Rezzy directive to no reply unless a situation is urgent

Rezzy just cost us a $5,000 booking.

A guest sent a pre-booking inquiry to see if we'd make an exception to allow their small Bichon to stay at our property. Normally, the property has no pets. Rezzy responded immediately, saying absolutely no pets are allowed, and shut the door on that one.

As a host, I'm totally happy to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis, and this could have been a very profitable booking for us. I've already tried to reach out to the guest and tell them we'd make an exception to allow their pet, but have had no response.

I've added directives to Rezzy now to not categorically decline pet requests, but to defer to the host. So far, my testing in the sandbox seems to indicate that this will work. However, what this really highlights is the bigger issue. I would like to be able to give Rezzy the directive to only respond in certain conditions and not respond at all if the situation doesn't match the condition I'm asking it to respond in. I've turned Rezzy on only to respond in off-hours for emergency situations. In that case, it's supposed to send them a paging portal where they can reach a host 24/7. The problem is Rezzy also overzealously responds to every other message a guest might offer during our off-hours, and in this case, lost us a booking. 

To be super clear, my request here is to provide an option in the directive to Rezzy to only respond if the guest message falls under a certain category. For example, if I'd like to be able to direct Rezzy: “Do not respond unless the guest message is about an emergency situation (such as a power failure, gas or plumbing leak, or a lockout). In which case, please provide the escalation details for them to reach out to contact a host immediately. In all other conditions, draft a response, but do not send it."

Hi Douglas,

Have you tried setting up directives for Rezzy to only reply to 'emergencies' after hours?  I would recommend creating an FAQ with a list of every topic that you can think of that might be defined as an emergency. Then create a directive explaining when and how to use that list.  Furthermore, I would recommend using another AI to construct the directive and paste it into Rezzy. They 'speak the language', and you can go back and forth with them to fine-tune the directive.  Then test, test, test in the sandbox.

Actually, I have. I even asked support if it was possible to direct Rezzy to only respond to certain topics and not send a reply at all if the topic wasn’t one of the ones listed. They told me that Rezzy always responds - there is no option for it to not respond at all. That’s basically what I’m asking for. 

if something has changed in Rezzy’s capabilities since then, I’ll give it another shot. 

Rezzy is continually updated.  A major 'modernization' was released in June that greatly improved her ability to stay quiet, among other things, and included greatly improved insight into her 'thinking process' in the log.  Please try again to see if your directives are more effective!

Thanks, Michael. I've experimented with this a little bit more, and here's what I found. 

Adding a directive such as:

"Do not reject request for pets even on properties, which do not allow them in their property rules. Instead defer to the host to make the final decision. When you see these types of inquires, simply respond that the host will follow up with them during normal business hours."

... does successfully get Rezzy to not shut down requests for pets, as an example, but that requires me to be very specific and think of all the ways Rezzy could go wrong in advance. 

Using directives to prevent a response unless it's urgent, such ass:

"Your role is to monitor after-hours guest communications and only respond if there is an urgent need or emergency that needs the immediate attention of a host. If there is no urgent issue, please do not respond or send a message back to the guest at all."

... seems to have no effect. Rezzy still concludes that they always need to respond, and will enthusiastically answer any guest query. 

Even including directives to prevent price quoting, such as:

"Do not quote any rates for a requested booking or booking change, or offer a confirmation or suggestion that their request can be fulfilled. All booking inquiries or changes must be reviewed and responded to by the host. "

... is not successful at all.  Rezzy still gladly quotes rates to guests on request (using the Sandbox features), such as this exchange:

QUESTION;

I'd like to stay this weekend. Can you give me a discount for a last-minute booking? What would the cost for the weekend be for five people?

ANSWER:

We don't have last-minute discounts available for Oakwood Haus.

For **Friday, August 21 – Sunday, August 23** (2 nights, 5 guests), the total is **(amount)**, which includes rent, cleaning, and tax. Full payment would be due at booking since arrival is within 30 days.

If you'd like to move forward, just let me know and I'll get the request submitted to the host.

I'm not debating whether the price quoted was correct or not - my concern is that Rezzy isn't actually following the directives given.

