Chat with guests from the Host App

Add-on: Guest ChatHost AppFor hosts

Needs: Any staff user

With Guest Chat, guests can message the restaurant about their reservation and staff answer from the Host App. Every conversation is linked to a reservation, so you always see who you are talking to and what they booked.

Where to find it

  • Host App › Guest Messaging in the menu (badge = unread conversations). Only shown when Guest Chat is enabled for the location and Guest messaging is on in Display mode.
  • In a reservation's details pane: the Chat tab.
  • Reservation cards show a Messages / New message badge when a guest wrote.

What it does

Guest Messaging page ("Chat with guests linked to their reservations")

  • Conversations list with search (name, email, reservation), filters for reservation date (All dates, Today, Upcoming, Past) and status, an Unread filter, and sorting (Recent activity, Reservation date, Unread first).
  • Mark read / Mark unread per conversation.
  • The chat itself, plus a reservation pane with the booking details, special requests, Internal reservation notes and Guest profile notes, and Open reservation.

Chat panel

  • Type a message and Send. Send email notification (on by default) also emails the guest that there is a new message.
  • Quick replies (for example Welcome, Reservation reminder) insert a ready-made text with the guest's name, date, time and party size.
  • Attach file: images and PDFs up to 10 MB.
  • Export transcript downloads the conversation.
  • When an assistant is drafting a reply, the panel shows "Assistant is drafting a reply…".

How to answer a guest

  1. Open Guest Messaging and pick the conversation (unread ones are marked).
  2. Read the booking details on the right.
  3. Type your answer or choose a quick reply.
  4. Keep Send email notification on if the guest should be told by email.
  5. Tap Send.

Good to know

  • "No conversations yet": messages appear here when guests reply to reservation communications.
  • Internal notes on the right are never visible to the guest.
  • The guest chat feature is configured in the Backoffice (Settings › Add-ons › Guest Chat).

Troubleshooting

Guest Messaging is not in the menu Guest Chat is not enabled for the location, or Guest messaging is hidden in Display mode on this device (it is hidden in Simple mode).

"File must be 10MB or smaller" / "Only images and PDFs are allowed" Choose a smaller file, or an image or PDF.

"Failed to send message" The message was not sent. Check the connection and try again.

"Failed to load chat threads" The conversation list could not load. Refresh the page.