What is an AI agent? A plain guide for shop owners
An AI agent is software that understands a request and then does something about it. For a shop, that means answering the guest and finishing the job: the order, the booking, the handover.
An AI agent in one sentence
A chatbot answers. An AI agent answers and acts. It reads what the guest wrote, looks up your real information, and uses the tools you allow: add a dish to the basket, book a time slot, pass the chat to your staff.
Examples from a normal day
- Restaurant: a guest asks in Russian if the garlic prawns are spicy, then orders two for pickup.
- Beach club: a guest asks in Chinese about the minimum spend for a front-row bed and books it for Saturday.
- Spa: a guest wants a 90-minute oil massage for two tomorrow at 3 pm. The agent checks your slots and books it.
- Gym: a visitor asks the weekly Muay Thai price and books a trial class.
- Hotel: at 11 pm a guest asks what time breakfast starts and orders room service.
What it can and cannot do
- It can answer from your own menu, hours, prices and rules, day and night.
- It can take orders and bookings, in Thai, English, Chinese and Russian.
- It does not invent prices or discounts you have not approved.
- It does not know what you have not told it, so keep your information current.
- It does not replace your staff. It takes the repeat questions so they can look after guests.
What to check before you buy one
- Does it answer from my own information, or guess?
- Can it take the order or booking, or only talk?
- What happens when it does not know the answer?
- Which languages does it reply in?
- What does it cost when I get busy? Ask about message limits.
What it costs to run
Agents are usually priced by the month with a message allowance. Ours start from ฿2,490 a month with 2,000 AI messages, after a one-time setup from ฿24,900. Extra messages are ฿500 per 1,000.