Feature
Whoever leaves says so on WhatsApp, and the front desk and the kitchen know without writing anything down
Wednesday, 18:20. A resident writes to the hall's number: "I'm away from the 5th to the 9th; on the 5th I'll have lunch here and dinner out". Bedel logs four nights away, one row per night, and keeps her lunch on the 5th. It removes from the kitchen the dinner of each of those nights, the breakfast of each following morning and the lunch of the days she spends entirely away. The front desk gets on its phone "🚪 Absence log · ... (room 312) SLEEPING AWAY 4 nights", and she gets confirmation of what has been removed.
What the resident writes, and what happens to each thing
| What the resident writes | What Bedel does |
|---|---|
| "Me voy del 5 al 9" (I'm away from the 5th to the 9th) | Logs the nights from the 5th to the 8th, one row per night; the 9th is the return day and does not count as a night. Notifies the front desk and removes from the kitchen the dinner of each night and the following breakfast |
| "Esta noche no duermo aquí" (not sleeping here tonight), at 00:30 | Logs the night that has already begun, not tomorrow's, and answers "🚪 Anotado, te apunto fuera esta noche..." (noted, you're down as away tonight) |
| "Me voy el viernes, pero como aquí" (leaving on Friday, but I'll have lunch here) | Keeps the lunch on the day she leaves. Of the two boundary days it only logs what she says; if she says nothing, the kitchen keeps the forecast it had |
| "Salgo a cenar con mi familia, vuelvo a las 23:00" (going out to dinner with my family, back at 23:00) | Logs it as a day exit, not as a night away: notifies the front desk and answers that, if she ends up sleeping away, she should say so and it will be logged too |
| The front desk opens the dashboard on Monday | Sees the nights grouped into stretches: from which day, until which night, how many nights, the return day and what she eats on the day she leaves and the day she comes back |
| Management asks for the absence Excel | It comes out from today for the next 90 days, or for whatever range is chosen: one row per stretch, with "Eats on the day she leaves", "Days with no meals" and "Eats on the day she comes back" |
| The return day arrives | In the morning it asks "¿Llegas hoy?" (arriving today?) with two buttons; if she answers no, it logs another night away. More in arrivals and room rack |
One row per night, and the return day apart
The resident writes it as she would say it at reception, and Bedel takes two different things from it: whether it is a day exit or a night away, and which nights. Each night away is a row; the day she comes back is not another night. A long weekend is three separate rows, and the dashboard puts them together into one stretch.
- "Away from the 5th to the 9th" means the nights of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th, and the return on the 9th.
- "Not sleeping here tonight" with no date is tonight; in the small hours, the night that has already begun.
- A day exit notifies the front desk and does not touch the dining hall at all.
- From the dashboard, the team can log a stretch of up to 31 nights; a longer absence is recorded with the departure date on the person's record.
What she eats on the day she leaves and the day she comes back
The nights away say on their own what she will not eat: that night's dinner, the next morning's breakfast and, if the whole day is spent away, lunch too. The two boundary days do not: on the day she leaves she may have lunch, and on the day she comes back she may skip dinner. There Bedel logs what she says and does not invent the rest. The detail of the count, in dining hall.
- What is removed goes in as visible dining-hall cancellations, with their note, so the kitchen can see them and correct them.
- If she says nothing about those two days, the kitchen keeps the forecast it already had.
- From the dashboard, a packed meal can be logged for the day she leaves instead of the lunch or dinner she will not have in the centre.
- Bedel does not ask her what she will eat on the day she comes back: asking someone who has already reported is what makes them not report next time.
The notice to the front desk
When the notice comes in on WhatsApp nobody from the team was there, so Bedel puts it on the phone of the post the centre has assigned to exits, usually the front desk. It carries the name, the room, the nights and what has been taken off the kitchen count. When the team logs it from the dashboard there is no notice: whoever writes it already knows.
- One night: "🚪 Libro de salidas · ... DUERME FUERA esta noche. (cena y desayuno descontados de cocina)" (sleeping away tonight; dinner and breakfast taken off the kitchen count).
