What Are Tasks?
Tasks allow you to digitalize all your work orders and track guest requests right within the interface that you are already using to communicate with your guests. Work with your team to delegate tasks and track their progress to accomplish your goals.
You can create tasks to create to-dos and track their statuses - think of them as a checklist for your team.
Tasks Page
From the Tasks page, you can look at all of the tasks created for your property and see tasks associated with any task queues you have access to. Clicking a task will pull up a detailed sidebar that will show any dependencies, who created the task, the subscribers, and the link to the task chat. Once the task has been completed, the “Completed By” section will populate.
By default, we will show the My Tasks tab which shows any tasks that are assigned to your user and are not in a completed state. The notification bubble next to the Tasks header directly correlates to the tasks that show up on the My Tasks tab.
Task Queues
Next to the My Tasks tab are the task queues you have access to. Think of task queues as ways to group tasks by a certain objective (Room Turnover, Maintenance Requests, Guest Orders) and each queue can have different stages the task can go through before it is completed. Users in different departments are able to view queues they have access to, and if they are not part of the task queue, they won’t see it on the page.
For example, the Room Turnover queue can have 4 stages (Dirty, In Progress, Clean, and Inspected) and users in the Staff and Housekeeping departments will be able to see this queue and any tasks created for it.
On the other hand, a Maintenance Request queue may only have 2 stages: New Request and Done, where your team would mark the task as Done when the issue has been fixed.
Akia Tip: You can select departments, specific users, or a specific office (if you have multiple) to have access to the task queue. By default, the task queue is visible to all users for all offices unless you have specified a group.
How Are Task Queues Different From Departments?
Task queues allow users from different departments to view and get notified for new tasks created and allow you to configure multiple stages a task could go through before it is completed. By separating task queues from departments, we allow different staff members to see (and be notified) of tasks relevant to them immediately.
For example, the Room Turnover task queue could have users from the Front Desk and Housekeeping departments added to it, so that the front desk can quickly see which rooms are inspected and ready for arriving guests and housekeepers can update the status as they clean.
Akia automatically creates a task queue when a new department is created, so you are able to organize tasks by the same queue and department if that’s easier for your team to manage; but if you have a lot of users who are cross-functional and tasks are centered around a specific objective (e.g. Room Turnover or Maintenance Request), then we would recommend creating task queues.
How Do I Create a Task?
There are two ways to create a task, either from the header or from a message bubble.
Create a Task From the Header
- Click the + next to Tasks in the header
- You will be prompted with a dialog to provide some information to create a new task:
- Task Queue: which queue the task should be put in.
- Stage: the stage of the task (specific to each task queue).
- Title: a short title that lets everyone know what the task is about.
- Priority: assign the priority of the task (no priority, high, or low).
- Description: additional details that are relevant to the task.
- Department: the intended department that is responsible for this task.
- Assign To: directly assign this task to a team member or department. This correlates to which users are part of the task chat.
- Office: if you have access to multiple hotels, you can specify which hotel or office this task is for.
- Room Number: if the task is for a specific room, you can specify it here.
- Task Duration: if the task should be completed by a specific time, specify it here.
- Click Ok to create the task, and you will see the task chat in your inbox Inbox (under any pinned or connected-to chats)
Create a Task From a Message
- Hover over a message bubble
- Click the task icon (looks like a checklist)
- Make edits to any of the pre-populated fields if applicable
- The Room Number field will automatically populate if it is included in the reservation
- Click Ok to create the task, and you will see it at the top of your Inbox (under any pinned or connected-to chats)
Adding Participants to a Task Chat
Similar to a team chat, you can add and remove participants on the sidebar under Participants.
How Can I Assign A Task to Myself or Someone Else?
You can click the pencil icon in the task chat to edit the assignee, similar to how you assign a task to a user upon task creation.
You can also change the assignee on the Tasks page by clicking Edit.
How Can I Change a Task’s Stage?
There are three ways you can change a task’s stage depending on where you are looking.
How Can I Create a Task Queue?
Whenever a new department is created, Akia will automatically create a task queue for that department. Your team is able to manually create new task queues or delete the department task queues at any time.
To create a new task queue, click the + icon.
From there, you’re able to specify the Name, subscribers that have access to the queue (by default all users of all offices will be able to see that task queue), and the stages tasks can go through within that queue.
Click Ok to save and you’ll be able to begin assigning tasks to that queue.
How Can I Edit or Delete A Task Queue
When on a task queue (except My Tasks), you can click on the three-dot icon to Edit or Delete. Similar to the creation popup, clicking Edit allows you to modify the queue name, which groups have access, and the stages.
A task queue must have at least 2 stages. If you only have 2 stages for the task queue, you will not be able to delete either of them.
Task Templates
While on the Tasks page, you’ll be able to view your task Templates and any Recurring tasks you have made by toggling to those sections in the upper right hand corner.
