New Orleans has two surge seasons and they are not the same
Storms fill the phone with damage. Festivals fill it with bookings. GreetKeeper handles both at a rate you can work out in advance.
Caller
“The roof started leaking in the back room during that squall and there's more rain coming Tuesday. Can you tarp it before then?”
What happened next
- Logged an active roof leak after a squall, Mid-City
- Noted more rain forecast for Tuesday
- Booked a tarp visit for Monday morning and flagged the deadline
Two different surges, one phone number
The storm surge is the one everyone plans for. A tropical system means roofing, tree work, restoration and generator calls arriving in a compressed burst, with the volume concentrated in the days before landfall and the week after it. That is predictable in shape even when the date is not.
The festival surge is the opposite kind of pressure. Hospitality, transport and event suppliers take a season's bookings in a few weeks, from callers who are often out of town and ringing at odd hours. Nobody is missing those calls because they are lazy; they are missing them because the phone rings more than any front desk can absorb.
Both patterns argue for a meter you can compute in advance. Our overage rate is published at $0.45 a call on Starter, which lets you cost a bad week before it arrives rather than after.
Central Time
Central time, with a working rhythm set by the festival calendar as much as by the clock. During the busy season a business here takes calls from visitors who have no idea what your normal hours are and no intention of waiting for them.
The New Orleans call mix
Weather and tourism, in alternating seasons.
Roofing and restoration
Storm damage with a forecast deadline attached, which makes these calls urgent in a specific and datable way.
Hospitality and event services
Festival-season bookings from out-of-town callers at hours no local office keeps.
Home services in historic housing
Old buildings, humidity and subsidence produce calls where the caller describes a symptom and needs someone to diagnose it.
Recording and AI disclosure in Louisiana
Louisiana is permissive on recording, and the surge is the thing worth planning for here.
Louisiana is a one-party consent state for call recording.
GreetKeeper can announce that a call is recorded and that the caller is speaking to an assistant. You write the wording, and you decide whether either notice plays. Our reading of the wider rules, with the dates, sits on the compliance page.
What it costs, including the part most vendors leave off
Booking is on every plan, and the rate after the allowance is published.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
What we cannot tell you
Questions from New Orleans businesses
What does a storm week cost?
Starter is $49 for 200 answered calls and $0.45 each after. A thousand-call week is $49 plus $360. The rate is published, which is the only reason that sum is possible.
Can it handle a surge without queueing?
Calls are answered in parallel rather than waiting for a free person, which is the structural difference from a human answering service during a storm.
Does it work for festival bookings too?
It books into your real calendar, so whatever slots you open are what it offers. Out-of-town callers at 11pm are the same as any other booking to it.
Does Louisiana require an AI disclosure?
Not as we read it in September 2026. Maine and Utah are the two states with duties reaching an inbound receptionist. The setting is there and we would use it.
Hear it take one of your calls
Your own scenario, your own greeting, in a couple of minutes.