VoiceAI Escalation Behavior for Emergency Maintenance

Overview

VoiceAI uses a texting-based escalation system for emergency call routing.

You have two options when determining escalation behavior:

1. Live Call escalation keeps the resident on the line while the AI calls maintenance technicians in the emergency maintenance routing plan.
2. Message Relay escalation notifies the resident that their issue is being escalated immediately and they will receive a text or call back soon. Then, the AI ends the call if the resident does not require further assistance. 

Note: On-call team members should save the AI escalation number in their contacts to prevent any spam filtering.

Use this feature for emergency maintenance work orders submitted through MaintenanceAI.

If you don’t have MaintenanceAI, we’re unable to create work orders, but we can still escalate calls.
If you don’t have ResidentAI, we won’t receive resident or unit information, but we can still escalate calls.

When both ResidentAI and MaintenanceAI are enabled, we can both escalate calls and create work orders that include resident and unit details.

Call Initiation

When the resident calls in about an emergency and triggers an "escalation", one of the following behaviors happens:

Live Call

1. The AI tells the resident that it will transfer them to the emergency maintenance team.
2. The AI places the caller on hold and starts calling the routing plan for the team.
3. The caller hears hold music during the escalation. 

4. The call reconnects to an emergency maintenance team member.

    

Message Relay

1. The AI plays a message to the resident: "We will be escalating this issue to our emergency maintenance team immediately, and you will receive a text or call back soon. Thanks for your patience."
2. The AI asks the resident if they need help with anything else. 
3. The AI ends the call.
4. The AI starts calling the routing plan for the team.

5. An emergency maintenance team member contacts the resident.

    

Unrecognized Residents

If the caller is not a recognized resident, Elise will initiate the emergency call routing but will not create a work order. Currently, the AI will prioritize emergency escalation over resident authentication.

Call Answering

When someone in the call schedule answers, the AI will relay the resident's maintenance emergency to your team and offer the following options for response:

Live Call

• Press 1 to connect with the resident and accept the issue
• Press 2 to de-escalate the issue as routine maintenance
• Press 3 to report a known issue
• Press 0 to replay the message

Note: If there is a call delay set between each call and the first team member has missed the call, the AI will not keep the resident on the line after the first call. The AI will instead tell the resident that the team was notified of their issue while it continues dialing the on-call routing schedule.

Message Relay

• Press 1 to acknowledge the issue and receive a summary
• Press 2 to de-escalate the issue as routine maintenance
• Press 3 to report a known issue
• Press 0 to replay the message

Missed Calls and Responding to Escalations

If a maintenance technician misses the call, the AI will send a text with similar options. Note that the exact number to press for each response is randomized.

• Reply # to accept the issue 
  • This option will include details on what will happen in response, such as the AI will tell the resident you've accepted
  • Example: "Your emergency maintenance request has been accepted, and someone will be on their way shortly! They’ll contact you with any updates if necessary. Thank you for your patience."
• Reply # to de-escalate
  • This option will include details on what will happen in response, such as the AI will tell the resident the issue is not an emergency
  • Example: "Thanks for reporting your issue. A maintenance technician has reviewed it and determined it’s not an emergency under our guidelines. Our team will handle it as routine maintenance during office hours. We appreciate your understanding!"
• Reply # to report known issue
  • This option will include details on what will happen in response, such as the AI will tell the resident that the issue is known
  • Example: "The maintenance team is already aware of the issue and will reach out for more information if needed. We will update you when we know more. Thanks for your patience."

Reply to Acknowledge:

• The team member should reply to the text message with the corresponding number to accept, de-escalate, or report a known issue 
• When the team member replies to the text message to acknowledge the escalation, they will receive a confirmation text. By accepting, the team member acknowledges that they will call the resident back to address the escalation.

Example Confirmation Text: "Escalation #206 accepted/de-escalated/reported known by {person's name or number}."

Work Order Priority Changes

When a team member de-escalates an emergency (by pressing 2 on the call or replying to the escalation text), the linked work order's priority is automatically updated:

• The work order priority changes from Emergency to High
• The updated priority is synced to the PMS if a priority mapping is configured in your Maintenance Settings.

Text Notifications

Elise sends a text message containing the following information to anyone on the escalation path:

• Escalation Number
• Status: Accepted, Pending, De-escalated, Known Issue
• Resident Name
• Unit Number
• Details of the issue
• Conversation Link (used to call the resident back, masking the phone number)
• Contact Info
• (If applicable) The name of the person who accepted the escalation

Stopping the Call Path after Escalation

Accepting an escalation will stop the call path, preventing further calls to others in the schedule.

Elise sends an "escalation accepted" text message to only those who was previously notified, informing them that the escalation has now been accepted.

PMS-Synced Emergency Escalation

Emergency escalations can also be triggered automatically when your external PMS syncs a work order marked as an emergency. When enabled, the AI initiates the same emergency escalation routing described above, without a resident needing to call in.

Enabling PMS-Synced Escalation

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Settings.
2. Select a property from the page's left sidebar.
3. Scroll to the Emergency escalation settings section.
4. Toggle on Escalate PMS-synced emergency work orders.

Eligibility Criteria

A PMS-synced work order triggers an automatic escalation only when all of the following conditions are met:

• The work order is newly created in the PMS (updates to existing work orders do not trigger escalation).
• The work order has Emergency priority.
• The work order has an open status (not completed or closed).
• The work order was created within the last 2 hours. Older work orders synced for the first time are not escalated.

Manual Escalation from AI Portal

Maintenance App clients can manually start an emergency escalation from the EliseAI Portal when creating a work order.

1. Navigate to Maintenance > Work Orders.
2. Click Quick Actions > Create Work Order.
3. Set the priority to Emergency. 

4. Leave the checkbox checked to trigger the escalation, or uncheck it to create the work order without escalating.

   

   Note: If you assign a technician or vendor to the work order, the escalation checkbox is disabled. Assigned work orders are handled by the selected assignee and do not trigger emergency escalation.

5. Fill in all remaining required information
6. Click Save.

Once the work order is created, the AI calls the Emergency Maintenance team configured in Voice Hub and follows the on-call schedule. The escalation behavior matches the voice-triggered escalations described in the sections above.

When an on-call team member acknowledges the escalation, the work order is automatically assigned to that team member.