Sam, your AI colleague

What it does

Sam is an AI colleague who sits beside every screen of the console. You type to him or call him, in Hindi, English or Hinglish, and he answers, shows you where to click, or does the job himself: checks a guest in, takes a payment, moves a room, cancels a booking, opens a report, gives a task, sets you a reminder.

He works as you. He can do only what your own role can do, and everything he does is in the audit log marked via Sam. Before anything that touches money, a guest or a setting, he opens the same form you would use, already filled in, and shows a card with exactly what will happen. Nothing happens until you click Confirm or say “yes”. An ID is approved only by your own click.

Who can use it

Front Desk, Managers, Admins (owners), Housekeeping and Accountants. Each person sees only what their role allows. Sam does not take concierge or kitchen jobs yet: he says so and points you to that screen.

Only if your hotel has it

Upstay switches Sam on for a hotel and sets a monthly limit. Until then he does not appear.

Where to find it

On a computer, Ask Sam is a tab on the right edge of every screen. Click it, or press Ctrl + J (⌘ J on a Mac), and Sam opens as a panel down the right side. The page moves left to make room, and the panel stays open as you move between screens. Drag its left edge to make it wider or narrower. Press Ctrl + J again, or click the arrow at its top, to fold it away.

On a phone or tablet, Sam is the round picture above the bottom bar. Tap it to open him full screen, with Chat and Call at the top.

You can also type anything in Find anything and choose Ask Sam.

How to ask Sam a question

1. Open Sam.
2. Type your question in Ask Sam or tell him what to do…, for example “who is arriving today?” or “aaj ke arrivals dikhao”.
3. Press Enter. Sam answers and opens the right screen.

When you open him, Sam first tells you what needs you now. Click a line, or one of the suggestions under Try saying, to hand it to him.

How to have Sam do a job

1. Say what you want done in your own words, for example “check in room 204”, “Rahul paid 5000 cash”, “move 204 to 305” or “cancel QA-WEL-T40MSNO, the guest asked”.
2. If a detail is missing, Sam asks for it, one short question at a time.
3. For a small job (a note, a cleaning request, a room’s status, a reminder) Sam does it at once, opens the screen where it shows and lights it up for a moment.
4. For money, a guest or a setting, Sam opens the form for that job, filled in, with Sam filled this in at the top. Its own button is locked: read it, then use Sam’s card.
5. The card stays at the bottom of Sam’s panel until you answer. Click Confirm, or type or say “yes”. Only the word “yes” confirms: “haan” or “ok” keeps the card waiting. Click Cancel, or say “no” or “nahi”, to stop. Nothing has happened until then.

If something on the form is wrong, tell Sam what to change; he prepares it again. If your role cannot do something, or it is over your limit, Sam says so, and over a limit the request goes to your manager exactly as if you had done it yourself.

How to know which jobs Sam can do

1. Ask Sam “what can you do?”, or look at the list below.
2. Say the job in your own words. Sam does only the jobs your role allows; for the rest he tells you who can.

• Bookings: find a booking, check what is free, make, change, cancel or bring back a booking, mark a no-show, assign or move a room, answer a booking request, send the guest their check-in link, open a booking’s bill or ID.
• Arrivals and departures: check in, check out, undo a check-in or check-out, approve or send back IDs, mark a guest VIP.
• Money: take a payment, send a payment link, add a charge or discount, void a charge, refund a payment, record a paid-out from the drawer, see the cash drawer, money overview, coupons.
• Rooms and housekeeping: room status, set a room clean or dirty, inspect a room, report a room problem, take a room off sale, close dates for booking, cleaning jobs, ask for supplies.
• Guests and messages: message a guest, read and reply to the guest chat, guest requests and their status, order for a room, upgrade requests, log a lost item, reply to a review.
• Team: give a task, see the team, announce to staff, leave a handover note, tell the front desk something, add an employee, change the roster, record a punch for someone, attendance problems, leave requests.
• Reports and the day: today’s summary, the flash report, open, download or email a report, the night audit, decisions waiting for you, who did what.
• Your own work: punch in or out, your shifts, your tasks, your cleaning jobs, apply for leave, reminders.
• Help: how-to answers from this Help Center, “show me how”, “teach me my role”.

How to make a booking just by talking

1. Tell Sam “make a new booking” or “ek nayi booking banao”. You can say more at once, for example “book a deluxe for tomorrow, 2 nights, 2 people”.
2. Sam asks for what is still missing: the date, the nights, the guests, the room type (he tells you what is free and at what price), the guest’s name and mobile.
3. While you answer, the New booking form opens and fills in, so you see every detail.
4. When everything is there, Sam shows the booking on a card. Click Confirm or say “yes”, and the guest file opens.

