Hassan & Ali
Covers Engine

Board Update
April 26

Sprint review — Mise, Messaging, CRM, Analytics, Marketing & Platform

Hassan & Ali
Last Meeting's Goals

Three priorities, where we are

1. MESSAGING LAYER DONE

Guest Communications

  • Automated confirmations — instant on booking
  • Smart reminders — business-hours aware
  • AI reply parsing — LLM classifies intent
  • SMS + Email — WhatsApp pending Meta setup
  • 3 languages — EN, FR, AR
  • TCPA compliance — opt-out from day one
2. MISE (IN-APP AGENT) PARTIAL

AI-Powered Assistant

  • UI built — chat interface in the dashboard
  • Analytics insights — AI summaries shipped
  • Agent logic & tool calling — next
  • Natural language queries on restaurant data
  • Operational recommendations
3. SADIE AI INTEGRATION PARTIAL

Partner API

  • OAuth 2.0 server — shipped
  • REST API — availability, bookings, waitlist
  • Partner docs — integration guide ready
  • Live integration with Sadie — next
  • Webhook events — next
Hassan & Ali
Overview

Sprint at a glance

Hassan
🍽
Reservation & Guest Ops
One-click confirmations, faster guest creation, waitlist redesign
📈
Service View & Analytics
Live floor plan, smart seating, booking channel insights
Performance & UX
No more flickering, smarter search, adaptive tables — Lorraine’s feedback applied
🌐
Marketing & Growth
Full page overhaul — every feature now represented, ready for outbound
Ali
💬
Automated Messaging
SMS & email confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups — fully automated
🤖
AI-Powered Replies
Guests reply naturally, AI understands intent and responds automatically
📬
Guest Experience
Human-sounding messages in 3 languages, 3 tone presets per restaurant
🔒
Partner API (Sadie)
Secure partner integrations — any app can book tables through Covers
Hassan
Product

Reservation & Guest Operations

app.usecovers.com/dashboard/reservations
Reservation Ops Demo

Booking Confirmations

Guests confirm with one click from their reminder. Staff instantly see who’s confirmed and who hasn’t — fewer no-shows, less phone chasing.

Faster Guest Creation

Staff create a new guest right inside the booking form — no switching screens. Duplicates caught automatically by phone or email.

Waitlist Redesign

Cleaner layout with quick actions. Guests see their position. Also available to partners through our API — based on Lorraine’s feedback on the previous flow.

Conflicts & Data Export

When two bookings clash, staff choose how to resolve it in one step. Full CSV export for guest lists and reservation history.

Hassan
Operations

Service View & Analytics

app.usecovers.com/dashboard/service-view
Service View Demo

Table Status at a Glance

Hosts see which tables are reserved, available, or locked — directly on the floor plan. No guessing, no asking. Lorraine’s feedback drove clearer visual cues.

Smart Seating

Three seating strategies — Fast Balanced Optimal — so restaurants can maximize covers during peak hours.

Where Bookings Come From

New analytics dashboard showing reservation sources — website widget, phone, walk-in, or partner API. Helps restaurants understand their channels.

Table Combining

Large party? The system automatically combines adjacent tables. Staff see it live on the floor plan — no manual reconfiguration.

Ali
Messaging Layer

How a message gets sent

From booking to delivery — fully automated, multi-channel

Step 1
Guest Books
Widget captures phone + channel preference
Step 2
Pick Channel
SMS or Email (WhatsApp pending Meta)
Step 3
Render Template
Locale + tone + type → body text
Step 4
Send & Log
Telnyx or SES → conversation log

Confirmation

Fires instantly when reservation is created. Guest gets a message within seconds of booking.

Reminder

Scheduled via EventBridge + SQS. Fires at the exact time. Respects business hours — no 3am texts. Skips closed days.

Reply ACK

Guest replies to confirm or cancel → we send a follow-up acknowledgement in the same tone.

42
Templates seeded
3
Languages (EN/FR/AR)
3
Tone presets
2+1
SMS + Email (WA pending)
Ali
Two-Way Conversation

Guests reply naturally, AI handles the rest

Regex for simple cases. AI for everything else. Staff escalation when unsure.

Hey Sarah! Just a heads up, your table at Ember & Vine is tomorrow at 7:30pm, party of 4. Let us know if anything changes!
Covers → Guest · SMS · Reminder
hey actually something came up, we can't make it anymore sorry!
Guest → Covers · Regex: no match → AI
AI CLASSIFICATION
Intent: CANCEL · Confidence: 0.95
Above 0.7 threshold → auto-execute
No worries Sarah, we've cancelled your reservation at Ember & Vine. Hope to see you another time!
Covers → Guest · SMS · Cancel ACK
1

Regex first (fast path)

"yes", "no", "stop" — instant match, no AI call needed

2

AI classification (fallback)

Free-text replies → LLM returns intent + confidence. Supports: confirm, cancel, opt_out, other

3

Confidence threshold

≥ 0.7 → auto-execute. < 0.7 → Slack notification to staff with full context

4

Always compliant

STOP keyword is instant (regex). opt_out intent via AI requires 0.7+ confidence. TCPA-compliant from day one

Ali
Guest Experience

Messages sound human

No robot language. Three tone presets — restaurant picks one. Reads like a real host texting.

