Google My Business and AI: Automatically Answering Questions and Reviews

For most hospitality businesses, the Google Business Profile is the first point of contact with a new guest. Someone searches for a dish, a neighbourhood or a type of venue, finds your listing, checks the reviews and often asks a quick question before making a reservation or walking in. What happens next determines whether that person becomes a customer. AI Google My Business for hospitality lifts this first contact moment out of the owner’s inbox and adds an automated, personal layer. In this article we explain how it works, what you need to arrange beforehand and what you should not promise to guests. We use figures from Statista hospitality, KHN and the official Google Business Profile support.

Why AI Google My Business for hospitality is more than a gimmick

Anyone who runs a hospitality business knows that the Google Business Profile rarely gets top priority. Notifications arrive scattered, questions get forgotten, and reviews receive a short reply days later or none at all. The issue is not that owners are indifferent, but that there is simply no fixed moment for it. AI Google My Business for hospitality solves this by continuously reading, classifying and answering all messages and reviews according to your own tone guidelines. According to Statista hospitality, more than seventy per cent of Dutch consumers expect a hospitality business to respond to a review within 24 hours. AI easily meets that timeframe.

What AI Google My Business for hospitality actually does

In practice there are three types of interactions. One: questions on your profile ("are you dog-friendly?", "do you have gluten-free pizza?"). Two: direct messages ("can I still get a table for four tonight?"). Three: reviews, both positive and negative. AI treats the first two as conversational interactions and the third as formal communication with a different tone. This means an answer to a question sounds spontaneous, while a response to a review is professional and respectful.

Which questions AI handles itself

AI can answer factual questions on its own: opening hours, parking options, whether there is a vegetarian menu, whether dogs are allowed, whether you offer gluten-free options, whether there is a terrace and how many seats it has. These answers come from a knowledge base that you approve in advance. If someone asks about a specific dish that is not on your menu, AI honestly says it will check with the kitchen and forwards the message to your team.

When AI should involve a human

Four situations are always handled by people. One: complaints about a previous visit with emotional weight. Two: questions about food allergies with a medical context. Three: reservation requests for large groups from around ten people. Four: business enquiries for catering or private events. AI recognises these signals and hands the conversation over to the owner or manager with the full context, so the guest does not need to explain the situation again.

Automatically replying to reviews without sounding robotic

The challenge with replying to reviews is balance. A reply that is too short feels indifferent, while a long reply feels like a template. AI Google My Business for hospitality works with three templates that you approve: one for five‑star reviews (short, warm, thank you), one for three- or four‑star reviews (thank you, briefly address criticism, invite the guest to return), and one for negative reviews (apology, no defensiveness, offer personal contact). AI personalises within these templates using the name, date and specific points from the review. For reviews with a score of two stars or lower, AI always waits for human approval before publishing the reply.

Tip: set AI to "draft mode" for the first two weeks so that all review replies come to you first before they are posted. After two weeks the AI understands your tone and you can safely auto‑publish replies to five‑, four‑ and three‑star reviews.

What AI Google My Business for hospitality should not do

AI should not make promises you cannot keep. That means no "guaranteeing" specific dishes for tonight, no offering discounts that are not in your promotion matrix, and no confirming reservations without checking availability. That may sound obvious, but in our experience it goes wrong when teams give AI too much autonomy in the first weeks. Stick to factual information and warm handovers.

Practical example: a gastropub in a residential neighbourhood

A gastropub in a residential neighbourhood in Utrecht uses AI Google My Business for hospitality for reviews and direct questions. Previously, the owner replied to all reviews of the week on Sunday afternoon, often with replies that were too short because it took time. Now every five‑star review receives a personal reply by name within an hour, every three‑star review includes a question about what could have been better, and every negative review receives an offer for personal contact within two hours. The local visibility signal on Google Maps measurably improved within six weeks, with a higher share in the local top three for nearby searches.

How to measure the results

Three numbers matter. One: the average response time to questions and reviews (target: under two hours). Two: the share of positive reviews in the past 90 days compared with before. Three: the number of direct messages that lead to a reservation, measured via a recognisable action code. AI provides these figures in a weekly overview without you having to export anything yourself.

GDPR, the AI Act and transparency

According to the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the European AI Act, guests must know that they are communicating with an AI system. In practice you do this with a short line under each message: "Answered with AI on behalf of [venue name]". It sounds transparent and in our experience has no negative impact on trust—quite the opposite.

How this fits into a broader AI layer

AI Google My Business for hospitality is not a standalone solution but part of a broader whole. The same knowledge base that AI uses for your Business Profile is also used for the AI chatbot solution on your website and the AI phone solution for incoming calls. This ensures guests receive the same answer across every channel, in the same tone, and your team only needs to record information once. The complete guide to hospitality automation describes this structure in detail.

Getting started with HorecaHub

Want to know whether a connection with your Business Profile is feasible and what the setup would look like in your situation? Read our complete guide to hospitality automation, view the AI chatbot solution and the AI phone solution, check the pricing or get in touch to explore, without obligation, what is technically possible in your situation.