Swivl Report Highlights Voice AI's Growing Role in Self-Storage

A new report from AI automation company Swivl offers a snapshot of how voice artificial intelligence is being used across the self-storage industry, suggesting that operators are increasingly relying on the technology to handle customer interactions, particularly after hours.

Based on a representative sample of Swivl's operator network during the first quarter of 2026, the report found the platform handled 126,920 inbound calls, with 68% resolved without human intervention. The company said more than 11,000 after-hours calls were answered, preventing them from going to voicemail, while AI-managed conversations saved operators an estimated 2,683 staff hours during the quarter.

The report also found AI played a role in customer acquisition, with 2,081 move-ins beginning with an AI interaction. On average, those customers signed a lease 8.7 days after their initial contact. Swivl said nearly one-third of conversations moved between voice and text messaging, reflecting consumers' growing preference for communicating across multiple channels.

Swivl CEO Mason Levy said the findings reflect a how operators are approaching customer communication. "Self-storage has always run on presence," says Levy. "The operators who are thriving right now are the ones who stopped trying to scale presence and started scaling systems."

View the full report on Swivl.