A customer calls to schedule an appointment, and no one answers. They call back and get sent to voicemail. On the third call, they get forwarded to someone, but it’s the wrong location, and the receptionist can’t help. Eventually, they give up and dial your competitor, who answers on the first ring.
That’s the reality for multi-location businesses without a coordinated call handling system. Missed calls don’t just represent missed opportunities and revenue they also mean customers actively choosing to do business elsewhere.
According to contact center software leader Nextiva, 65% of customers expect instant responses when they contact a business, but unfortunately, this doesn’t happen as often as businesses would like. So how do you answer every call immediately, route customers to the right location and person without frustrating transfers, and deliver a consistent experience whether they’re calling your busiest branch or your smallest satellite office?
An AI virtual receptionist can help multi-location businesses solve these challenges and capitalize on opportunities. In this guide, we’ll highlight:
- Why businesses need AI virtual receptionists in 2026
- What to look for in an AI virtual receptionist
- The best AI virtual receptionists for businesses
- The characteristics of a platform that can grow with your business
Why Businesses Need AI Virtual Receptionists in 2026
Multi-location businesses often struggle with logistical issues when managing hundreds of inbound calls: inconsistent customer experiences depending on which location answers, lost leads from unanswered calls, and increased staffing costs as businesses try to open new branches.
Customer service becomes a location lottery
For multi-location businesses, relying on traditional phone systems can lead to inconsistent customer service quality across locations. This leads to situations in which brands aren’t defined by the standards they set but rather by who answers the phone.
With each location handling its own phone system, inconsistent call handling practices can result from training differences, making it difficult to scale as businesses expand. Ultimately, customers have wildly different experiences, and the likelihood of them losing trust in the brand increases.
The unseen revenue leakage
Missed calls aren’t always problematic for businesses, but they usually represent missed opportunities. Multi-location businesses often miss calls during lunch, after hours, or when in-store staff are busy serving customers. These lost opportunities don’t necessarily show up in monthly profit-and-loss reports, but they often cause unseen revenue leaks that become impossible to fill.
The staffing trap multi-location businesses face
Multi-location businesses often consider simply hiring more staff to help answer the phones. However, when the training costs and high turnover of these roles add up, it becomes impossible to scale, and in many instances, multi-location businesses are unable to solve the staffing problem in the first place.
The solution to logistical challenges
AI virtual receptionists can address many logistical challenges multi-location businesses face by delivering consistent 24/7 service at scale, with tailored greetings and routing rules that match the brand. In fact, 94% of companies have seen a return on investment from customer experience (CX) technology like this.
With an AI virtual receptionist, multi-location businesses have access to an AI system that manages incoming calls and customer interactions. It uses AI to automatically answer business calls, providing callers with immediate assistance without human intervention.
An AI virtual receptionist also responds as if a receptionist were physically present, ensuring every call receives an instant response rather than going to voicemail.
Best AI Virtual Receptionists for Businesses for 2026
Choosing the best AI virtual receptionist for your multi-location business can be challenging when you factor in your current budget and resources. However, given that 67% of leaders say it’s easier to get buy-in for CX investments today, companies may have an easier time selecting from some of these leading solutions:
1) Smith.ai
Best For: Small to mid-sized businesses, law firms, and service-based companies looking for a reliable AI + human-powered virtual receptionist to handle calls, chats, and lead qualification without missing opportunities.
Smith.ai is a hybrid AI receptionist and virtual assistant platform designed to manage inbound calls, website chats, and SMS communications 24/7. The service answers calls in a friendly, professional manner, screens and qualifies leads, books appointments, and transfers only high-value calls to your team. Its combination of AI technology with live North America–based receptionists ensures accuracy, warmth, and consistency in customer interactions.
Beyond basic call answering, Smith.ai integrates seamlessly with popular CRMs, calendars, and practice management tools, making it especially popular among legal firms and service businesses. The platform captures detailed call summaries, intake information, and conversation transcripts, allowing teams to follow up faster and convert more leads. With flexible routing rules and spam call blocking, businesses can focus on growth while Smith.ai handles front-line communications.
