For salons & barbers
The receptionist who answers while your hands are busy
Your hands are full mid-cut — the phone shouldn't cost you the next booking. Ansela answers every call in your salon's own voice, books the appointment, and handles the reschedules and cancellations, 24/7.
The chair's full, and so is your voicemail
In a salon or a barber's, the phone always rings at the worst moment — mid-cut, mid-colour, hands full and a client in the chair. So it goes to voicemail, and the person calling to book, move or cancel simply rings the next place on the list.
Ansela is an AI phone receptionist for small businesses, by bookeasy.ai. She answers every inbound call in your salon's own voice — first ring, after hours, several at once, and never a voicemail. She learns your services, prices and opening hours from your website, so she can talk about a cut, a colour, a beard trim or a set of extensions like one of your own team.
Books, reschedules, cancels — the chair stays full
A salon diary is a living thing: someone's running late, someone wants to move to Saturday, someone's cancelling their four o'clock. Ansela handles all of it on the call.
She offers real availability from your diary and writes the appointment straight in — she doesn't just take a message and leave the booking to you. She reschedules and cancels the same way, and every caller is captured (name, number, what they wanted) into your CRM, so a no-answer never turns into a lost regular.
When someone asks for a stylist who's fully booked, or a service you don't offer, she does what a good front-of-house does: takes the details, tells them someone will be in touch, and logs it. Urgent calls she can put straight through. Run a nail bar or an aesthetics clinic too? The same receptionist works across the counter — see clinics & aesthetics.
A human answering service vs Ansela
A human answering service
- Charged per call or per minute at human rates — broadly 60p–£1.50/min across the UK market
- Often answers only within staffed hours, or just picks up your overflow
- Many simply take a message and pass it on — booking it in is still your job
- Some position hard on real people over AI — AnswerConnect explicitly on "real people, not automated voices", AllDayPA on "calls answered by a real person"
Ansela
- Flat monthly plans from £99 — bundled talk time works out at roughly 10p/min
- Always on: first ring, after hours, several calls at once, no voicemail
- Books, reschedules and cancels straight into your diary — not just a message
- Answers in your salon's own warm British voice, 24/7
Not sure she'll sound the part? You can listen to her first call yourself before she ever takes a real one.
What the alternatives cost
Most call-answering in the UK is done by people, at people prices. Here's the market, taken from each provider's own pricing — figures marked as estimates are third-party, not published rates.
| Service | Roughly | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Face For Business | from £49/mo | Human named PAs; entry "Taster" tier from £49 — evening/weekend cover and CRM integration only on the higher £115 Inclusive Minutes tier |
| AllDayPA | bespoke (est. ~£90–£210/mo + ~£1/min) | Its page states "pay per call or per minute, you choose"; no published fixed monthly tiers |
| AnswerConnect | ~$350–$575/mo | Human answering for just 200–400 minutes; positions on "real people, not automated voices" |
| Answer.co.uk | £2.20+VAT per call | PAYG human answering; its own AI Virtual Receptionist is priced at £10/mo + £0.85/call |
| Moneypenny | price not published | Well-known premium UK human telephone-answering service |
Human per-minute rates run broadly 60p–£1.50/min — around ten times Ansela's bundled rate of roughly 8–15p/min (about 10p). Estimates above are third-party, not the providers' published prices.
Ansela pricing
One flat monthly plan. Every plan includes setup, a UK number if you need one, and unlimited callers — minutes are talk time, and you can change or cancel anytime. Full detail on pricing.
| Starter | £99/mo | 1,000 mins — sole traders and single-chair shops; 15p/min after |
| Team | £279/mo | 3,000 mins — growing salons; adds transfer rules & business hours; 12p/min after |
| Scale | £499/mo | 5,000 mins — busy multi-chair salons; adds priority voice quality; 8p/min after |
Common questions
Does she really sound human?
Yes. Ansela is a natural, warm British voice — not a phone menu. She understands accents, interruptions and follow-up questions, and she knows your services, prices and hours. Before she ever takes a real call, you can listen to her first call yourself.
Can she handle cancellations and rebookings?
That's exactly what she's for. She offers real times from your diary and books, moves or cancels the appointment on the call — not just a message for you to action later. Every caller is logged into your CRM either way.
What if a client asks something she can't answer?
She does what a good receptionist does: takes the details, promises a callback, and logs it — and she can put urgent calls straight through to you or the team. Nothing is lost to voicemail.
Can I keep my salon's number?
Yes. Ansela keeps your existing number. If you'd prefer a fresh line, a UK number is provisioned for you.
What happens if we go over the included minutes?
You're never cut off. Extra talk time is billed per minute — 15p on Starter, 12p on Team, 8p on Scale — and you can move up a plan whenever it makes sense. See pricing for the full breakdown.
Do I have to move my whole booking system over?
No. Ansela is the front of a full CRM and booking platform, but you can start with just the phone and switch the rest on when you're ready — no migration. She's live in about ten minutes, with no card to try the setup.
Keep every chair booked.
Set Ansela up in about ten minutes — she keeps your number, there's no card to try the setup, and you can listen to her first call before she takes a real one.
Start your receptionist