Templates & Child Tasks (Dependencies)
Create a task template if you find yourself creating very similar tasks for your team but don’t want it to be recurring.
If you want to make a checklist for your team to complete (ex. Housekeeping checklist upon guest leaving), create a task template and add Dependent tasks that will automatically be created when the template is used.
How to Create Child Tasks (Dependencies) in a Template
- Go to the Templates section of the Tasks page
- Add the task queue, stage, name, description, and assignee
- Note: Because you are creating a template, we recommend using message tokens in the name and description to have your team know which guest this was created for and the appropriate reservation details
- Add dependent tasks by typing in the Dependencies field above and clicking Add to save.
- Add as many dependent tasks as you want, and you can click on any of the tasks to be taken to the individual task page
- While in any dependent task page, you can edit the description with message tokens by clicking on Edit
- If you want to manually create this task template right now, click Create From Template while viewing the parent task and it will show in your All Tasks view. To have this be created automatically via your automations, create your automation and select Create a task for a department as your action and specify the task template. The template will now be automatically generated for the housekeeping department when the automation runs.
Recurring Tasks
Create recurring tasks for things your team has to do regularly, such as taking out the trash, baking cookies for guests, or changing the linens. Click Make it recurring and select how often the task should be automatically created.
How Do I Create and Edit Tasks in the Mobile App?
How to Create a Task in Akia Mobile App
Just like the desktop version, you can create tasks in the Akia Mobile App in 2 different ways. Expand the dropdown to see step-by-step instructions
Create a Task from a message (John Smith in Room 1 says he needs more towels)
- Locate the John Smith’s chat in the Inbox
- Press and hold the message from which you want to create a task (in this case, it’s the message “I need more towels in room 1”)
- Note: Android is a bit less reliable for the press and hold, and might require multiple tries
- Click on Task from the options that show up after you press and hold.
- Click on “Select Department” and select the department you wish to assign the task to from the drop-down menu (in our example, it’s Housekeeping)
- Click on “Assign To (Optional)” to pick a user you want to assign the task to (in this case, it’s User 1)
- Click on “Select Date” to pick a due date
- Enter Room Number
- Hit “Create”
Create a Task with the + button (not a guest request but a general task)
- Go to your Akia Mobile App
- Click on the Circle “+” Icon and select New Task
- Enter “Task Title” (In this example, it’s “Room 1 needs more towels”)
- Enter “Description” (In this example, it’s “Please bring more towels to room 1 ASAP”)
- Select a department you want to assign the task to from the “Select Department” drop-down menu (In this example, it’s “Housekeeping)
- Select a user you want to assign the task to from the “Assign To (Optional)” drop-down menu (In this example, it’s User 1)
- Select a date from the “Select Date (Optional)” date selector.
- Enter the room number in “Room Number”
- Click “Create”
Add a User to an Existing Task
Want to add your head housekeeper to an existing task? Follow the steps below:
- Locate the task you want to add a new participant to (in this case, it’s task “Room 1 needs more towels”)
- Click on the Circle “i” icon on top of your task chat
- Click on “Participants”
- Click on the part where existing participants are highlighted in Blue
- Click on “User 2” to add to the task
Assign an Existing Task to a Different User
Is the person the task was assigned to currently out of office? You can quickly reassign the task to a new user in this case!
- Locate the task you want to edit (In this case, it’s Task: “Room 1 needs more towels”)
- Click on the Circle “i” icon on top of your task chat
- Click on “Task Details”
- Click on “Owner”
- Select “User 2”
Mark a Task as Completed
There are 2 ways you can complete a task. Expand the dropdown to see step-by-step instructions.
Complete tasks through the Tasks Tab (the list icon to the right of the Inbox)
- Click on the “Tasks” Tab located at the bottom part of your screen
- Locate the task you want to complete (There are different pre-set filters you can choose, like Unassigned tasks, All Tasks, and Department. In this case, we chose “All”, but you can also go to “Department” and select “Housekeeping”)
- Click on the circle check box to Mark Complete
- After you checkmark the task to complete, you can see it shows up under “Complete”.
Through the Task Chat
- Locate the task chat in your inbox (In this case, it’s “Room 1 needs more towels”)
- Click on the Circle “i” icon on top of your task chat
- Click on “Task Details”
- Click “Mark Complete”
Use Cases
- 🧻 More Toilet Paper: File a task for the housekeeping department to bring a guest more toilet paper.
- On the guest’s message bubble, click “Add Task” to automatically copy the guest’s room number and specific item request.
- 🛠 Work Orders: File a task for maintenance to let them know when something is broken.
- Assign it to a specific user if it’s after hours and the guest is impacted.
- 🔔 General Reminders: Create a task for the front desk to make coffee for arriving guests.
- Set it as a recurring task so nobody has to remember to send the reminder.