Chat with guests

All guest chats live on the Chats page. A count on Chats in the sidebar shows unread messages, and they also appear in Alerts. In the VenueStack app, a new chat and its messages also come as a push, at most one per chat every 2 minutes; once a chat is assigned, only that person gets its messages. See Notifications to turn Guest messages off.

Available or Away

At the top right of Chats, choose Available when your team is answering and Away when it isn't. While you're away, guests don't see Speak to a person in the chat. If you set team hours, they switch it for you. A status you choose holds until your hours next change. You need Full Access to Chats. Set the hours in Settings → Chat: see Set your team's hours.

Reply to a guest

1. Go to Chats and click a chat. Use Search to find a guest, or the Closed tab to see closed ones.
2. If you see Take over, click it. The AI concierge stops answering, and the chat is assigned to you. If you type a message and press Enter first, it takes over and sends the message.
3. Type your message and press Enter. Click the paperclip to send a picture. On a phone, the keyboard's send key sends, and the table, share, saved replies and photo options are under the + beside the message box.
4. To use a saved reply, type / and pick one. Click Manage in that list, then New reply to add one or the pencil to edit one. While writing, the First name, Full name, Email and Phone buttons drop in the guest's details, so {{first_name}} becomes the guest's first name.
5. To leave a note only your team sees, click the notes button at the top right, type the note, and click Save note. On a phone the notes open from the bottom of the screen; tap the arrow to save.

Click the guest's name at the top to open their customer profile.

With View Access to Chats you can read every chat and leave notes, but the message box is replaced by "View only. Replying needs Full Access to Chats." Saved replies, Take over, sharing, table offers, follow-up emails, assigning, End chat, and Move to Closed all need Full Access.

Assign a chat

Give a chat to one person, so it's clear who answers the guest.

1. Open the chat and click Assign at the top. On a phone it's the person button.
2. Click Assign to me, or pick someone. Only people who can reply are listed: Full Access to Chats, or Assigned Access.
3. To give it back to everyone, click their name at the top and choose Unassigned.

The person's initials show beside the last message in the list; point at them to see their name, or You on your own. The Mine tab lists the open chats assigned to you. When someone else gives you a chat, you get Chat assigned to you with the guest's name; see Notifications. Only the assigned person gets the chat's push alerts, even after it's closed and the guest comes back. If they leave your team or lose access to Chats, everyone gets them again.

Someone with Assigned Access to Chats sees only the chats assigned to them, in Open, Closed and search. A chat given to them shows up in their list; one taken off them disappears from it.

Send a menu, event, or table

Use the buttons beside the message box while the chat is open. On a phone, tap + beside the message box first.

1. For a menu or event, click the share button. Choose Menus, or Event link and pick a date, then click Share.
2. For a table, click the armchair button. Pick a date and event (and a Seating, if the event has timeslots), then click a free table.
3. In Offer details, check the guest's Name, Email and Phone.
4. Leave Request deposit on and check the Amount, or turn it off to confirm the table now. Pick a Package if the guest wants one, and set Link expires in.
5. Add an Internal note if you like. Only your team sees it, on the reservation.
6. Click Review, check what the guest pays, then click Send offer.

A reservation is made and the guest gets a card in the chat with a Pay now button. The deposit and the package are paid together, in one payment. With a package but no deposit, the table is confirmed now and the guest pays for the package on its own link, which works until the event starts. An unpaid deposit link puts the table back on sale when it expires.

To let the guest choose a table themselves, click Send event details on the Pick a table step instead. A deposit or a package needs payments connected. See Connect payments.

When a guest leaves

If a guest leaves the page before you answer, the message box changes to Send a follow-up by email. It shows the guest's email and your venue's email.

1. Type your message.
2. Click Send email.

The guest gets your message by email from your venue. When they reply, it goes to your venue's email, so you carry on from your own inbox. Sending it closes the chat and moves it to the Closed tab, and you can send one follow-up per chat.

Replies go to your contact email from Settings → Account. To use a different address for chats, go to Settings → Chat and change Reply-to email under Follow-up emails. Clear the box to go back to your contact email. Changing it needs Full Access to Account with Chat on.

End a chat

1. Click End chat, then End chat again to confirm. The guest can't send more messages in this chat.
2. Click Move to Closed to move it to the Closed tab. On a phone you can also swipe a chat left in the list and tap Close.

The clock beside each chat shows how long it has been going, in minutes and then hours. Once a chat has gone on for a day or more it shows the day it started instead, such as Oct 10 (point at it to see Started Oct 10). It stops at the last message once the chat ends or closes, or when nobody has written for a day.

When a chat is with your team, a short line under the guest's name says why: the guest asked for a person, the AI concierge handed it over (with its note on why), or AI paused because of off-topic messages, the reply limit, the concierge being switched off, or a reply that couldn't be sent.

Good to know

• A role with Limited view sees each chat by the guest's name, without their email or phone, can't send table offers, and sees Hidden in place of an offer's amount. See Roles and permissions.