Someone calls while you're with a customer and the phone rings out. Another asks your price on Instagram on a Sunday. Everyone's busy, so both wait, and one books elsewhere. Here's what each way of covering the front desk actually handles, what a receptionist earns in Singapore, and what to check before you pay for anything.
"Receptionist" covers several jobs. Most tools only do one or two of them. Start by naming the one that's costing you customers.
None of these is right for everyone. Here's what each one does and leaves you with.
Looking at WhatsApp only? Our WhatsApp auto reply and booking guide covers the free app, Meta's API pricing and bots in detail.
Free diagnosticWhere am I leaking revenue?Missed calls, reviews nobody asked for, a slow mobile site, a map listing that doesn't show. Checked for you.Run the leak diagnostic ↗30 seconds. No call.The official numbers, so you can compare like with like.
Ministry of Manpower, Occupational Wage Survey 2025, Table 1, "Median Monthly Basic and Gross Wages of Full-time Resident Employees in Common Occupations in All Industries, June 2025" (stats.mom.gov.sg), read 28 Oct 2026.
Most demos look good. These questions show what happens on a real Tuesday.
Answering people who wrote to you is the simple part. Here's what Singapore's regulators say about the rest.
PDPC, Advisory Guidelines on the Do Not Call Provisions (revised 1 February 2021); PDPC, Advisory Guidelines on Use of Personal Data in Generative AI (issued 20 July 2026), sections 4.2, 4.8, 9.1 and 9.3; IMDA, Transparency Guidelines for Generative AI Chatbots (published 20 July 2026). This is a summary, not legal advice.
Booked. answers every chat and message, gets the booking and only passes you the ones that need you. It's trained on your offers and the way you sell, not just your website.
Answered. picks up your phone when nobody else can: during a busy lunch, after closing, on public holidays. It answers from your prices and policies, books the slot and passes you only the calls that need you.
It's software that answers customer enquiries for a business, day or night. Some versions answer phone calls, others answer chats and messages, and the better ones book the appointment instead of only replying.
Yes. Answered. picks up your calls at any hour, answers from your prices and policies, and books into your calendar. Booked. is the chats side: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, your website and email. You can take one or both.
Usually not. A virtual receptionist is most often a remote team answering your phone in your business's name and passing on messages. Software that answers chats works around the clock, handles many conversations at once and can book inside the chat.
A receptionist answers and books, while a sales agent also follows up, handles "too expensive" and asks for the yes. Booked. does both in the chat: it answers, holds your price, chases the quiet ones and gets the booking or the deposit.
For the chats and the phone, it can take most of the load. For the counter, no. Many businesses keep their front desk person and let the chats get answered at lunch, after closing and on weekends, when nobody's free.
On chats, it can say so in the first message. On calls, Answered. can introduce itself as your booking assistant at the start. and if someone asks, it says it's your booking assistant and offers to pass them to a person. Singapore's IMDA guidelines on this are voluntary and encourage a short, clear statement at first use.
Yes, if you handle the data properly: tell people what their details are for, keep the chats safe, and don't send promotions to Singapore numbers without a DNC check or consent. Your business stays responsible even when a provider runs the tool. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Yes. Booked. offers the open slots, takes the name and confirms inside the chat. If you use a separate booking platform, tell us which one on the call and we'll confirm the fit before you commit.
It hands the chat to you or your staff with the full conversation and a one-line note on why. Complaints, medical questions and anything outside its brief are handed over by default.
Booked. is S$997 a month, month to month. Teams of one to five people can check if they qualify for a scholarship. Message usage is on top. Answered. has a set-up fee and a monthly fee, quoted on the 20-minute call once we've seen how many calls you get.
Yes, so you get a summary of every call and can check how it went. Callers should hear at the start what the recording is for, and we set that up with you.
No call, no card. Each one runs on your real business.