A managed AI agent: what it includes, what it costs and when it beats hiring

When a business owner in Mallorca asks about a managed AI agent, there is almost always a specific decision behind it: high season is approaching, there is administrative work nobody gets round to, and the alternative is hiring someone part-time. This article explains what our managed agent service includes, what it costs and in which cases it pays off compared with a hire, with real numbers and no promises we cannot keep.

What a managed AI agent is

An AI agent is a program that does work for your business: it reads messages, checks your systems, prepares documents, sends reminders, generates reports. "Managed" means that we build it, watch over it and fix it when something fails. Your business uses it; we keep it alive.

We build it with open-source frameworks (Hermes Agent or OpenClaw) on a server of yours or ours in the European Union, connected to the tools you already use: your PMS, your appointment software, your CRM, your WhatsApp Business, your spreadsheets. The AI model that does the reasoning (Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok) is chosen according to the task and can be swapped without rebuilding anything.

What exactly the service includes

Our managed agent starts at €500 per month, with no minimum term. For that amount the business receives:

• Initial build. Process assessment, definition of the agent's tasks, connection to your tools and testing with real data before going live.
• Server and model. Hosting in the EU and the AI model consumption for a normal workload in a business of 3 to 50 people. If volume shoots up (a hotel in August, for example), we let you know beforehand and adjust.
• Continuous monitoring. Every day we check that the agent has carried out its tasks, how long it took, whether it had errors and whether the result meets expectations. When something falls outside the norm, we get an alert before you notice.
• Corrections and adjustments. When your software changes, a supplier modifies its API or a business process evolves, we adapt the agent. It is included; it is not billed separately.
• A human point of contact. One person knows your agent and your business. By Telegram, WhatsApp or phone, with no tickets and no switchboards.

What it does not include: third-party software licences your business already pays for (your PMS, your CRM) or large bespoke developments outside the agreed scope, which are quoted separately.

What "monitoring" means in practice

It is the least visible part and the one that makes the difference between an agent that works for a month and one that works for years. An unwatched agent degrades: a website changes its format, an AI model updates its behaviour, someone renames a column in a spreadsheet. None of that announces itself.

Our monitoring checks:

• That every scheduled task ran on time (the 07:30 report arrived at 07:30).
• That the result makes sense (the generated quote has a price, dates and a customer name, not an empty field).
• That model consumption is within forecast.
• That the connections to your tools are still active and their permissions valid.
• That there have been no strange access attempts or data leaks outside the agreed perimeter.

When something fails, we fix it and tell you what happened. No drama, with a clear message.

Nothing is sent without a person approving it

Every owner asks about this point, and rightly so. By default, the agent prepares but does not send. The approval flow works like this:

1. The agent drafts the reply to the guest, the quote or the follow-up email.
2. It posts it in a Telegram topic (or on WhatsApp) with an "Approve", "Edit" or "Discard" button.
3. Someone on your team decides in seconds.
4. Only then does the agent send it and log the action.

Over time, the business usually relaxes that control for low-risk tasks (confirming an appointment, answering a question about opening hours) and keeps it for everything that carries cost or commitment (a quote, a contract, a reply to a complaint). The decision is yours at every moment.

An honest comparison with a part-time hire

Here are indicative numbers for Mallorca in 2026. A part-time administrative employee costs the business, between salary, social security, holidays and absence, somewhere around €1,100 to €1,400 per month, and finding one in high season is hard. A managed agent costs from €500 per month.

But price is not the only variable, and both columns deserve honesty:

What a person does better:

• Dealing with an angry customer at reception, with tact and judgement.
• Deciding in new situations where there is no procedure.
• Physical tasks: checking a room, handing over keys, attending to an enquiry in person.
• Bringing relationships and trust with suppliers and regular customers.

What an agent does better:

• Working at 23:00 on a Sunday and 06:00 on a Monday, all year round, with no sick leave or holidays.
• Repeating the same task a thousand times with the same care (reminders, follow-ups, reports).
• Processing documents and messages in several languages without changing person.
• Not leaving in October and needing to be trained again in April, which is the underlying problem with seasonal staff.

The practical conclusion: an agent pays off when the outstanding work is repetitive, digital and high-volume (messages, documents, follow-ups, reporting). A person pays off when the work requires presence, negotiation or judgement in new situations. The usual outcome is to end up with both, and that is where the benefit to the business lies. The agent works 24 hours a day, seven days a week: it does not get tired, does not fall ill, has no days off or holidays, does not lose heart and does not leave for a competitor. Its only purpose is the task you have given it, and it carries it out with infinite patience, just as well at three in the morning on a Sunday in August as on a Tuesday at ten. Everything repetitive passes to it. And the person who was already on your team stops working overtime and spends their day on the work that genuinely adds value: looking after customers, selling, resolving whatever needs judgement.

When it does not pay off

There are cases where we say no, and we prefer to say it early:

• If the process changes every week and nobody can describe it, it needs putting in order first.
• If volume is very low (ten messages a month), a reply template does the job.
• If the business has nobody willing to review the approvals in the first few months, the agent sits waiting and adds nothing.

To rule those cases out, and to see where there really is work to absorb, we carry out an assessment before proposing anything.

Who pays for the AI model

The AI model that acts as the agent's "brain" (Claude, GPT, Gemini or another) is contracted by your business directly, in its own account, and its cost is not included in our price. The reason is GDPR, not margin. With the account in your name, all the data your agents generate, consult and store is under your control and covered by the processing contract signed between your business and the model provider. The cost is usually a few tens of euros a month per agent, depending on use, and it appears itemised in the plan.

Frequently asked questions

What if I want to stop after three months?

You cancel with one month's notice and no penalty. The agent, its skills and its data are on your server or are handed over to you in a format you can keep; nothing is held back. The frameworks are open source, so another provider could continue the work.

Does the €500 include the cost of the AI model?

Yes, for normal use by a small or medium-sized business. If the agent processes a very high volume (thousands of conversations a month), we detect it in the monitoring, show you the figures and agree the adjustment before billing anything different.

Where is my data?

On a server of yours or on one of ours in the European Union. The AI models receive only the text needed for each task, under each provider's business terms, without using it for training. We sign the data processor contract that GDPR requires.

If you are weighing up hiring or automating ahead of next season, the assessment will give you a concrete answer on which tasks an agent could absorb in your business and what it would cost you. Request an assessment