FRIENDLY

Casual & warm

"Hey Sarah! This is Ali from Ember & Vine. Your table is all set for tomorrow at 7:30pm, party of 4. Can't wait to have you!"
PROFESSIONAL

Polished & formal

"Hello Sarah, this is Ali from Ember & Vine. Your reservation is confirmed for tomorrow at 7:30pm, party of 4. We look forward to welcoming you."
WARM

Personal & excited

"Hi Sarah, it's Ali from Ember & Vine. So glad you're joining us tomorrow at 7:30pm, party of 4. We're getting everything ready for you!"

Configurable per restaurant

Sender name, tone, reminder timing, active channels — all controlled from Settings → Messaging. Restaurants can also override individual template wording.

Multi-language from day one

Every template exists in English, French, and Arabic. Template engine picks the right locale automatically from the organization's settings.

Hassan
Polish

Faster, Smoother — Across Every Page

app.usecovers.com/dashboard/guests
Before & After Demo

No More Flickering

6 pages

Filtering, searching, and paginating used to flash a blank screen. Now the current data stays visible until new results are ready. Lorraine’s #1 feedback item — fixed everywhere.

Smarter Search

~80% fewer requests

Search waits until you stop typing before querying — no lag, no wasted requests. Feels instant on slow connections too.

Smooth Transitions

All tables

When data is loading, the table gently dims instead of disappearing. No jumping, no layout shifts — the screen stays stable.

Adaptive Tables

New

Tables now fill the screen — whether it’s a laptop or a 27″ monitor. No more scrolling past 10 rows on a large display.

Hassan
Growth

Marketing Page Overhaul

usecovers.com
Marketing Page Demo

Before

Half our features weren’t on the page. No reservation management, no guest CRM, no seating strategy, no waitlist, no API section. Prospects couldn’t see what we actually do.

After — 6 new sections

Reservation Command Center, Guest Profiles, Smart Seating, Waitlist, Channel Distribution, and Developer API. Every capability is now represented.

Ready for Outbound

Updated pricing, refreshed navigation, and live stats. The page now tells the full product story — ready for sales outreach and investor conversations.

Ali
Sadie Integration

OAuth 2.0 — the door for partners

Built for Sadie, but any partner can connect through the same flow.

Step 1
Connect
Restaurant clicks "Connect" in partner app
Step 2
Authorize
Redirected to Covers — review & grant
Step 3
Tokens
Partner gets access + refresh tokens
Step 4
API Calls
Bearer token on /v1/* endpoints

What partners can do

Check Availability

GET /v1/availability — open slots for a date, party size, location

Manage Reservations

POST /v1/reservations · GET · DELETE — full booking lifecycle

Waitlist

POST /v1/waitlist — add guests, track position

Venues

GET /v1/venues — list restaurants the partner has access to

Security & control

Scoped Permissions

reservations:read, reservations:write, availability:read, waitlist:write — restaurant controls what each partner can do

Tenant Isolation

Every API call is org-scoped. A partner can only access restaurants that granted them permission. Zero cross-tenant leakage.

Connected Apps UI

Restaurant sees all connected partners in Settings → Integrations. Can revoke access anytime.

Partner Docs

Full integration guide shipped. OpenAPI spec verified with E2E tests. Sadie's team can start integrating today.

Hassan
Roadmap

What’s Next

✨ Mise — In-App AI Agent

Context-aware assistant embedded in every dashboard page. Natural-language commands for reservations, guests, and analytics. UI shell built — agent logic next.

💬 Sadie Messaging

Multi-channel guest comms — SMS, WhatsApp, email in one unified inbox. AI-drafted replies, template library, and automated confirmations. Architecture shipped — integration next.

👥 Guest CRM

Full guest profiles with visit history, preferences, tags, and notes. Merged duplicates, VIP tracking, and spend analytics. New design shipping this sprint.

📈 Analytics Expansion

Revenue dashboards, cover trends, peak-hour heatmaps, and no-show rates. Filterable by location, service, and date range. v1 live — expanding widgets.

🌐 Marketing Page

Public-facing landing page with feature showcase, pricing tiers, and onboarding flow. Responsive, SEO-optimized, dark-mode-first. Live now — iterating on conversion.

Presenter Notes
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