- Several nights: the number of nights and the range of dates, spelled out in words.
- A day exit: "... avisa de una SALIDA" (reports an exit), with the note if there is one.
- At midnight, Reception can ask with "/presencia" who is inside and who is sleeping away.
Stretches in the dashboard and the absence Excel
The dashboard does not show loose rows but stretches: who is not sleeping in the centre, from which day to which day and what they eat at the two edges. Those stretches are cross-checked with what the kitchen has recorded, which is the same source as the headcount forecast: if the paper and the dashboard counted differently, the centre would go back to paper.
- By default the absence Excel runs from today for the next 90 days, because long weekends and holidays are reported weeks in advance.
- Another range can be requested to close a month.
- Columns: room, resident, from, until the night of, nights, back on, what she eats on the day she leaves, days with no meals, what she eats on the day she comes back, when she reported it and note.
- The last row states the range the list covers, so that two different downloads do not look like the same one.
Coming back
The log also knows when someone has come back. If a person comes in after sleeping away, because Reception marks her entry or because the kitchen records that she came through the dining hall, what was left of that absence is no longer true and is undone. And on the return day, in the morning, Bedel asks her whether she is arriving.
- On coming back early, the remaining nights are removed, and so are the kitchen cancellations that hung on them.
- What the resident asked for on her own, such as "no dinner for me today", stays.
- A separate absence, the following weekend for example, is not touched.
- If she answers "No llego hoy" (not arriving today), another night is logged and she is asked again the next day.
What it does not do
- It does not tell the family that the resident is leaving or coming back.
- It asks for no justification or permission: it logs what it is told. The rules on going out belong to the centre, and the centre applies them.
- It does not ask what time the returning resident will arrive, so it does not know whether she will be in time for dinner.
- It does not notify the front desk of what the team logs from the dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
Does the resident have to use a particular wording?
No. She writes it as she would say it at reception: "away from the 5th to the 9th", "not sleeping here tonight", "I'll be away at the weekend". Bedel tells apart a day exit from a night away, works out the nights and the return day, and logs whatever she says about the meals on those two days. It replies with what it has logged and what it has taken off the kitchen count.
Does the kitchen stop counting whoever sleeps away?
Yes. Each night away removes that night's dinner and the next morning's breakfast, plus the lunch of the days spent entirely away. It is not subtracted silently: they are normal cancellations, with their note, which the kitchen sees and can correct. The dashboard stretch and the headcount forecast read the same source, so they count the same thing.
Who gets the notice that someone is sleeping away?
The post the centre has assigned to exits, usually the front desk, on the WhatsApp of whoever holds that post. The notice carries the name, the room, the nights and what has been taken off the kitchen count. If the absence is logged by the team from the dashboard, no notice is sent, because whoever writes it already knows.
What happens if she comes back earlier than planned?
When Reception marks her entry, or the kitchen records that she came through the dining hall, Bedel understands she is back: it removes the nights left in that absence and the kitchen cancellations that depended on them. What she asked for on her own, such as "no dinner for me today", is not touched, and neither is a different absence she has logged further ahead.
Can the log be pulled for a specific month?
Yes. By default the absence Excel runs from today for the next 90 days, and any range can be requested to close a month. It has one row per stretch with the room, the name, the dates, the nights, the return day, what she eats on the day she leaves and the day she comes back, when she reported it and the note.
Is the family told when a resident goes out?
No. The absence log notifies the front desk and the kitchen, not the family. If a mother asks the centre's number whether her son is sleeping in the residence tonight, Bedel does not tell her whether he is in or out: what belongs to an adult resident is his. Attending to families has its own page.
Related features
- Dining hallCancellations, packed lunches, kept portions and meals to the room on WhatsApp, with a cut-off time per service and the count on the kitchen's phone.
- Arrivals and room rackThe room rack the centre already keeps, imported and returned up to date, with who is inside right now, the evacuation plan and the "Arriving today?" question.
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.