Answering Service for Landlords

When you are the one answering your rental line, calls go unanswered while you are at work, asleep, on a ladder, or showing a unit. With AllDayDesk, you forward your existing number to the service, and an AI receptionist answers using the details you saved about your rentals: your units, your availability, your application process, and your contact preferences.

A caller with a question about rent, parking, pets, or lease terms gets an answer drawn from your saved details. A caller who wants to see a unit can request an appointment, which is booked into your AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default once you have set up your services and availability. If you prefer, you can connect Google Calendar in Settings after connecting and authorizing your Google account.

When the caller asks something AllDayDesk does not know, such as a specific repair decision or a price you have not saved, it takes a message instead of guessing. Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings appear in your dashboard, so you can review messages and confirm appointments on your own schedule.

• Answers common questions from the business details you save
• Takes a detailed message when an answer or price is unknown
• Books viewing requests into the built-in dashboard calendar, or Google Calendar after you connect it
• Shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in one dashboard
• Keeps your existing phone number through call forwarding

AllDayDesk's setup asks for one business — yours — and its details. You enter your business or its website, review the information the service found, listen to a personalized sample so you can hear how it sounds, and then choose your phone setup option. None of those steps involve creating a company team structure, adding staff extensions, or configuring transfer rules routed to multiple employees. The sample call is a demonstration only and creates no real booking.

In day-to-day use, the service answers on your behalf, and anything that needs a decision comes back to you as a message in your dashboard. There is no internal routing to maintain because there is no one to route calls to besides you.

If you manage units for other owners or want calls routed to maintenance staff or different team members, that is a property-management-company workflow with different needs. See the property management page linked above for that larger setup.

You keep the phone number tenants already know and forward it to AllDayDesk. The exact steps depend on your carrier and even on which product you have with that carrier, so follow the guide for your specific service rather than a generic code.

As examples of how much the steps vary: Verizon mobile forwarding is activated from the phone with *72 plus the destination and turned off with *73, and those codes do not apply to Verizon business landline products. Optimum Business Phone uses *72 and *73 with a confirmation tone. AT&T Phone for Business uses *72 for all calls but different codes for busy and no-answer forwarding. Other carriers use account portals instead of star codes, and some plans restrict forwarding or charge per forwarded minute.

One service to note: Google does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so a Google Voice line cannot be forwarded to AllDayDesk.

• Forwarding steps depend on your carrier and your specific product with that carrier
• Confirm forwarding support and any per-minute charges with your carrier before relying on it
• Some carriers use star codes; others use an online account portal
• Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated system like AllDayDesk

AllDayDesk is an AI receptionist, not a person and not a property management platform. Knowing the limits helps you decide whether it fits your rentals.

It does not dispatch emergency repairs. If a tenant reports a burst pipe at 2 a.m., AllDayDesk takes a message with the details; it does not send a plumber. You decide how tenants should reach you for true emergencies and put that in your saved details or your voicemail greeting. Transfers to another number are possible only after you configure a destination and rules, and even then a pickup or immediate response is not guaranteed.

It does not collect sensitive information. Do not set it up to take payment details, bank information, or personal documents over the phone. It also does not connect to property management software, CRMs, or maintenance dispatch systems. The only external calendar it connects to is Google Calendar, optionally, after you authorize it in Settings.

Around-the-clock availability describes when the service is available to answer, not a promise that every call connects. Carrier forwarding has to work first, and forwarding itself can fail.

• No emergency dispatch or repair coordination
• No guaranteed transfer pickup; configure destinations and rules yourself
• No connections to property management software, CRMs, or dispatch tools
• No collection of payment or other sensitive details
• Availability is around the clock, but connection depends on your forwarding working

AllDayDesk pricing is displayed separately on this page's pricing section, and it is built at a small-business scale: monthly plans with an included pool of minutes and a per-minute rate for time beyond that. If your call volume is low — a few short questions or viewing requests a week — an entry plan's included minutes may be all you need. Check your own call history to estimate usage before choosing a plan.

For a concrete comparison point, Ruby, a human virtual receptionist service, advertises plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, while Smith.ai uses per-call pricing for its human receptionist service. Those starting prices are not complete comparisons; included allowances, overage rates, hours, and contract terms all differ, so verify details on any current quote. AllDayDesk is an AI service, so it is not a like-for-like substitute for a human receptionist, and the honest comparison is between an AI that answers from saved details and a person who can handle judgment calls.

• AllDayDesk plans include a monthly pool of minutes with a per-minute overage rate
• For example, Ruby advertises human receptionist plans starting at $245/month, and Smith.ai uses per-call pricing
• Compare included minutes, overage rates, and contract terms, not just starting prices

An answering service fits best when you miss calls you would rather not miss: evenings, weekends, and while you are hands-busy. If you have only one or two long-term tenants who text you directly, you may not need one. If you advertise vacancies, show units, or manage several rentals on the side of a full-time job, an unanswered call can mean an applicant who simply calls the next listing.

Ask yourself three questions. First, how many calls do you actually get in a week? Low volume makes an entry plan sufficient. Second, do callers need answers you can write down once, like pet policy, parking, and application steps? Those are exactly what saved details handle well. Third, do you want viewing requests booked automatically, or would you rather get a message and schedule yourself? AllDayDesk supports both, depending on how you set up your calendar.