Scheduled & Automated Messages
HiLucy can message guests on its own at set moments in their stay. Three screens under Comms in your HiLucy dashboard do the work: Templates holds what a message says, Automations decides when it goes and to whom, and Delivery records what happened to each message.
Why WhatsApp Needs Templates
WhatsApp distinguishes between two types of conversations:
- User-initiated -- the guest wrote to you in the last 24 hours, so free text can be sent
- Business-initiated -- you write first, or the guest's 24-hour window has closed, which requires a message template Meta has approved
Every automation on WhatsApp sends an approved template.
Templates
Templates are written on Comms → Templates and sent to Meta for approval from the builder with Submit to Meta. Approval usually lands within a few minutes to 24 hours. The status shown is Meta's own verdict:
- APPROVED -- sends
- PENDING or IN APPEAL -- still with Meta
- REJECTED -- needs editing and resubmitting
- PAUSED or DISABLED -- stopped by Meta, usually for quality, and does not send
A template overridden for one hotel keeps using the shared version until the override is approved.
Automations
An automation is a rule that sends a guest a message at a moment in the stay: after booking, before arrival, during the stay, after checkout, or the moment they check in. Each rule has a channel, a template or a body, and an audience. Rules live on Comms → Automations.
- Your rules belong to this hotel
- HiLucy's defaults carry a Default badge and are shared by every hotel. The date-based defaults only send for your hotel when Use HiLucy's default messages is switched on at the top of the screen, and it is off until you choose it. Check-in defaults always apply.
- Not used here on a default means it does not send for this hotel: default messages are off, or you have your own copy. To change a default, Clone it and edit the copy.
- Switching a rule on first shows how many guests it will reach. Nothing is scheduled until you confirm.
- A rule in Test mode sends everything to its test recipient instead of guests. With no test recipient set it sends nothing.
When an Automated Message Did Not Go Out
- Open the rule on Automations and press History. Every message the rule planned is listed with its status (sent, pending, failed, skipped or cancelled) and, when it did not go, the reason.
- Delivery lists every message with its channel and status (sent, delivered, read, failed or skipped).
Some reasons are the rule doing what it was told: the guest has no phone number, no email address, or has not agreed to messages, or is outside the rule's audience. These are faults to fix: the template is not approved, the guest's 24-hour window had closed, the rule is in test mode with no test recipient, or no sender is set up for the channel on Comms → Senders.
When a large batch of automated messages falls due at once, HiLucy holds them until someone at HiLucy approves them, rather than sending them all. Nothing is lost while they wait. Contact [email protected] if messages you expected have not gone out.
Best Practices
- Keep templates short and actionable -- guests skim WhatsApp messages on mobile
- Include only one call-to-action per message
- Use the guest's first name to personalize every template
- Try a new rule in test mode before switching it on for guests