Here's the thing about a viewing enquiry: it's only worth something if someone follows it up. So whatever answers your phone needs to capture which property the caller means, how to reach them and when they can view. Then it needs to leave your negotiator with a clear next step.
For that job, Sayora is worth trying: £49 a month for AI answering, unlimited minutes under fair use, and a summary for your team by text, email or both after the call. If a viewing has to be confirmed while the caller's still on the line, you'll want a service with access to your property diary. And tenant emergencies need their own route to someone who can act.
I'll walk you through the options, what 100 calls a month would cost with each and how to test them before you divert a single call.
A quick note before we start: Sayora is ours, so we're not a neutral party. The recommendations below use each provider's published features and prices, checked on 22 September 2026, and they aren't a ranking of call quality. The examples are illustrations.
Start with what needs to happen next
- Enquiries a negotiator will call back: Sayora. One fixed monthly bill and a useful handover, as long as someone owns the follow-up. Sayora doesn't book into property CRMs or transfer calls.
- AI with more connections: Voco. Its Starter plan includes calendar booking and a Fixflo integration. Check that it connects to the diary you use, because a general calendar isn't the same as a property diary.
- People answering, with property software links: Pocket Receptionist. It names Reapit, Rex and Street.co.uk. Confirm the exact booking workflow and the hours your plan includes.
- Urgent calls put through to your team: Answer4u. It describes an escalation route for estate agents. Get the out-of-hours procedure and the price in writing.
One more thing before you divert anything. A valuation lead and a maintenance emergency, like a burst pipe, shouldn't get the same “someone will call you back” promise. So write down which numbers or call routes handle each.
What Sayora does with a viewing enquiry
Sayora answers from the information and instructions you provide, captures the enquiry and sends your team a summary. So you'd give Sayora your office hours, the areas you cover, how your valuations work and the questions a negotiator needs answering. Sayora also screens out cold sales calls.
A good handover is specific: the property, the caller's contact details, when they'd like to view and anything they said about their position. Your negotiator then checks availability and confirms the appointment. Until that happens, it's a request, and it should stay a request.
You keep your agency's existing number and divert calls to a dedicated Sayora number whenever you want cover. Your phone provider controls the diversion settings and any charges. The early-access plan is £49 a month with no setup fee, and your seven-day trial starts when you claim your receptionist. You can cancel at any time. Demo test calls are capped.
Sayora can book into Google Calendar or Cal.com once you've connected one. What Sayora can't do is write a viewing into your property CRM or put a tenant through to your on-call manager. If either of those is essential, give the alternatives below the first trial.
What the alternatives add
Voco: more connections on the entry plan
Voco's property service describes qualifying applicants and booking into your diary where it's integrated. Its pricing page lists Google, Outlook, Apple and Cal.com calendars, Fixflo and HubSpot on every plan.
Starter is £49 a month for 75 calls, then 75p for each extra call. There's a default £20 overage cap, so the bill tops out at £69, and Voco says calls carry on as normal once you hit it. That means you don't need the £149 Professional plan just to handle 100 calls. Do check whether the monthly prices include VAT, because the page doesn't say explicitly.
If one of those connections would save your team a manual step, Voco is the closer comparison. Just test a booking in your real diary before you treat it as confirmed.
Pocket Receptionist: a person working with your property software
Pocket Receptionist describes handling viewings and valuations, qualifying applicants and linking to Reapit, Rex and Street.co.uk. So if you want a person answering and your property system updated during the call, it's a stronger place to start.
Its published plans start at £75 for 30 calls, with Pro at £230 for 100 and £2.99 for each extra call. They cover 8am to 8pm, and the separate 24/7 service needs its own quote. Ask about VAT and exactly which software actions are included.
Answer4u: an urgent call reaches someone
Answer4u's estate agent service describes 24/7 answering, appointment scheduling and forwarding for urgent matters. Pricing is by quote.
Ask them to demonstrate a tenant emergency where the first on-call contact doesn't answer. A transfer attempt only helps if the procedure says what happens next. And be clear about who authorises and arranges a contractor, because forwarding a call doesn't do that on its own.
Add up a full month
Let's use an illustrative 100 answered calls a month. The published plans give you a useful starting bill, but these are different services, so you're buying an outcome as well as a price.
| Service and plan | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Sayora early access | £49 |
| Voco Starter | £67.75 |
| Pocket Receptionist Pro | £230 |
| Answer4u | Quote required |
Voco comes to £49 plus 25 extra calls at 75p, which is still under its default cap. On Pocket, the Pro plan is cheaper here than Growth, which would be £145 plus 40 extra calls at £2.99, or £264.60. And Sayora's £49 covers unlimited minutes under fair use.
All the figures follow each provider's published pricing. Pocket and Voco don't make the VAT basis of their monthly plans explicit on the pages cited, so confirm it before you compare final invoices. Your own phone provider may charge for forwarding, too. If you'd like to try your own volume, the cost calculator models selected human plans against Sayora.
Test the calls, then read them as your negotiator
For the trial, use four calls: a viewing request, a valuation lead, a landlord chasing an update and a cold sales call. Then add an urgent maintenance scenario, to check that your chosen emergency route actually reaches help. It's a test, so don't send real emergencies through a route you haven't proven.
Now read each message as the person who'll act on it. Can your negotiator identify the property, ring the caller and confirm the next step without replaying the whole conversation? Did the caller hear a confirmed booking, or a request? Those answers matter far more than a fluent greeting.