Hi Doug,

I took a look at the sandbox exchange that you shared above in the Rezzy Log.  It has a great deal of detail about what Rezzy used to formulate her response and a section explaining her 'thinking'.  She didn't find the directive that you describe, so it did not impact her process.  And I don't see it anywhere either.

Directives are created on the Rezzy Directives tab.  + Add Scenario

It looks like maybe you entered it in the Rezzy > Overview >  'Conversation Tone' box. That is not for directives. 😉

Thanks for the additional suggestions.  I did have instructions in the Directives, but they were very light handed, so I tried making it more direct(ive):

I now have this in my directives under General Instructions, active for all properties and booking statues:

If the guest message is not related to a lockout or other urgent situation that requires immediate attention from a host, do not attempt to answer the guest's question. Simply inform them that the host will get back to them during normal business hours (Hosts are on duty 7A-9P Pacific Time for non-urgent messages). Do not quote rates, discounts, or property policies.

Here are some other sandbox tests with Rezzy:

QUESTION:  I'd really like to bring my pet, an iguana. I see that your policy has no pets, but this isn't a dog or a cat, so it's not going to shed. It'll never leave its terrarium, so there's no way it can damage the property. Would this be okay during an upcoming stay? 

ANSWER: That's a reasonable point to raise, and I appreciate the context. The no-pets policy does apply broadly, so I can't approve an exception on our end - but I'll pass this along for the host to review. They'll get back to you during normal business hours (7am-9pm Pacific)

-- not bad, but still quoted property policy, when it was explicitly directed not to.

QUESTION: Your property looks amazing. I have a party of eight, and I would like to book for the last week of November. Is there a price difference if I stayed for just the weekend or if we actually rent for an entire week? Are there weekly discounts? What would the cost be? 

ANSWER; Sorrel Haus does accommodate up to 8 guests, so your group would be a great fit. For pricing details on a full week vs. just the weekend, and any weekly discount options, the host will follow up with you during normal business hours (7AM–9PM Pacific). Since it's currently within that window, you should hear back soon.

-- much better!

I then added specific language to the directive for it not to discuss pet policies, so the directive in it's entirety is now:

Only provide host direct contact information if the situation is urgent, for example: - a lockout - utility failure - leak - other issue that is immediate and urgent In all other situations, inform the guests that the issue will be raised for the host to address during normal business hours If the guest message is not related to a lockout or other urgent situation that requires immediate attention from a host, do not attempt to answer the guest's question. Simply inform them that the host will get back to them during normal business hours (Hosts are on duty 7A-9P Pacific Time for non-urgent messages). Do not quote rates, discounts, or property policies. Specifically around pet policies, any questions should defer to the host - do not communicate property policies about pets to the guest at all.

Then I tested again:

QUESTION: I like to travel with my poodle, which is completely non-shedding and very well trained. I have nothing but five-star reviews, and they always come with me on my trip. Can you make an exception for your pet policy to allow my dog to stay with me during an upcoming visit for a week in September? 

ANSWER: I'll pass your request along to the host for review — they'll follow up during normal business hours (7AM–9PM Pacific). You can also reach out directly at [redacted] if you'd like to connect sooner.

... so this seemed better at first, as it wasn't going to make a call on the pet policy, but then Rezzy shared our paging portal information for a clearly non-urgent issue.  The log is available (7543400) if you'd like to take a look - I don't see anything in there that indicates why Rezzy thought this was an urgent issue worthy of sharing the paging portal information.

Previously you'd suggested crafting a response with the aid of another LLM - what model is Rezzy running on so that I can better craft my directives?

Hi Doug,

Rezzy is multimodal.  Any of the free AI agents available do a good job of 'speaking the language' better than I can and well enough to create decent directives. Personally, I have used Co-PIlot, Gemini, GPT, and Claude to write my FAQs and Directives.  I've gotten to the point that if Rezzy provides a bad answer, it's because she didn't have enough info from my codex of information. It will happen.  But with the upgrades that the OwnerRez team continues to provide and fine-tuning my directives, it's working pretty good.