Inbox & Guest Messaging – Akia

What Is Guest Messaging?

Akia can quickly and automatically answer common questions from guests, but it allows your team to shine for the not-so-common ones. Akia is available on iOS and Android, which means you and your team don't need to be desk-bound to service and connect with your guests.

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Akia Tip: Guests appear in the Inbox if they have responded/engaged with your messages. To check if a guest has received your scheduled message and they’re not showing in the Inbox, go to the Records tab and filter for their name or search for their name in the top right.

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Akia Tip: The priority of chats in your Inbox are as follows: 1. Pinned Chats 2. Chats you are currently connected to 3. New messages 4. Closed chats/chats other users are connected to (ordered by newest updated at the top). If you do not want to view closed chats, go to Settings and click Hide inactive conversations.

How to Switch Communication Platforms

You can click on the arrow to the right of the Platform button at the top to switch the communication platform for the customer. Options include SMS (for US and Canada customers), email, and WhatsApp (if configured).

Inbox Folders

At the top of the inbox you’ll see a dropdown where you can change the conversations you see.

Home: All of your chats (guest and team chats) and is the default inbox folder

Team Chats: All of your team chats, Akia will not show any guest chats in this folder regardless if you’re connected to them or not

Participated: Chats that you/a member of your department have interacted with (e.g. sent a message, opened the chat) in the past 24 hours

Arriving Today: Guests who have a reservation arriving today and any guest chat you’re currently connected with

In House: Guests who are arriving, in house, or departing today, and any guest chat you’re currently connected with

Web Chats: Web chats and any guest chat you’re currently connected with

Assigned: Chats that you are connected with or have been assigned to you

If you have any Contact Groups specified, you will also see folders for these contact groups.

How to Connect With a Guest

Guests who are not connected to a user will have a red dot next to their name (🔴), indicating an unread message.

Desktop

Click Open Chat at the top or bottom of the chat thread to connect with a guest. This will open the chat so you can send them messages.

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Akia Tip: A yellow dot (🟡) next to a guest’s name indicates that another user is currently connected. To chat with the guest, click Re-Assign to Me.

Mobile

Click Open or Open Chat to connect with a guest. This will open the chat so you can send them messages.

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Akia Tip: When you are finished chatting with a guest click Mark Complete (on desktop) or Close (on mobile) to close the chat. If the guest responds, you will receive a notification and can re-open the conversation.

How to Forward a Conversation

Desktop

Click the arrow icon at the top of the message thread to forward the conversation to a department or specific user. You are able to forward a conversation whether you are connected to the guest or not.

Mobile

Open the chat and click the i button. Then click the three-dot icon next to the guest’s name and select Forward Conversation. Choose a department and click Forward.

How to Send a Scheduled Message

Desktop

Click on Templates to the left of the Assign to Me button/message box at the bottom of the page.

Note that you are able to send a message from the Templates section without having to connect with the guest.

Select the Scheduled Messages section.

Select the scheduled message you want to be sent to the guest.

Choosing Edit will automatically connect you to the guest and populate the message in the text box for editing.

Click Send

You can filter for a specific scheduled message title at the top.

Mobile

Go into a chat and click either the right arrow (>) and then the bookmark icon if you’re connected, or simply the bookmark icon if you aren’t connected.

Go to the Scheduled Message section

Select the scheduled message you want to be sent to the guest

Choosing Edit will automatically connect you to the guest and populate the message in the text box for editing.

Click Send

How to Send Macros

Learn how to create macros here: Macros

Desktop

Click on Templates to the left of the Open Chat button/message box at the bottom of the page.

Note that you are able to send a message from the Templates section without having to connect with the guest.

Navigate to the Macros tab of the window

Select the macro you want to be sent to the guest.

Choosing Edit will automatically connect you to the guest and populate the message in the text box for editing.

Click Send

You can filter for a specific macro at the top.

Mobile

Go into a chat and click either the right arrow (>) and then the bookmark icon if you’re connected, or the bookmark icon if you aren’t connected at the bottom of the screen.

Go to the Macros section

Select the macro you want to be sent to the guest

Choosing Edit will automatically connect you to the guest and populate the message in the text box for editing.

Click Send

How to Send Mini Apps/Message Tokens

After you connect with a guest, you can use the magic wand icon to the right of the text box to input Mini Apps or Message Tokens which will automatically update based on the guest’s information. This allows you to preview the Mini App link or Message Token before you send it to the guest and ensure all of the necessary information is there.

Click on the wand icon and select any of the options to automatically populate the filled-in message token into the message.

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Akia Tip: The wand icon is now available for Desktop and Mobile versions so you can easily access Mini Apps and Message Tokens without needing to create a macro.

How to Send Attachments

If you want to send an image or a file to a guest or in a team chat, you can upload it from your computer using the paperclip icon to the left of the Send button.

For Mobile, it’s a similar process and you have the option to take a photo or choose a photo/video from your phone gallery.

How to Send GIFs and Emojis

You can send GIFs and emojis on Desktop using the associated icons to the left of the Send button. You can also use your computer’s keyboard shortcut to bring up the emoji keyboard.

For GIFs, you are also able to search the type of GIF you want to send at the top.

How to Schedule Messages to Send Later (Clock Icon)

Sometimes you might want to send a message at a specific time, so you can use the clock icon to the left of the Send button to set a specific date and time in the future.

After scheduling the message, the message will show up in the Scheduled Message widget under the Guest’s sidebar. If you want to cancel a scheduled message, just hover over the message and hit Cancel.

Message Bubbles

Desktop

You can hover over any message bubble to see the exact timestamp and create a task from the message itself.

Akia’s AI detection works on all messages and tries to categorize the message based on the verbiage to best respond; but if the detection is wrong, you can click Report so our engineering team can flag it.

Mobile

Tapping on a message bubble will pull up the exact timestamp the message was sent at. Swiping the message to the center of the screen will allow you to create a task from that specific message (works on Apple and some Android devices).

Use Cases

🙅 No Staff on Premises: Connect with your guests instantly via messaging rather than having to visit the property to assist with their questions.

Turn on notifications in your Mobile App to ensure guests aren’t waiting for a reply.

➡️ Forward for the Best Response: Forward the conversation to another department if you can’t answer.

You can also forward it to a specific user if applicable.

⚠️ Agreement Errors: Connect with a guest if they haven’t signed their Agreement or you found errors in the submitted information.

After you have connected, send a new Agreement to the guest using the wand icon.

See Related

Guest Profile

Mobile App

Guest Messaging Issues

Automated Reply Issues