Visitor Approval on WhatsApp

Overview

If you use the WhatsApp AI agent, hosts can approve their walk-in visitors by replying to a WhatsApp message, as well as by email or in the app. The host gets a numbered list of answers and can reply with a number, or in their own words, such as “approve Alex, I’ll collect them”. This page covers the WhatsApp side. For how approval works overall, see Visitor approval.

Before you start

A host is sent a WhatsApp message when all of these are true:

Requirement	Where to set it
The WhatsApp AI agent is connected and turned on.	Settings → AI Assistants (preview) → Channels → WhatsApp, Enable WhatsApp AI agent. See WhatsApp channel setup.
Visitor approval is turned on.	Settings → Apps and integrations → Companion apps → NexIO, Require host approval for walk-in visitors. See Visitor approval.
The host has a mobile number, with its country code.	On the host’s customer record, Account → Account details → Phone numbers → Cell / Mobile.
The visitor registered at NexIO and chose the host.

If any of these isn’t true, the host still gets the approval email and app notification, but no WhatsApp message.

Customise the message

Go to Settings → AI Assistants (preview) → Channels → WhatsApp and find Visitor approval message. It only appears once Enable WhatsApp AI agent is on.

Field	What it does
Opt-in visitor approval message template content SID	The Twilio template used to reach hosts who haven’t messaged you in the last 24 hours. See Reach hosts outside the 24-hour window.
Custom approval message intro	The first line of the message. Use `{{visitorName}}` for the visitor’s name. The numbered options are added underneath automatically.
”Approve, I’ll collect them” label	The wording of the collect-at-reception option.
”Approve, send to my unit/desk” label	The wording of the send-them-up option.
”Reject” label	The wording of the reject option.

Leave a field empty to use the default wording. The two approve options only appear if you’ve allowed them in your visitor approval settings, and the options are numbered to match. With the default wording, a host whose visitor Alex Smith is waiting receives:

You have a visitor waiting for your approval: Alex Smith
Approve, I'll collect them
Approve, send to my unit/desk
Reject

If you set the intro to Hi! {{visitorName}} is at reception. Reply with one of the options below., the host receives:

Hi! Alex Smith is at reception. Reply with one of the options below.
Approve, I'll collect them
Approve, send to my unit/desk
Reject

Reach hosts outside the 24-hour window

WhatsApp only lets you send a free-form message to someone who has messaged you in the last 24 hours. For anyone else, you must first send a template that Meta has approved. So when a host hasn’t messaged you recently, Nexudus:

Sends a template asking the host to reply with your opt-in keyword, for example yes.
Sends the approval message, with its numbered options, once the host replies with the keyword.

To use a template that names the visitor:

In your Twilio Console, create a content template, for example: You have a visitor at reception: {{1}}. Reply YES to see your options. Nexudus fills in {{1}} with the visitor’s full name.
Submit it for Meta’s approval. Once it’s approved, copy its Content SID, which starts with HX.
Paste it into Opt-in visitor approval message template content SID and save.

If you leave this field empty, Nexudus uses your general opt-in template instead: the Template Content SID under Outbound messaging, on the same page. That template doesn’t name the visitor. If neither is set, hosts outside the 24-hour window aren’t sent a WhatsApp message, but still get the email. The opt-in keyword is the Opt-in keyword under Outbound messaging. It’s yes unless you change it, and isn’t case-sensitive.

How hosts reply

Hosts can reply:

With a number, matching the options in the message.
By name, such as approve Alex, reject John or approve Maria and send her to my desk.
With just approve, if only one visitor is waiting. If you allow both approve options, the AI asks which one they mean.
For everyone at once, with approve all.
By asking, such as any visitors?, to see who’s waiting.

Before anything changes, the AI repeats the visitor’s name and the chosen answer, and asks the host to confirm. Nothing is updated until they do. If they confirm more than an hour later, the AI asks them to confirm once more. Once the host confirms:

The visitor’s status changes to Hold for collection, Grant access or Rejected.
Admins with Visitor registrations notifications turned on are emailed.
If the host chose to send the visitor to their unit or desk, and Automatically check approved visitors in is on, the visitor is checked in.

See Visitor approvals in the Members Portal guide for more on what hosts can say.

Turn it off

Stop WhatsApp approval messages only: turn off Enable WhatsApp AI agent, which also turns off the WhatsApp AI agent. Hosts still get the email and app notification.
Stop visitor approval entirely: turn off Require host approval for walk-in visitors.
Remove one of the approve options: turn it off in your visitor approval settings. It’s removed from the WhatsApp message too.

Costs

Messages are sent through your own Twilio WhatsApp number, so Twilio charges you for them at its WhatsApp rates.

Troubleshooting

The host never receives a WhatsApp message

Check that:

The host has a Cell / Mobile number on their customer record, with its country code.
Enable WhatsApp AI agent is on.
Require host approval for walk-in visitors is on, and NexIO is on Version 2.
The visitor registered at NexIO. Visitors registered by your team or in the Members Portal don’t need approval.
If the host hasn’t messaged you in the last 24 hours, an opt-in template SID is set.

The host gets the template but not the approval message

The approval message is only sent after the host replies with the opt-in keyword. Ask them to reply with exactly that word, which is yes unless you’ve changed it under Outbound messaging.

The host replied but the visitor's status didn't change

The AI asks the host to confirm before it changes anything. Ask the host to check the AI’s last message: it’s probably waiting for them to confirm. If the visitor has already been approved or rejected on another channel, later answers are ignored.

The AI says it can't match the host's number

The number the host is messaging from doesn’t match the Cell / Mobile number on their customer record. Update it, including the country code, and ask the host to reply again.