How to approve a guest’s ID with Sam

1. Ask Sam to “approve the IDs for Neha Gupta”.
2. Sam checks each ID and tells you what he found: whether the name matches the booking, whether the document is still valid, whether the photos are on file.
3. If anything says CHECK, open the ID and look yourself.
4. Click Approve on the card. An ID is never approved by voice or by a typed “yes”.

How to call Sam

1. Open Sam and click Call.
2. Click Start the call and allow the microphone when your browser asks.
3. Talk normally. When you pause, Sam answers out loud, then listens again. You do not need to click between turns.
4. A card he shows stays on the call screen: click Confirm, or say “yes”. An ID still needs your click.
5. Click End call when you are done. A call also ends after a minute of silence.

How to have Sam show you how

1. Ask “how do I move a guest to another room?” or “room kaise badlein?”.
2. Sam opens the right screen, darkens the rest and points at each button in turn.
3. Do each step and click Next. Click Done at the end, or Close to stop.

New to Upstay? Say “teach me my role” and Sam walks you through the screens your job uses, in the order a shift uses them.

How to set a reminder

1. Tell Sam “remind me at 6 pm to call room 204” or “remind me in 20 minutes to check the lobby”.
2. Sam says back when he will remind you.
3. At that time, your bell shows Reminder from Sam. Sam only reminds; he never does the job by himself.

Ask “what are my reminders?” to hear the ones still waiting.

How to teach Sam about your hotel (managers and owners)

1. Tell Sam “remember that we call the Deluxe King the Garden Room”, or open Sam in the side menu, choose What Sam remembers and type it under Teach Sam.
2. From then on Sam uses it in every answer at your hotel, and no other hotel’s Sam ever sees it.
3. To stop him using something, say “forget the Garden Room”, or on What Sam remembers click Stop using or Delete (owners).

Never teach Sam a password, a card number or a guest’s private details.

How to see what Sam did and what it cost (managers and owners)

1. Open Sam under Digital assistance in the side menu (owners), or in Back office under Digital assistance.
2. The top shows this month’s Conversations, Jobs done, Cost this month against your limit, and Reply time.
3. Under Conversations, open any one to read it, with who asked and whether it was a call.
4. Every job Sam did is also in the Audit log, marked via Sam.

How to choose what Sam does without asking (owners)

1. Open Sam, then How he works.
2. Under What Sam does without asking, switch on Guest changes, Money or Settings only if you want him to act without a Confirm. Leave them off to keep the card.
3. Under Calls, choose whether Staff can call Sam and whether Sam speaks his replies on a call.
4. Click Save.

Upstay sets whether Sam is live at your hotel, the monthly limit, and whether he may only look things up.

Tips & good to know

• Sam knows the screen you are on. With a guest file open, “check out” or “show the bill” means that guest.
• He remembers the conversation. Click New conversation (the plus at the top of his panel) to start fresh.
• A card waits ten minutes. After that, ask again.
• When your hotel reaches its monthly limit, calls stop first; typing goes on until twice the limit. The owner is told at 80%.
• Sam answers how-to questions from the Upstay Help Center, and says so when he does not know.

Troubleshooting

• “Sam is not switched on for your hotel yet. Upstay turns him on.” → Ask Upstay to switch Sam on for your hotel.
• “Sam has used this month’s allowance for your hotel. He is back on the 1st.” → The monthly limit is reached. Ask Upstay to raise it, or use the console as usual.
• “Calls are paused for this month. You can still type to Sam.” → The limit stopped calls. Type instead.
• “At this hotel I can only look things up.” → Upstay set Sam to look things up only. Do the job yourself on that screen.
• “An ID is approved with your own tap on the card, not by voice.” → Click Approve on the card.
• “Sam needs the microphone. Allow it in the browser, then try again.” → Allow the microphone in your browser’s address bar, then click Start the call again.
• “Concierge and kitchen jobs are not mine yet.” → Use the Concierge or Kitchen screen for that.
• “That waited too long. Ask me again.” → The card expired. Ask again.
• “To go ahead, tap Confirm on the card or say “yes”.” → Sam heard “haan”, “ok” or similar. Click Confirm, or say “yes”.

Related features

• Reservations
• Verification
• Audit log
• Access