Feature
One notice to the whole house, knowing beforehand how many people it reaches
Thursday, 13:05. The hot water has gone off on the third floor and Reception wants to warn people before they go up to shower. From her own WhatsApp she writes "/difundir a las habitaciones 300-340: no hay agua caliente hasta las 17:00" (broadcast to rooms 300-340: no hot water until 17:00). Bedel sends back the text exactly as it will go out, tells her how many people it will reach (already without the opt-outs) and waits for her to answer "SÍ" (yes). When it finishes, Reception knows how many received it, how many by template and how many did not.
What the team does, and what happens to each notice
| What the team does | What Bedel does |
|---|---|
| Writes on WhatsApp "/difundir a las habitaciones 300-340: no hay agua caliente hasta las 17:00" | Answers "📢 Voy a enviar esto a N personas..." (I'm going to send this to N people) with the exact text and asks for "SÍ". If that question does not appear earlier in the same conversation, nothing goes out, even if the model believes it is already confirmed |
| Chooses "Families" in the dashboard and writes the invitation to the start-of-year meeting | Only counts verified family members who have given their consent, and the dashboard says how many people it will be sent to before pressing "Send" |
| Chooses "With an uncollected parcel" and writes "Please come by the front desk before Friday" | It is a live segment: it is worked out at that moment from what is still uncollected in the parcel room. More in parcels |
| Starts the text with "Hola {nombre}," | Replaces {nombre} with each recipient's first name, one by one |
| Uploads the Christmas dinner poster as a PDF | Turns it into an image in the browser itself, because on a phone an image shows without opening anything. From a multi-page PDF only the first page goes, and the screen warns about it before sending |
| Presses "Send" again because the send is taking a while | If the same text to the same audience was created less than 10 minutes ago, it does not create another broadcast: it says the send is still under way and there is no need to repeat it |
| One of the recipients has not written to the number for weeks | With their window closed, the notice reaches them through an approved WhatsApp template. On WhatsApp, the final summary counts how many went that way |
From the dashboard: to whom, and how many
Announcements are sent by whoever has the communication permission in the dashboard: the centre's account, an administrator or a team member who has been given it. They choose the audience, write up to 1,500 characters and, before sending, see how many people will receive it and a dialogue with the text. When it finishes, the dashboard says how many went out and, if any failed, why.
- Audiences: the whole directory, residents or colegiales (the residents of a colegio mayor, a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme), verified families, single rooms or ranges ("312,415" or "100-200") and people picked one by one by name.
- Two live segments, worked out at sending time: anyone with something uncollected at the front desk and anyone with an allergy or a diet on their record (see allergens).
- Three starting texts for what repeats most: dining hall closed, quiet hours for exams and a centre event.
- With rooms, the count is made by the server when sending; with every other audience, it is shown before pressing.
From the team's WhatsApp, with '/difundir'
Anyone on the team can broadcast without opening the computer. They write '/difundir' (broadcast), the text and who it is for; Bedel drafts the message that will go out, counts the real recipients and asks for confirmation. It is only sent with an explicit "SÍ", and the check that the question was asked is made by the code, not by the model's judgement.
- Audiences on WhatsApp: the whole directory, residents, families, the whole team, one specific post (Maintenance, for example) or some rooms or a range.
- The number shown before confirming already leaves out anyone who has opted out.
- The final summary says how many received it, how many by template and how many did not go out, with the reason.
- If the person asking "send it to everyone" is a resident or a family member, Bedel does not broadcast it: it takes the message for the team and does not say it has sent anything.
Opt-outs, duplicates and the double click
An announcement is started by the centre, not by the person, so the opt-out always wins: anyone who has opted out of the channel does not receive it, and they are counted as left out without pointing at anyone. Repeated phone numbers are removed before sending, and from the dashboard the same text to the same audience does not go out twice within ten minutes.
- A father with two children in the centre receives the notice to families only once.
- If everyone in an audience has opted out, the dashboard says so instead of sending to nobody.
- On confirming, the dialogue closes and the button stays on "Sending..."; a second identical attempt gets the answer that the first one is still under way.
When the 24-hour window is closed
WhatsApp only allows open text to be sent to someone who has written in the last 24 hours, and a notice to a hundred residents almost always falls outside that window. Bedel tries the direct message and, if WhatsApp rejects it because of the window, sends it through an approved template with the text inside. The poster travels in the header of an image template.
- From the dashboard, the send goes one by one, with a pause between messages.
- If the send were about to exceed the daily message limit WhatsApp sets for the number, Bedel stops before it and says how many were left unsent.
