The Guest Escalation Message

When Vanio AI decides a conversation needs a person, it hands the conversation to your team. By default, it also sends the guest a short note so they know a human will follow up — something like "Thanks for the message, I've passed this along to our team and someone will get back to you shortly."

Some teams would rather the handoff be invisible to the guest. You can now turn that message off.

What the setting does

Go to Settings → Vanio AI and look for Tell the guest when Vanio AI escalates to a human.

• On (default) — when Vanio AI escalates, the guest receives the short acknowledgement message, then your team takes over.
• Off — the handoff is silent to the guest. Vanio AI sends them nothing. Your team is still alerted, the conversation is still flagged and reassigned exactly as before — the only difference is the guest doesn't see a message from Vanio AI.

When to turn it off

• You'd rather your team reply in their own voice the moment they pick up, with no "a bot is handing you off" preamble.
• You want escalations to feel seamless to the guest, as if a person was there all along.

Leave it on if you want guests to get an immediate "we've got this" reassurance even before a teammate is free to reply.

How escalations work now

Vanio AI handles assigned and unassigned conversations a little differently, and guests are kept in the loop either way.

When the conversation is assigned to a team member: Vanio AI prepares exactly what it would do to resolve the issue and presents it to that team member with a one-tap approval button. They can approve Vanio's suggestion instantly or handle the reply themselves. While they decide, the guest automatically receives a brief holding acknowledgment — so they're never left wondering if anyone has seen their message.

When the conversation is unassigned: Vanio AI acts right away without waiting for approval. The guest still receives an immediate acknowledgment while the issue is being resolved.

In both cases, the guest's acknowledgment is sent the moment escalation occurs — before any team member has had a chance to reply manually. This is what keeps response times feeling fast even when your team is busy.

[Screenshot: A guest-facing acknowledgment message appearing in a conversation thread while a team member's approval is pending]

Key features

• Immediate guest acknowledgment — guests hear back right away, even before a team member has acted, so no one is left waiting in silence.
• One-tap approval for assigned messages — team members see Vanio AI's suggested response and can approve or override it with a single tap.
• Autonomous action for unassigned messages — Vanio AI resolves unassigned conversations on its own, without requiring a team member to be in the loop first.
• Acknowledgment toggle — if you prefer a fully invisible handoff, you can turn the guest-facing message off entirely in Settings.

Tips & best practices

• Keep the acknowledgment on if your team sometimes takes a few minutes to review suggestions. Guests feel reassured the moment escalation happens, which reduces follow-up messages.
• Turn it off if your team is highly responsive and you want every guest-facing message to come directly from a person, with no automated preamble.
• Make sure your most important conversations are assigned to a specific team member — that way they get Vanio's one-tap suggestion and can act (or take over) immediately.
• Unassigned conversations move fastest, since Vanio AI can act without waiting for an approval step. If speed is your priority and you trust Vanio AI's judgment, leaving conversations unassigned is a valid strategy.

Common questions

Does the guest get two messages — the acknowledgment and then my team's reply? Yes, if the acknowledgment is turned on, the guest sees the holding note first, then your team member's reply (or Vanio AI's approved response) when it's ready. The acknowledgment is intentionally brief so the follow-up reply feels like a natural continuation.

Can my team still override Vanio AI's suggestion even after the guest acknowledgment is sent? Absolutely. The acknowledgment just tells the guest someone is on it — it doesn't commit to any specific resolution. Your team member can approve Vanio's suggestion, edit it, or write their own reply entirely.

What if I turn the acknowledgment off — will guests still be notified once the issue is resolved? Yes. Turning off the acknowledgment only suppresses the initial holding message. Whatever reply your team sends (or approves) still goes to the guest as normal — the toggle has no effect on that final response.

Good to know

Turning this off never reduces what your team sees. Every escalation still alerts the right people and still moves the conversation into your team's hands — the toggle only affects what the guest sees.

Related

• How Vanio AI Handles Messages — when and why Vanio AI escalates.
• Notification Settings — how your team is alerted to escalations.