March 2026 · 5 min read
If you've spent any time looking into AI automation for your business, you've probably noticed something: nobody tells you what it costs. Every website says "book a call" or "get a quote." Some don't mention money at all. That's not how I do things.
I publish my pricing because I think you deserve to know what you're getting into before you pick up the phone. So here it is — a full breakdown of what AI automation actually costs for a UK hospitality business, what affects the price, and how to work out whether it's worth it for you.
Every engagement starts the same way: Discovery first, then Implementation. You never commit to a build without knowing exactly what you're getting and what it costs.
Discovery costs £1,500, fixed. That covers a full process map of your operation, every automation opportunity ranked by return on investment, a technical specification, and a fixed-price quote for the build. It typically takes about a week. You keep the roadmap regardless of whether we go further.
Implementation ranges from £3,000 to £20,000 depending on complexity. A single-site restaurant automating booking enquiries and supplier ordering sits at the lower end. A multi-site hotel group wanting integrated scheduling, reporting, and customer communication across locations sits at the upper end. (See our full cost breakdown for a 3-site restaurant group.)
The Discovery fee is 100% refundable if we proceed to implementation. So if you go ahead with the build, you're effectively getting the roadmap for free.
The honest answer: complexity. But let me be specific about what that means for hospitality businesses.
| Factor | Lower cost | Higher cost |
|---|---|---|
| Number of sites | Single site | 3+ locations |
| Systems to connect | 1–2 (email + booking) | 5+ (POS, booking, suppliers, scheduling) |
| Channels | Email only | Email + web chat + SMS + social |
| Reporting | Weekly summary | Real-time dashboards + anomaly detection |
| AI sophistication | Rule-based | Context-aware AI agents |
Most hospitality SMEs fall somewhere in the £5,000–£12,000 range for implementation. That's not a conveniently vague estimate — it reflects the reality that a typical independent restaurant or small hotel group has 2–4 core processes that eat up management time, and automating those processes is a defined, scoped piece of work.
This is where a lot of AI companies get you. They build something, then charge you a monthly retainer forever.
I build systems you own. Once it's built and handed over, it's yours. There may be modest ongoing costs for the underlying tools — things like API usage for the AI models, hosting for any dashboards, or subscription fees for third-party integrations your system connects to. These typically run £50–£200 per month depending on volume and complexity. I'll tell you exactly what these are during Discovery, before you commit to anything.
If you want ongoing support, optimisation, or new features added later, that's available but never required.
Here's how I'd think about it if I were sitting where you are.
A restaurant manager or owner spending 15–20 hours a week on admin that could be automated is effectively paying £15,000–£25,000 a year in salary and opportunity cost for work that a system could handle. If the automation build costs £8,000 and saves 15 hours a week — as our own AI pipeline case study shows — it pays for itself in under six months and keeps saving every month after that.
Compare that to the alternative: hiring someone. A £25,000 salary actually costs you £35,000+ once you factor in employer's NI, pension contributions, training, management overhead, and the recruitment process itself. And that person can only work one shift. The automation works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and doesn't call in sick on a bank holiday weekend.
That doesn't mean automation is always the answer. Some processes genuinely need a human. Part of what Discovery does is tell you honestly which processes are worth automating and which aren't — I'm not going to sell you a £10,000 build to save you an hour a week.
Because vague pricing lets them charge whatever they think you'll pay. A "free consultation" where they learn your budget and then magically quote exactly that number isn't transparency — it's sales.
I publish my pricing because I've been on the buying side of this conversation. When I was running multi-site operations in London, I hated vendors who wouldn't give me a straight answer on cost. If you can't tell me what it costs, I can't plan for it, and I'm not going to waste a 30-minute call finding out you're three times my budget.
So there it is. Discovery: £1,500. Implementation: £3k–20k, most hospitality SMEs £5k–12k. You'll know the exact number before you commit to anything.
For a single-site restaurant, Discovery costs £1,500 (fixed) and implementation typically falls in the £3,000–£5,000 range for booking and communication automation. More complex builds involving supplier ordering, scheduling, and reporting can reach £8,000–£12,000. Monthly running costs are typically £50–£150 for the underlying AI services.
Discovery includes a full process map of your operation, every automation opportunity ranked by ROI, a technical specification for the recommended build, and a fixed-price quote for implementation. It takes about a week. You keep the roadmap regardless of whether you proceed, and the fee is 100% refundable if we go ahead with the build.
Yes, but they're modest. The systems I build use underlying AI services (API calls, hosting, integrations) that typically cost £50–£200 per month depending on usage volume. I'll tell you exactly what these costs are during Discovery, before you commit. There are no mandatory retainer fees — you own the system once it's built.
For most hospitality SMEs, well-targeted automation pays for itself within 3–6 months. A restaurant manager spending 15–20 hours a week on automatable admin is paying £15,000–£25,000 a year in salary and opportunity cost. An £8,000 build that reclaims those hours pays back within the first half of the year and keeps saving every month after.
Off-the-shelf tools (chatbots, booking platforms, scheduling apps) solve generic problems with generic solutions. Custom automation is built around your specific workflows, your existing systems, and your team's actual processes. It connects the tools you already use, automates the specific tasks that eat your time, and adapts to how your business actually operates — not how a software company thinks it should.
Book a free 30-minute call. No pressure, no "we'll get back to you with a quote." We'll map your processes and tell you the number.
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