Is it better to hire a part-time front desk employee instead of using an AI receptionist?

For Fitness Studios

They solve different problems, and most studios end up needing both, just in a smaller staffing footprint than they'd otherwise carry. A part-time front desk employee costs $15-20/hour in most markets; covering even a modest 25 hours/week of dedicated phone and desk coverage runs $1,500-$2,000/month before payroll tax and any benefits, and that person still can't be in two places at once during a class check-in rush, still calls in sick, and still isn't there at 11pm when the highest-intent trial-class calls come in. Voksha at $99/month (Premium) covers unlimited hours of phone answering, including the exact overnight and rush-hour windows where staffing gaps hurt most, for roughly 5% of the cost of a part-time hire. The right comparison isn't "AI receptionist vs. front desk staff", it's "AI receptionist covering the phone vs. staff covering the phone", freeing your actual front desk hours to be spent on the floor: greeting members, managing check-ins, running retail sales, and having the sales conversations that convert trial visitors face-to-face, which is work an AI genuinely can't replace. Studios that try to have a human answer 100% of calls typically either overstaff (expensive, and idle during slow midday hours) or accept gaps during rushes and after hours (which is where the trial-lead leakage happens). The most economically efficient setup for a single studio is usually a smaller, well-trained front desk team focused on in-person member experience, with Voksha as the phone safety net covering everything they can't get to.