- What a template is and why it is needed, in WhatsApp template.
The poster, always as an image
An event poster is uploaded from the dashboard as a PDF or an image, and it always goes to WhatsApp as an image, which shows on a phone without opening anything. The conversion is done on the computer of whoever uploads it: the PDF does not leave it, and only the image reaches the server.
- From a multi-page PDF only the first page goes, and the screen warns about it before sending.
- With the window open, the image goes with the text as a caption; with the window closed, the image template.
- The poster goes through the same opt-outs and the same daily limit as the text.
- From '/difundir' on WhatsApp, only text goes out.
What it does not do
- It does not translate: the announcement goes out as it is written, even though Bedel then answers each person in their own language. More in languages.
- It is not scheduled for later: it goes out the moment it is confirmed.
- Each door has its own audiences: WhatsApp does not have the dashboard's segments (uncollected parcel, allergy or diet, people one by one) or the poster, and in the dashboard you cannot pick one specific team post.
- It does not say who has read it: it counts the notices that went out, not the ones that were opened.
Frequently asked questions
Who can send an announcement?
From the dashboard, whoever has the communication permission: the centre's account, an administrator or a team member who has been given it. From WhatsApp, anyone who is on the centre's team, with the /difundir command. A resident or a family member cannot: if they ask, Bedel takes the message for the team to decide and does not say it has sent anything.
Does it reach someone who has not written to the number for weeks?
Yes. WhatsApp only allows open text within the 24 hours after that person's last message. Outside that window, Bedel sends the notice through a template approved by Meta with the text inside; if it carries a poster, through a template with the image in the header. The opt-out always wins: anyone who has opted out does not receive it by any route.
Can it be sent to just one floor or a few rooms?
Yes, with a list of rooms or with a range. In the dashboard you choose "By room" and write, for example, 312,415 or 100-200. On WhatsApp it is enough to say so in the message: "/difundir a las habitaciones 300-340" and the text. In both cases it counts whoever has that room in the directory, and a room with nobody assigned does not count.
What if someone presses "Send" twice?
It does not go out twice. On confirming, the dialogue closes and the button stays on "Sending...". And if another broadcast arrives with the same text, the same audience and the same filter as one created less than ten minutes ago, the dashboard does not create it: it answers that the message is already being sent and there is no need to repeat it.
Does it go out translated into each resident's language?
No. The announcement goes out with the text as written, in a single language. What does happen is that, if someone replies to the notice, Bedel answers in the language of their last message, as in any other conversation. If the centre has residents who do not read Spanish, it is worth writing the notice in both languages within the same text.
Will we know who has read it?
No. Bedel counts the notices that went out, those that went by template and those that failed with their reason, but it does not keep track of who opens them. Nor are they scheduled for another time: an announcement goes out the moment it is confirmed, from the dashboard or from WhatsApp.
Related features
- ParcelsThe front desk logs what arrives from the dashboard or with /paquete and Bedel tells the resident on WhatsApp, even if she has not written for days.
- LanguagesIt answers in the language of the last message, leaves links, times and names untouched, and if a translation fails the original text goes out.
- Dashboard and metricsConversation history and search, metrics that come from counting rows, team roles and shifts, and data protection rights carried out from the dashboard.
For each type of centre
- Colegios mayoresFor colegios mayores: the dining hall with its cancellations, packed lunches and allergens; activities with their call and their survey; families and applicants; and what belongs to management, to management.
- University residencesFor residences owned by or affiliated with a university: support in each resident's language, repairs and cleaning with outside contractors, the arrivals of each semester and enquiries about places.
- Student residencesFor student residences and PBSA operators: WhatsApp support in the resident's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, arrivals, presence and parcels.
- ColivingFor coliving and flex living: support in each resident's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, common-room bookings, parcels and announcements without groups.
- Researcher residencesFor researcher, graduate and visiting-faculty residences: arrivals any week of the year, replies in each person's language, contracted maintenance and cleaning, and the end of every stay.
- Hostels and alberguesFor hostels, albergues and pilgrim hostels: house questions answered in each guest's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, and the night covered with nobody at the desk.
- Holiday apartmentsFor holiday apartments, aparthotels and mid-stay lets: replies in the guest's language, repairs with a technician and a deadline, housekeeping requests between stays and house rules.
- Build to rentFor build-to-rent and flex living buildings: repairs with an owner and a deadline even when maintenance is outsourced, parcels with a notice, shared-space bookings, building notices and house rules answered.