Most owners of a small hotel, guest house or restaurant do not want to be available all the time. They want the guest to get a quick and correct answer, and to be left with the conversations where their presence really matters. The question is how to set that line without guessing.
Here are four signs you can use to sort every enquiry. They are not a law but a handy tool for thinking: try them on the last thirty messages you have received.
First sign: how often it repeats
If the same question comes in every week, it is a candidate for an automatic reply. Typical examples are what time check-in is, whether there is parking, until what time breakfast is served, how to get to the venue, whether pets are allowed, and which language the menu is in.
Repetition on its own is not enough. A frequently repeated question whose answer depends on the day or on the room is harder than it looks. That is why the second sign is about exactly this.
Second sign: whether there is one correct answer
Ask yourself: if five people asked me today, would I tell them all the same thing? For breakfast time, probably yes. Whether a late check-out is possible may depend on occupancy that same evening, so it is no longer one answer.
A rule that works well: give an automatic reply only where the correct text can be written in advance and stay correct for at least a few weeks. Anything that changes daily is either updated regularly or left to a person.
Third sign: what the guest feels
A guest who asks whether there is a lift is in a different state of mind from a guest who writes that the room has not been cleaned. The first is looking for information. The second is looking for attention and acknowledgement, and a template reply at that moment often makes the situation worse.
Handle personally anything in which you sense irritation, disappointment, worry or something personal: complaints, emergencies, health restrictions, family occasions. In this way you also do something else: you do not leave the guest with the impression that nobody is listening.
Fourth sign: whether money or an exception is involved
Two things always go back to a person. The first is money: paying an amount back, a discount, a dispute over a bill, a change of price after it was agreed. The second is exceptions: groups, events, special diets, departures from the cancellation rules, unusual dates.
This is not about distrust of automation. It is about responsibility: the decision is yours, the consequences are yours and the guest knows it.
What it looks like in practice
Example scenario. A guest house receives five messages in the evening. The first asks whether there is free parking. The second wants to know until what time breakfast is served. The third asks whether you allow a dog. The fourth reports that the air conditioning in the room is not working. The fifth asks for a discount because the group has eight people.
By the four signs, the first three are for an automatic reply: they repeat, have one written-down answer and carry no tension. The fourth is for a person, because the guest is dissatisfied and a response is needed. The fifth is for a person, because it involves money and an exception. This is an illustration, not a measurement: the aim is for you to see the logic, not numbers.
What to require of an automatic reply
If you use an assistant that replies in your place, check three things.
- Where it gets its information. It is good if it answers only from texts you have approved, rather than adding to them at its own discretion.
- What it does when it does not know. When there is no data, the best answer is an honest admission and a referral to the venue’s phone, not a plausible guess.
- What it must not promise. Prices, availability and terms that it has not been given should not appear in the conversation.
If the answers to these three questions are unclear, it is safer not to switch on an automatic reply for the topic in question.
How to set the line for your venue
- Go through the last twenty to thirty enquiries and sort them into two piles using the four signs.
- For the pile of automatic replies, write one short, correct and up-to-date text for each question.
- For the pile for a person, decide who answers and within what time, and write it down so that it does not depend on the mood of the day.
- After two or three weeks, come back and move the questions that turned out to be in the wrong place.
The line is not fixed. A new season, a new service or a change in the rules moves questions from one pile to the other.
Where ISKA Assistant fits in
ISKA Assistant answers guests from the information that the venue has approved, and when it has no data for the question asked, it directs them to the venue’s phone. There is no live chat with a person, so the phone is where the cases from the second pile go. Conversations are reviewed in the Inbox, so you can see what guests have asked. The assistant does not replace reception and does not accept payment. Terms and prices are on the pricing page.
Finally
An automatic reply is not an all-or-nothing matter. It is useful exactly to the extent that you have clearly defined what belongs to it. Start with the three or four questions that repeat most and leave the rest to people.