Smith.ai is widely recognized for its ease of setup, transparent pricing, and excellent customer support. Thousands of businesses trust Smith.ai to act as an extension of their brand, and the platform consistently receives strong reviews for reliability and professionalism.
Key Features
- 24/7 virtual receptionist (AI + human agents)
- Call answering, live chat, and SMS support
- Lead qualification and intake forms
- Appointment scheduling and call routing
- CRM, calendar, and legal software integrations
- Spam and robocall blocking
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
2) Nextiva XBert AI
Best For: Businesses considering a well-rounded, easy-to-use AI receptionist solution with back-office automation and integrations without any technical setup.
Nextiva’s XBert is a top-rated AI receptionist that manages inbound calls, texts, and chats around the clock. The system greets callers, schedules appointments, and automatically qualifies leads, all while integrating directly with your CRM and calendar systems. Beyond basic call handling, Nextiva provides real-time call summaries and AI-powered transcription, enabling businesses to maximize all customer interactions.
Nextiva is renowned as a unified CX management and communications solution that improves how businesses communicate with customers. The platform is perfect for multi-location businesses, offering an AI receptionist and omnichannel capabilities in a single enterprise-grade solution.
Today, more than 100,000 businesses rely on Nextiva for their business communication needs and rate it 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot and an equally impressive 4.5 out of 5 rating on G2.
Key Features
- 24/7 answering service
- Intelligent call routing
- CRM integration
- Real-time call summaries and AI transcription
- AI auto attendants
G2 Rating: 4.5/5
3) Zoom Virtual Agent
Best For: AI concierge for Zoom Phone users with no-code setup
Zoom Virtual Agent uses agentic AI to handle customer support across voice and digital channels, understanding context and reasoning in complex requests to resolve issues autonomously. Natively integrated with Zoom Contact Center and Phone Service, it enables seamless transitions between AI and live agents while unifying all customer interactions into a continuously optimized journey.
Key Features
- Agentic AI
- Analytics dashboard
- CRM integration
G2 Rating: 4.5/5
4) Frontdesk (MyAI Frontdesk)
Best For: Affordable, entry-level AI receptionist with phone and text support
MyAI Frontdesk provides AI-powered receptionist solutions that automate check-ins, deliver real-time guest assistance, and streamline front office operations for businesses of all sizes. The platform seamlessly integrates with existing business systems to improve operational efficiency and security while reducing manual workload for reception staff.
Key Features
- SMS texting agent
- Automated outbound calls
- AI calendar and CRM
G2 Rating: 4.8/5
5) Dialzara
Best For: Real estate companies
Dialzara is an AI virtual receptionist that deploys lifelike AI agents to manage incoming calls around the clock, capture leads, answer inquiries, and sync with a CRM system. The service offers quick setup, customizable greetings, and scales to handle fluctuating call volumes.
Key Features
- AI-powered automation
- 24/7 availability
- CRM integration
G2 Rating: 4.5/5
6) Observe.AI
Best For: AI receptionist for contact centers
Observe.AI provides enterprises with an AI agent platform for automating customer interactions at scale. The system combines natural, conversational AI with predictable business outcomes, allowing companies to deploy intelligent agents that handle customer communications while maintaining consistency and control across all interactions.
Key Features
- Interactive voice response system
- Omnichannel support
- VoiceAI agents
G2 Rating: 4.6/5
What To Look for in an AI Virtual Receptionist
Multi-location enterprises considering an AI answering service should focus on a few key features to ensure they select a platform that improves CX while reducing lost opportunities and additional staffing costs. Here are the trending features to consider.
Location-specific greetings and call routing
No two locations are exactly the same in any multi-location business, with everything from hours to staff availability and even services potentially being different.
An AI virtual receptionist with location-specific greetings and call routing can provide customers with the correct information for their preferred location and ensure calls are routed to the right team, helping brands maintain a consistent, high-quality experience.
