Ticket Workflows

Give every ticket a category — so your reports, your routing, and your weekly reviews actually mean something.

TL;DR

What it is — a per-channel list of issue categories (and sub-categories) that your team picks from when opening a ticket.

Who it's for — account owners and admins design the categories; every team member uses them when creating tickets in the inbox.

Top outcome — every ticket lands in a consistent category, so you can answer "what were our top issues last month?" without squinting at free-text fields.

At a glance


Plan tier	All paid tiers.
Who can design ticket workflows	Account Owner and Admin.
Who can use them	Every team member, when opening tickets on conversations.
Channels	One active ticket workflow per channel. Different channels can have different category lists.
Integrations	Used by Tickets when team members create and manage tickets, and by Reports for ticket exports.
Top limits	One active workflow per channel. No cap on categories or sub-categories inside a workflow.
API	Yes — available under the partner API.

How to find it

Breadcrumb: Settings → Ticket Workflows.

Direct URL: https://app.lodgestory.com/crm/settings/ticketing-machines

[SCREENSHOT: ticket-workflows-nav.png — Settings sidebar with Ticket Workflows highlighted]

What is Ticket Workflows?

The problem it solves

Tickets without a category are reports you can't slice. "What were our top issues last month?" means every ticket needs to carry a consistent label drawn from a shared list — not a free-text field that becomes "HVAC", "hvac", "AC broken", and "air conditioning" across a year.

Ticket Workflows gives you that shared list. You design the categories once per channel — for example Check-in, Amenities, Complaint on a guest WhatsApp channel; Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC on a maintenance email channel. Your team picks from the list when they open a ticket. Reports roll up cleanly. Trends emerge.

What you get

A per-channel category list — each WhatsApp number, email inbox, or web chat channel can have its own workflow tuned to the conversations that land there.
Two-level hierarchy. Every category can have sub-categories — for example Amenities with sub-categories Wi-Fi, Pool, Gym, Restaurant. Your team picks the right combination when they open a ticket.
A four-step builder — basic info, categories, sub-categories, and a tree preview for review. You can go back at any step.
Active and inactive workflows. Retire an old category list without deleting it. Existing tickets keep their original category; new tickets use your updated workflow.
Live preview. As you add categories and sub-categories, the right-hand panel shows the full tree so you can sanity-check before saving.
Org-wide priority levels — SOS, High Priority, Medium Priority, Low Priority, No Action Required. Every ticket carries a priority in addition to its category; priority is picked by the team member when they create the ticket.

How it's different

Categories are tied to channels, not to the workspace. A luxury brand channel and a budget brand channel can have entirely different category lists without stepping on each other. A multi-brand operator can tune each brand's taxonomy.
Separate from conversation lifecycle. This is the most common point of confusion. Ticket Workflows are about what the ticket is about. Workflow Lifecycle Stages are about where the conversation is in its flow. Both can coexist on the same conversation: Awaiting Guest as a lifecycle stage, Maintenance / HVAC as an open ticket category.
Iterate safely. Add a category? It's immediately available on new tickets. Remove one? Existing tickets that used it keep their category — your history stays intact, and new tickets use the updated list.

Customer scenarios

A hospitality operator. Two workflows — one for the Guest channel (categories: Check-in, Check-out, Amenities, Complaint, with sub-categories under each) and one for the Maintenance channel (Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, Housekeeping). Team members opening a ticket see the list that matches the channel the conversation came in on.
A multi-brand portfolio. Different brands on different WhatsApp numbers. Luxury brand categorises by concierge service levels; budget brand categorises by service incidents. Each channel has the right workflow attached, so the category picker always fits the brand.
Category evolution. Six months in, Wi-Fi has become a top-level category rather than a sub-category of Amenities. You edit the workflow to promote it. Old tickets keep their original sub-category; new tickets use the updated top-level.

How it fits with the rest of Lodgestory

Tickets — this is where your workflow comes to life. When a team member opens a ticket on a conversation, the category picker reads your active workflow for that channel.
Reports — ticket exports include the category and sub-category, which is the whole point of designing the workflow carefully.
Workflow Lifecycle Stages — a complementary but distinct concept. Stages track where a conversation is; ticket workflows track what any tickets on that conversation are about.
Connections — your channels live here. Each channel can have one active ticket workflow at a time.

