The Inbox brings every guest message linked to a reservation into one place, available in both the Tebi App and the Back Office. Each conversation is automatically connected to the right reservation, so you always have context: guest name, reservation date, group size, table.

What you can do

Read and reply to guest messages.
View reservation details without leaving the conversation.
Edit the reservation directly from the conversation pane.
Filter by reservation date or read/unread status.
Search by guest name or message content (Back Office only).

Messages vs notes

Within a reservation you can write internal team notes or send messages directly to the guest. Messages to guests are sent as emails.

Messages — visible to the guest. Sent via email.
Notes — internal only. Guests never see them. Use for allergies, prep instructions, or VIP flags.

Open the reservation and tap Add note / message.
Write your note or message.
Click Send to customer to email the guest, or Private note for an internal team note.

Note: Messages are sent per individual reservation. Bulk messaging is not supported.

When a guest replies (via the link in their reservation email), you receive an email notification. Open the reservation in the Back Office to read and respond.

How conversations are colour-coded

Each entry in a conversation is colour-coded so you can scan and understand context at a glance:

🟠 Orange — internal note. A note for your team; the guest never sees it. To edit a note, hover over it and click the pencil icon at the top right.
🔴 Red — important note. A note marked as Important. Important notes are pinned to the top of the conversation to signal they need attention before service.
🔵 Dark blue — message sent to guest. A message you've sent that the guest received via email.
⚪ Grey — message received from guest. A message the guest sent to you.
🔷 Light blue — reservation action. A system entry showing a change to the reservation: group size adjusted, time changed, table reassigned, checked in, checked out, and so on.

Prep station routing

Notes can be routed to a specific prep station (kitchen, bar) so the right team sees only what's relevant — no inbox scrolling for cooks.

Note: Unread conversations are highlighted with a badge showing the number of unread messages.

Tip: Mark notes about allergies, anniversaries or VIPs as Important so they stand out at every shift handover.

Language

Responses in the Inbox are drafted in your customer-facing language. To change this, go to Back Office > Settings > Language.

Who can use the Inbox (roles and permissions)

Role	Can do in the Inbox	Cannot do
Staff	View reservations, read guest messages and internal notes, check in guests	Reply, write notes, edit reservations
Team Lead	All Staff + reply, write notes, mark Important, edit reservations	Access financial data, manage users
Manager	All Team Lead + edit sales view, create products	Manage user access (Owner-only)
Owner	All Manager + manage user access and roles	—

Tip: The Team Lead role is designed exactly for this: it lets floor leads manage reservations and reply to guests without exposing sensitive financial data. Assign Team Lead to anyone who needs the Inbox during service but shouldn't see revenue.

To change a user's role: Back Office › Settings › Users → click the user → Edit role.

See User roles and permissions for the full permission matrix across all of Tebi.

Filtering and search

You can filter the Inbox by:

Reservation date — today, tomorrow, this week, next week, this month, next month, or a custom range.
Read or unread messages.

In the Back Office, you can also search by guest name and conversation context.

Setting up house rules

House rules help the AI understand your business policies, so it can suggest accurate and consistent replies.

You can set this up in the Back Office under Reservations > Settings > Communication. Here you'll find an overview of the most common policies. You can also add your own by creating additional house rules, such as a cancellation policy, late arrival policy, dress code, or large group policy.

AI-assisted reply suggestions

Reply suggestions will soon be proposed as draft messages in the Inbox. The AI understands common guest requests and crafts appropriate responses based on: