AI receptionist in Houston
Houston is a long drive from everything, so it asks before it goes.
Belline answers your website, a WhatsApp number of its own and the phone you already have, from your own hours, prices and rules, and takes requests for your team to confirm. Pick your trade below - each page is about that trade specifically.
Answers in English.
Houston
What a phone line here is like.
Houston is a city you cross by car, so a customer asks before they set out: are you open, where exactly, how long will it take. The practices around the Texas Medical Center and the salons in Montrose and the Heights are rung by people calling from a car, a lunch break or a long commute home. When a storm floods the roads the questions all become one - are you open - and the business that can answer it the same hour keeps the appointments that would otherwise be lost.
Languages on the line
English and Spanish, with Vietnamese, Chinese, Hindi and Urdu all widely spoken in different parts of one of the country's most varied cities. Belline answers in English.
The working week
Monday to Friday for offices, with energy, medical and port businesses starting early, and a full Saturday for consumer businesses. Houston runs on Central Time, and its evenings run long in summer because many people avoid the afternoon heat.
When it rings
Early morning before the heat, lunchtime, and the evening after the long drive home. Because so many people commute a long way, the calls come in clusters in the half hours around a drive rather than across the day.
How people get in touch
Houston is spread out, and customers choose a business by how far it is from their home or their work as much as by its name. The first practical questions are where it is, how to get there and when it is open, and storms and street flooding can close a whole area at short notice.
By trade
Written up for Houston.
Hair & beauty salons
Nobody has a free hand.
Dental clinics
Surgery time is not phone time.
Practicalities
Your number, your clock.
Keep the Houston number you already have - on your door, your listings and your receipts - and forward to Belline only the calls nobody picks up. New accounts here start on America/Chicago time, and the clocks move twice a year, so a forwarding rule set on the clock keeps doing the right thing through both halves of the year.
Wherever in Houston you are, the setup is the same: one setting on the line you already have, and nothing printed on your door changes.
Pricing
Per location, per month.
The same prices as everywhere else in the United States. No setup fee, no per-call charge.
- No per-user fees
- No per-message fees
- No AI surcharge
Every plan includes
- One location
- Books appointments, or takes the request for your team
- Your team can take over any chat from the inbox
Starter
For a small business that wants every enquiry answered.
- 100 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 40 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Up to 2 users on your dashboard
- Keep your number - forward it to Belline
- Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies
- Summary and full transcript of every call and chat
- Your own words and colours on the website buttons
Growth
For a team that wants urgent calls put through live, and its own rules for what Belline may decide.
- 250 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 100 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 600 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Up to 5 users on your dashboard
- Puts urgent calls through to your team, live
- Your own rules about what it may and may not decide
- Restore earlier settings any time
Scale
For higher-volume teams with more complex reception rules.
- 500 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 200 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 1,500 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Everything in Growth, plus:
- Up to 15 users on your dashboard
- Priority support
Only need website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram?
WhatsApp Receptionist
$39 per location, per month Billed monthly. Cancel anytime.
For a business that wants every WhatsApp and Instagram message and website chat answered. 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. No phone line and no voice button - add those any time with Starter.
- Answers WhatsApp, Instagram and your website chat from your own hours, prices and policies
- Text only: WhatsApp, Instagram and website chat, with no phone line and no voice button
- Answers on a second WhatsApp number you register yourself
Compare the plans
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price a month, per location | $69 | $139 | $279 |
| Voice minutes a month | 100 | 250 | 500 |
| Text conversations a month | 250 | 600 | 1,500 |
| Users on your dashboard | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Keep your number - forward it to Belline | Included | Included | Included |
| Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies | Included | Included | Included |
| Summary and full transcript of every call and chat | Included | Included | Included |
| Your own words and colours on the website buttons | Included | Included | Included |
| Puts urgent calls through to your team, live | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your own rules about what it may and may not decide | Not included | Included | Included |
| Restore earlier settings any time | Not included | Included | Included |
| Priority support | Not included | Not included | Included |
An answering service takes a message. Belline answers the question, takes the details and tells your team what to do next.
What counts as a minute
A minute is time Belline spends on a live call with your caller - on your phone line or through the voice button on your website - from the moment it answers to the moment the call ends, rounded up to the next whole minute. Calls you make from your own test console do not count, and neither do calls cut short by a fault on our side.
What counts as a conversation
A conversation is one customer's thread in your website chat, on WhatsApp or on Instagram in which Belline replies at least once. Everything that customer says in the 24 hours after Belline's first reply is the same conversation. Threads your team answers without Belline do not count.
When an allowance runs out
When an allowance runs out, you choose what happens: move up to the next plan, or stop at the allowance. We tell you at 70%, 90% and 100%. Nothing is ever added to your bill without you choosing it.
7 days free
7 days free: 30 voice or 12 video minutes and 50 text conversations, with your website chat, the voice button on the same page, WhatsApp and Instagram all switched on, plus your phone line where Belline has a line in your country. No card: nothing is charged unless you choose a plan, and on day 8 without one Belline pauses until you do. Standard onboarding is free.