Core concepts

Term	What it means
Ticket workflow	A named list of categories and sub-categories, attached to one channel.
Category	A top-level ticket label — for example Amenities or Maintenance.
Sub-category	A second-level label under a category — for example Wi-Fi under Amenities. Optional.
Active workflow on a channel	The single workflow currently serving the ticket-create picker for that channel.
Priority	A separate label on every ticket, set when the ticket is created — SOS, High, Medium, Low, or No Action Required.

Quick Start — design your first ticket workflow in four minutes

Step 1 — Open Ticket Workflows

Settings → Ticket Workflows.

[SCREENSHOT: ticket-workflows-qs-1-list.png]

Step 2 — Click + New Workflow

The four-step builder opens.

Step 3 — Basic info

Give it a name (for example Guest Channel Categories), a short description, and pick the channel it applies to.

[SCREENSHOT: ticket-workflows-qs-3-basic.png]

Step 4 — Add your categories

Add top-level categories in order — for example Check-in, Amenities, Complaint, Other.

Step 5 — Add sub-categories

Under each category, add its sub-categories. For example under Amenities: Wi-Fi, Pool, Gym, Restaurant. Sub-categories are optional — a category with none is a leaf you can pick directly.

[SCREENSHOT: ticket-workflows-qs-5-subcategories.png]

Step 6 — Review and save

The preview panel shows the full tree. Save. If the channel already has an active workflow, it's replaced by this one; only one workflow can be active per channel at a time.

Step 7 — Use it

Open any conversation on that channel in Home. In the right-hand details panel, open Tickets and click Create Ticket. The category picker shows your new list.

[SCREENSHOT: ticket-workflows-qs-7-in-use.png]

What's next

Open a few tickets to see them flow into Reports.
Iterate the workflow based on how your team actually categorises over the first month.

How it works

A ticket workflow is tied to one channel. When a team member opens a new ticket on a conversation, Lodgestory looks up the active workflow for that conversation's channel and renders the category list.

An admin opens Settings → Ticket Workflows and starts a new workflow.
They pick the channel it applies to, then add categories and sub-categories step by step. A preview panel shows the tree as they build.
Saving validates the structure — at least one category, unique category names within the workflow, and clean sub-category lists.
The new workflow becomes active on the chosen channel. If the channel had a previous active workflow, it's retired to inactive but kept around for reference.
When a team member opens a ticket on a conversation, the category picker reads the active workflow for that conversation's channel. They pick a category and, if applicable, a sub-category.
Reports roll up ticket counts by category, sub-category, and priority — the whole point of defining the workflow in the first place.

Existing tickets that were opened under an older workflow keep their original categories. The workflow is about guaranteeing consistency going forward, not rewriting the past.

Features in depth

The workflow list

Each workflow shows up as a card with its name, description, the channel it applies to, its active-or-inactive status, and the number of categories inside. Actions on the card let you edit, toggle active, or delete.

The four-step builder

Basic info — name, description, and the channel this workflow applies to.
Categories — add, rename, or remove the top-level labels.
Sub-categories — for each category, add its sub-categories. You can leave any category empty — it becomes a leaf your team picks directly.
Review — a full tree preview plus a save button. You can go back to any step at any time; nothing is saved until you click save on this final step.

Live tree preview

Through steps 2, 3, and 4 the right-hand panel shows the full tree of categories and sub-categories as you've built it. Use it to sanity-check before saving — especially when you've got more than a handful of categories.

Active and inactive

Every workflow has an active toggle. Only the active workflow on a channel serves the ticket-create picker. Inactive workflows stay visible in the list (greyed out) for reference; existing tickets created under them keep their categories.

When you save a new active workflow on a channel that already has one, the previous active workflow is automatically set to inactive. Your team doesn't have to remember to toggle the old one off.

