What Are Automated Replies?
By leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Akia is able to understand guest requests and questions and will be able to automatically reply to the guest with the appropriate information and response. Because we use Artificial Intelligence to understand and respond to guests, it is not possible to create new FAQ questions and automated replies.
There are several types of automated replies that you can set up depending on your needs. You can explore these options under Automation > Responder.
How Do I Create Automated Replies?
You can create and edit Akia’s automated replies in the Automation section under Responder.
Simple Replies (FAQs)
Simple Replies are replies used for commonly asked questions about your property such as:
- What's your address?
- Do you allow pets?
- What's the wifi password?
Provide responses to any of these questions, and Akia will use them to automatically reply to guests.
Advanced Replies
Advanced Replies are two-step replies that require the guest to respond to a yes or no question. It is useful for events that require confirmations. For example, early check-in or late checkout if you have an additional surcharge.
Hours of Operations
If your hotel offers amenities like breakfast, room service, spa, swimming pool, etc; you can set the operating hours for them. Akia would automatically respond with the hour or availability if asked.
Requestable and Repairable Items
Commonly requested items or things that guests may report as broken can be set up to have automatic responses as well. For example, if a guest requests additional towels, you can automatically respond to let them know that housekeeping will bring them more towels shortly; or if a guest reports that their TV is broken, you can automatically let them know that you'll send maintenance over.
Locations Inquiry
Sometimes guests might have trouble finding a specific location on your property. By adding various locations such as the Gym or Pool, Akia is able to automatically respond to these guest questions.
Miscellaneous Responses
Depending on what the guest says, Akia might automatically respond to guests with small messages like "You're Welcome" or "Hi, how can we help you?" Now, you’re able to configure these responses and/or turn them off on this page. Open Ticket will notify your staff when Akia automatically responded to the guest.
Can I Make My Own FAQs?
Unfortunately, because the autoresponder uses trained Artificial Intelligence, we cannot add additional FAQ questions outside of the above categories. However, our current automated responder may be able to catch more than you might first believe. For example, “Do you have ___” can be categorized under the Item Request category, and “Where can I find ___” can often be linked to a Locations Inquiry question.
We do acknowledge that there are gaps in what our auto responder covers and it might not answer every question if it’s not certain of the exact ask; so if one of your questions doesn’t fit in any of the above categories and/or you see that the autoresponder doesn’t always answer guest questions, we would highly recommend creating a Mini App with all of the questions listed for easier guest reference which you can link in your pre-arrival message.
Use Cases
- 🤾 What is there to do in the area? Add a response in the Locations Inquiry section and put in any synonyms to ensure the widest reach.
- We would also highly recommend creating a Mini App featuring local activities and restaurants with photos/links if you see this asked often!
- 🐶🐱 Are you pet-friendly? Pet friendliness can be found in the FAQs section, but you could also mention your policy in the Item Request section.
- 🏊 What are the pool hours? The pool can be found in the Service Hours section, and you can include it in the Locations Inquiry to also provide directions to guests.