. Here is what the best UK evidence actually says.

What guests thinkFigureSource
Less inclined to engage if they know it is a generative AI assistant61%Deloitte UK, 2026
Britons nervous about AI products and services62% (vs 50% globally)Ipsos, 2026
Say human interaction is the most critical factor in their hospitality experience48%, up 19 points since 2023Zonal and CGA, 2026
Worry AI will replace personal contact when dealing with a venue39%CGA by NIQ, 2025
Reduced their use of a business after a bad AI experience65%Trustpilot and Cebr, 2025

That is not a rounding error. Guests are telling you plainly that they value the human bit and they are suspicious of the machine. Take it seriously.

But look at what they are actually being offered instead

The call that comes in at 8pm on a Saturday, while your team is on the floor and the phone rings behind the bar, does not get a warm human welcome. It gets a ringing tone.

And people do not wait. 54% will not leave a voicemail if they cannot get through. 35% say unanswered calls are their single biggest frustration when contacting a business. 38% would go elsewhere after a poor experience on the phone.

Nobody is choosing between a machine and a maitre d'. They are choosing between a machine and silence. The guest who minds talking to an AI minds being ignored considerably more.

What guests actually accept, and what they reject

This is the part worth pinning up. Deloitte asked what people are comfortable using AI for, and the answer depends entirely on the job:

  • 30% are comfortable using AI to cancel an order.
  • Only 11% are comfortable using AI to make a complaint.

Same technology. Wildly different tolerance. And in hospitality, 43% of guests have already engaged with a chatbot when contacting a venue or ordering, so this is not unfamiliar territory. They are not rejecting the tool. They are rejecting the tool in the wrong place.

The pattern is consistent. Guests will happily let a machine handle the simple, factual, transactional things: are you open on Sunday, do you have a table for four at eight, is there parking, do you do a gluten free menu, can I move my booking. They will not accept a machine when something has gone wrong, when they are upset, or when they need someone to use judgement.

The one thing they hate most

Being trapped.

Trustpilot's research names the number one frustration as AI replacing or delaying access to human help. Not the AI itself. The wall it puts between the guest and a person. And the cost is direct: 65% reduced their use of a business after a bad AI experience.

An older UK poll of consumer attitudes to chatbots put numbers on the failure modes, and they will be familiar to anyone who has ever shouted "speak to an agent" at a phone: 62% said chatbots cannot solve complex or specific issues, 51% said they never understand the request, and 50% said they are repetitive and run in circles. That research is from 2022 and describes the old scripted bots rather than today's systems, so treat it as a description of the failure mode, not the state of the art. The point stands regardless: the thing guests hate is the loop with no exit.

So tell them it is an AI

Do not try to pass it off as a person. Guests are asking for the opposite: 85% of Britons agree that products and services should have to disclose their use of AI. That is not a niche view, it is close to unanimous.

Which is why our agent introduces itself for what it is, every time. It is the honest thing to do, and the research says it is also the commercially sensible thing to do. What guests object to is not being told; it is being deceived, and being stuck.

What good looks like in a venue

  1. It answers, immediately, at the hour the guest called. That is the entire point. Silence is the competitor.
  2. It says what it is. No pretending.
  3. It only answers what it actually knows, from your own information: your menu, your allergens, your opening hours, your policies, your real availability.
  4. It hands over the moment a guest wants a person, or the moment it is out of its depth. No loops. No wall. A complaint reaches a human, because 11% comfort tells you everything about where that belongs.
  5. It leaves your people free for the guests in front of them, which is the part guests say they value most, and which is rising.

Get those five right and the wariness in the research stops being an objection to your product and becomes the specification for it.

The honest summary

Guests do mind talking to an AI. They mind being ignored more. And they mind being trapped by one most of all.

Use it where it beats silence. Keep your people where they beat a machine.

Frequently asked questions

Do customers dislike talking to AI?

Many are wary. Deloitte found 61% of UK consumers are less inclined to engage once they know they are dealing with a generative AI assistant, and Ipsos found 62% of Britons are nervous about AI products and services. Comfort depends heavily on the task: 30% are comfortable using AI to cancel an order, but only 11% to make a complaint.

Should we tell guests they are talking to an AI?

Yes. 85% of Britons agree that products and services should have to disclose their use of AI. Our agent introduces itself as one, every time.

Will an AI agent replace our front of house team?

No, and the research says it should not try. 48% of guests say human interaction is the most critical factor in their hospitality experience, and that figure has risen 19 points since 2023. The agent covers the calls and messages nobody could reach, so your team stays with the guests in front of them.

What happens if a guest wants to speak to a person?

They get one, immediately. The single biggest complaint about AI in customer service is it delaying or blocking access to human help, so that route is designed in rather than bolted on.

Sources

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