Centralized management and call logs
Leadership teams need access to a single dashboard to manage scripts, routing rules, and policies across all locations. This helps them uncover potential opportunities and also audit interactions for training or compliance purposes.
An AI receptionist solution with centralized management and call logging capabilities can provide this functionality.
CRM and calendar integration
An AI receptionist needs to answer incoming phone calls and connect to internal systems, such as CRMs and calendars, to book appointments, confirm availability, and ensure customer journeys remain connected.
Support for voice, SMS, and chat
While most customers simply pick up the phone to speak to someone, others may prefer text or chat support for certain interactions. Customers no longer interact through a single channel, yet they expect continuity across all channels, so an AI receptionist system needs to support this type of omnichannel flexibility with support for voice, SMS, and chat.
Multilingual support
Multi-location businesses often serve diverse markets and, as such, require multilingual support. Having an AI receptionist system with these features enables more customers to engage comfortably in their preferred language and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings.
AI-powered virtual receptionists also help businesses avoid potential compliance and safety risks and overreliance on bilingual staff members, which can lead to burnout.
Customizable scripts and fallback to human agents
AI receptionist software can handle many of the issues that customers face. However, to ensure their success, multi-location businesses need software that supports scripts that reflect brand voice, policies, and operational realities. Systems also need to provide customers with the option to escalate situations to human agents when the AI can’t handle them.
Easy onboarding and cost-effective scaling
Multi-location businesses can’t be held back by slow software implementation. An AI receptionist system needs to offer easy onboarding and the ability to scale cost-effectively, enabling a fast rollout across locations and minimal IT involvement as the business grows.
How Nextiva Helps Businesses Deliver the Ultimate CX
Nextiva’s AI receptionist software offers enterprise-grade AI auto-attendant tools built into a broader UCaaS platform. These capabilities make Nextiva not only perfect for AI receptionist needs but also a complete CX solution.
Some of the key features Nextiva offers include:
Smart call routing and location-based menus
Nextiva provides smart call routing that directs inbound calls to the correct location or team. It also includes the option to configure rules based on business hours, time zones, caller location, agent skills, and workload. For multi-location businesses, this means calls can be routed to the team members best equipped to handle them, whether that difference is based on time zone, language, or something else.
Omnichannel coverage (voice, SMS, chat, email, social)
Nextiva unifies all customer communication channels in a single platform. With Nextiva, voice calls, SMS, live chat, email, social media, and messaging apps all converge into one unified inbox with complete conversation history across channels. This gives customers the options they need and enables agents and team leaders to better manage interactions.
CRM and productivity app integrations
Nextiva integrates with popular CRM platforms and business tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Zoho, and Google Workspace.
Real-time analytics and performance dashboards
Nextiva provides comprehensive real-time and historical reporting with customizable dashboards and automated reporting. The platform tracks call volume, agent performance, customer sentiment, and operational efficiency across all locations. These analytics help businesses understand what’s working and what isn’t, enabling them to make adjustments to better serve different locations.
No-code setup for admins with no IT support needed
Nextiva is easy to set up via NextOS, allowing admins to build their AI receptionist system without technical skills or coding knowledge. Additionally, the interface is clean, modern, and accessible from any device.
Trusted by over 100,000 businesses and 1 million users
Nextiva is a leading CX platform and AI receptionist system because it’s trusted by so many, supporting over 1 million users and 100,000 businesses.
Choose a Platform That Grows With Your Locations
If you’re considering an AI-powered receptionist, you’ll find software equips your multi-location business with a modern, always-available answering solution that includes smart call routing, real-time integrations, and location-specific responses. This helps businesses solve persistent challenges, such as lost after-hours leads and inconsistent caller experiences across locations.
Multi-location businesses can’t afford missed calls or generic answering services that don’t know their locations’ schedules. The best AI receptionist isn’t a standalone tool but rather works across channels, integrates with your systems, and scales as you add more offices. Nextiva makes that possible in a single, streamlined platform.
