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Requests and room service from an in-house guest

Requests and in-room orders from a phone, Do not disturb, handling a request at the desk, maintenance ticket, charge to room

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Requests and room service from an in-house guest

An in-house guest can use their phone to ask for towels or cleaning, book a wake-up call, turn on Do not disturb, report a problem and order food to the room, paying at check-out. Requests reach the front desk in the room card in real time.

Who: the hotel owner (setup) and front desk and housekeeping staff (handling requests). The location's business type must be "Hotel", with check-ins in the Cenaly PMS.

Before you start:

  • the room has a QR — the guest opens the menu from it;
  • the guest has connected their device with a stay pass — without it, requests and “Charge to room” are not available (see Stay pass);
  • the call button is on: Locations → location settings → the WEB tab → Call waiter button. In a hotel, the guest sees a bell with room services in place of this button; if the button is off, requests are not available to the guest.

What requests a guest can leave#

Request What matters
Fresh towels —
Room cleaning The only request that creates a cleaning task on the housekeeping board by itself. Not accepted while Do not disturb is on in the room
Do not disturb Turns on the room's Do not disturb mode (see below)
Wake-up call The guest picks a time — in the hotel's time zone
Maintenance issue The front desk can open a maintenance ticket from it
Other request Free text

Any request can carry a note of up to 500 characters.

How a guest leaves a request#

  1. The guest opens the menu from the room QR and taps the bell. The Room services window opens.
  2. They choose a request. For a wake-up call they set the Wake-up time.
  3. Optionally, they write Add a note (optional)….
  4. They tap Send request and see “Request sent to the staff”.

If the device is not connected, the guest sees Connect room instead of the send button. The guest sees their requests and statuses (“Received”, “In progress”, “Done”, “Cancelled”) in My room → My requests.

A room can have at most 10 active requests at a time; a repeat of the same request is not created until the first one is closed.

Who receives a request and how to close it#

  • Room board. The room card shows the Guest requests block: a counter, the type, the note, the wake-up time (“Wake-up at …”) and the status “New” or “In progress”. Updates arrive in real time.
  • Push notification “🛎 …” goes to every device signed in to the hotel account with notifications on — including staff work phones. There is no role filter.
  • Housekeeping. A “Room cleaning” request immediately becomes a cleaning task on the housekeeping board. Other requests do not create tasks — they are handled from the room card.

How to handle a request:

  1. Select Start — the guest sees the status “In progress”.
  2. When done, select Done — the guest sees “Done”.
  3. For a maintenance issue you can select 🔧 To ticket: a maintenance ticket opens where you set the cost, the contractor and, if necessary, take the room out of sale until the repair. Selecting it again opens the same ticket.

A request cannot go back from “In progress” to “New”.

Do not disturb#

The room's Do not disturb mode comes from three sources:

  • the guest's “Do not disturb” request from the menu;
  • the code *424 from the room phone (if the hotel has its own PBX);
  • a switch at the front desk.

The mode applies while the guest's request is open or in progress, and only within the current stay — it is cleared at check-out. There is no time limit. If the mode is turned off from the phone or at the front desk, the guest's request is closed too. While the mode is on, a “Room cleaning” request is not accepted.

Wake-up via the PBX#

If the hotel has its own PBX, the wake-up call rings the room. If the guest answers, the request closes by itself. If not, the request stays open and is marked as a missed call: check on the guest.

Ordering food to the room#

  1. The guest opens the menu from the room QR, fills the cart and places the order.
  2. They choose a payment method:
    • online — the order goes through even without a stay pass, but the front desk and the kitchen see a mark that the device is not verified;
    • Charge to room — the amount is added to the stay bill (folio) and paid at check-out. The guest sees a consent text with the amount and the room number. Available only from a connected device;
    • on delivery — also only from a connected device.
  3. The order goes to the kitchen and the register like a regular order, with the room number.

How charges reach the bill and are settled at check-out is described in Restaurant, minibar and meals on the room bill.

Limit charges to the room#

For a particular stay you can forbid “charge to room” orders or set a balance limit.

  1. Open the room card on the room board → 🔑 Guest services.
  2. In the Room charges block:
    • turn on No charges to this room — register and guest orders “to the room” are refused, the guest pays on the spot;
    • or set a Charge limit — an order that would take the room balance above this amount is refused. Leave empty for no limit.
  3. Select Save. The block shows “Balance now” and “Left to limit”.

Front-desk charges and nights always post. The guest's “Charge to room” option is hidden in advance when charges are closed. If a guest order hits the limit, it is declined without telling the guest why — let the guest know yourself.

After check-out and in an unoccupied room#

  • The room is not checked in — the order is declined: the guest sees “Your order was declined: this room has no active check-in. Please contact the reception.”, and a warning appears at checkout in advance. A request from an unoccupied room is not created.
  • The guest has checked out — the pass has ended, the guest sees “Your stay has ended. Thank you!”, and orders and requests on behalf of the room are no longer accepted.

Not available yet#

  • A cancel button for staff — only Start and Done.
  • A message to the guest when a request is not accepted (room not checked in, Do not disturb blocks cleaning, a repeat): they see “Request sent to the staff” in any case.
  • Housekeeping tasks for towels and other requests except cleaning.
  • A setting for which staff receive request push notifications.
  • Requests without the call button: if “Call waiter button” is off, the guest has no bell.

FAQ#

A guest left a request, but it is not in the room card. Why?#

Most likely the request did not pass a check: the room is not checked in, the same request is already open, the room has 10 active requests, or the guest asked for cleaning while Do not disturb is on. In all these cases the guest still sees “Request sent to the staff”.

Does the housekeeper see a towel request?#

Not as a task: only “Room cleaning” creates a task on the housekeeping board. Towels and other requests are visible in the room card on the room board and arrive as push notifications.

How does a guest pay for room service?#

Online right away, on delivery, or “Charge to room” — then the amount goes to the stay bill and is paid at check-out.

Can I stop one guest from charging to the room?#

Yes: Guest services → Room charges → No charges to this room. You can also set a balance limit.

Does Do not disturb turn off by itself?#

Yes, at check-out. Not by time: the mode stays on until the guest, the front desk or the room phone turns it off.

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