Iterate without breaking history

Add a category. Immediately available on new tickets.
Remove a category. Existing tickets with that category keep their label; the category simply disappears from the picker for new tickets.
Rename a category. Safe when done through the builder — existing tickets keep their original labels in their own history, and the updated name is what your team sees in the picker.

Priority levels

Priority sits on every ticket separately from category. When your team member creates a ticket, they pick both a category and a priority. Priorities are workspace-wide — SOS, High Priority, Medium Priority, Low Priority, No Action Required — not set per workflow.

Roles and permissions

Action	Account Owner	Admin	User
View ticket workflows	Yes	Yes	Yes
Create, edit, delete a workflow	Yes	Yes	No
Toggle active	Yes	Yes	No
Pick a category when creating a ticket	Yes	Yes	Yes

Connections

Tickets — the primary consumer. Every ticket-create dialog reads the active workflow for the channel the conversation is on.
Reports — ticket exports include category, sub-category, and priority columns, so your workflow feeds every ticket dashboard.
Workflow Lifecycle Stages — complementary. Stages track where a conversation is in its flow; ticket workflows track what each ticket is about.
Connections — where channels are configured. Ticket workflows attach to channels, so you need your channels connected first.

Limits a user will run into

Limit	Value
Workflows per workspace	No cap
Categories per workflow	No cap
Sub-categories per category	No cap (zero is fine — the category becomes a leaf)
Active workflows per channel	One at a time
Practical category count	Up to around 100 before the picker becomes slow to read

Errors and FAQ

You might see

"Workflow needs at least one category" — add one category before saving.
"Duplicate category name" — each category name must be unique within the workflow.
"Channel already has an active workflow" — saving this workflow will replace the existing active one on that channel. Confirm to proceed.
"Invalid category for this channel" (when creating a ticket) — the ticket-create dialog is showing a stale list. Refresh and pick again.

FAQ

What's the difference between a ticket workflow and a workflow lifecycle stage?
A ticket workflow is a per-channel list of categories for tickets — it answers "what is this ticket about?". A workflow lifecycle stage is per-conversation state — it answers "where is this conversation in its flow?". Both can coexist on the same conversation. Think of categories as nouns (maintenance, complaint, HVAC) and lifecycle stages as verbs-in-progress (awaiting guest, in progress, resolved).

Can I rename a category without breaking old tickets?
Renaming through the builder is safe — existing tickets keep the original label in their history; your team sees the updated label in the picker going forward. We do recommend communicating the rename to your team so reports reading the old name aren't a surprise.

Can I have more than one active workflow on a channel?
No. One active workflow per channel — this is how the ticket-create picker knows which list to serve. You can keep any number of inactive workflows around as templates or archives.

Can a bot automatically create a ticket in a specific category?
Yes — your bot journey can create tickets with a specific category as part of its flow. The same category validation applies, so the category has to exist in the active workflow on the channel the conversation is on.

Why is a category I added not showing up when creating a ticket?
Check that the workflow containing the category is active, and that it's attached to the right channel. The ticket-create picker reads the active workflow for the conversation's channel — if a different workflow is active there, your new category won't appear.

Can the same workflow apply to multiple channels?
Each workflow is tied to one channel at a time. If you want the same category list on multiple channels, duplicate the workflow and attach each copy to its own channel.

How do I retire a workflow?
Toggle it to inactive from the workflow list. It disappears from the ticket-create picker but stays visible for reference. When you're sure it's no longer needed, delete it — existing tickets keep their historical categories either way.

API

Ticket Workflows is available via the Lodgestory partner API for organisations that want to manage category structures programmatically. Ask your Lodgestory point of contact for credentials and the current reference; endpoints cover workflow creation and updates, fetching the active workflow for a channel, toggling active, and deletion.

Changelog

April 2026 — General availability. Per-channel workflows, four-step builder with live tree preview, two-level category and sub-category hierarchy, workspace-wide priority levels, clean active/inactive toggling.

Related modules and next steps

Tickets — the primary consumer of your ticket workflows.
Reports — roll up ticket counts by category for weekly reviews.
Workflow Lifecycle Stages — a distinct and complementary concept for conversation state.
Connections — where you configure channels to attach workflows to.