Roles in chat
What each staff role can do from WhatsApp, and what happens when someone asks for something their role does not allow.
Every person on your Staff list has a role. The role decides two things:
- Which commands they can use from WhatsApp.
- Which alerts they get.
You choose the role when you add someone, and you can change it at any time with Edit on the Staff page.
Chat roles and dashboard roles are separate
The roles on this page are for WhatsApp. Logins to the web dashboard have their own roles, set in Settings → Team and permissions. See Roles and permissions.
The roles
| Role | Typical job | What they can do in chat |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | The owner | Everything |
| General Manager | Runs the hotel | Everything |
| Front Desk Manager | Leads reception | Bookings, check-in and check-out, payments, the night audit, seeing rates, stock and expenses, open tickets |
| Receptionist | Reception | Bookings, check-in and check-out, payments and payment links, minibar, room reports |
| Night Auditor | Nights at reception | Same as a receptionist, plus the night audit |
| Housekeeping Supervisor | Leads housekeeping | Room reports, inspections, today's lists, stock and orders, expenses |
| Housekeeper | Cleans rooms | Room reports, their rooms to clean, supplies, stock used |
| Maintenance Lead | Leads maintenance | Tickets, stock and orders, expenses |
| Maintenance Technician | Fixes things | Taking and closing tickets, stock used |
Everyone, whatever their role, can:
- send
help,clock in,clock outandmy hours; - report a problem, like
AC leaking in 305; - check stock with
stock check.
For the full list, by command, see Commands.
Who can book
Only the front office and management can make or change bookings from WhatsApp:
- Owner
- General Manager
- Front Desk Manager
- Receptionist
- Night Auditor
This covers book, walkin, assign, move, checkin, checkout and extend.
Who can change prices
Only the owner and the general manager can change rates, run flash sales, close room types or use RevBot from WhatsApp. The front desk manager can see rates but not change them.
When a role does not allow something
ChatBeds refuses politely and changes nothing. This is true whether the person typed a command, wrote a sentence in another language, or sent a voice note.
help to see what you can do.The refusal is shown in the Command log on the Chat page as "Not allowed for their role", so you can see if someone needs a different role.
If a person often needs a command their role does not allow, change their role rather than sharing phones. Everything done in chat is recorded under the name of the person whose phone sent it.
Each person sees their own commands
When someone sends help, they only see what their role can do. A housekeeper sees the housekeeping, stock and maintenance commands, not bookings or money.
help - this list (help money for one section)
Shift
• clock in - start your shift (alerts reach you while on duty)
...Only your hotel's staff
ChatBeds recognises a staff member by their phone number, at your hotel only.
- Someone who is staff at another hotel on ChatBeds is treated as a guest at yours.
- Anyone who is not on your Staff list never reaches a command. Their messages go to the Unified Inbox.
- Removing someone from the Staff list stops their commands at once.
Who manages the Staff page
Adding, changing and removing staff, clocking someone in or out and setting shift times need an owner or admin login on the dashboard. Anyone signed in can see the staff list and the time sheet.
Still need help?