With “Suggest answer”, the Outlook add-in writes a suggestion for the reply to an email that is open in Microsoft Outlook, and the text assistant revises this text. The reply can be sent via ReGuest or via Outlook. Both are in the add-in's task pane, opened via Outlook ribbon › “Re:Guest Outlook Add-in” › “Re:Guest”, and, when writing a reply, in the compose pane.
Example: Reply to a guest's request with a yes and shorten the text
A reservations staff member receives an email in Outlook from a guest who asks whether a parking space is free for his stay. The reply should say yes and be short.
Open the email. Open the guest's email in Outlook.
Open the add-in. The “Re:Guest” button in the “Re:Guest Outlook Add-in” group of the ribbon opens the add-in's task pane.
Open the reply suggestion. “Suggest answer” in the task pane opens the “Suggest answer” box with the question “How would you like to reply?”.
Choose the direction. The staff member selects “positive”; this requests an agreeing suggestion. In the “Additional instruction (optional)…” field she writes “Confirm parking space in the garage”. This text is taken into account as an additional hint when the reply is worded.
Create the suggestion. “Create suggestion” lets the AI write the reply. It appears in place of the option buttons in an editor in which the text can be changed.
Shorten the text. The unlabelled symbol next to the editor opens the text assistant “Re:Guest Copilot”. There, “Shorten text” shortens the text, and “Replace your text” replaces the text in the editor with the shortened result.
Send. “Send via Re:Guest” sends the reply.
Result. The add-in shows “Reply sent via Re:Guest”. In ReGuest, the guest's email and the reply appear as two messages in his conversation.
The pages in detail
“Suggest answer” in the task pane
The “Suggest answer” box creates a reply to the open email.
The type of reply. Three option buttons set what the suggestion should do:
“with instruction”: The AI writes the suggestion following the instruction in the “Short instruction in keywords…” field. The instruction is required; without it, “Create suggestion” stays disabled.
“positive”: An agreeing suggestion is requested.
“negative”: A declining suggestion is requested.
With “positive” and “negative”, the field is called “Additional instruction (optional)…”. If it is filled in, its text is taken into account as an additional hint when the reply is worded.
The form of address. If “Informal text (informal form of address)” is ticked, the suggestion is written with the informal form of address in the guest's language, and the salutation and closing are then informal too. When the box is opened for the first time, the switch is not ticked.
The language. You cannot choose the language. The add-in estimates the language from the email; if the guest is known in ReGuest, the language stored for him applies. The salutation and closing come from the guest's data and the hotel's setting; if “Informal text (informal form of address)” is ticked, they are informal.
The suggestion. “Create suggestion” lets the AI write the reply. It appears in place of the option buttons in an editor and can be changed there. “Back” leads back to the option buttons; the chosen details are kept, so that a new suggestion can be created.
Sending the reply. There are two ways for the finished text:
“Send via Re:Guest” stores the guest's email and the edited reply as two messages in his conversation in ReGuest. If the guest or the communication with him does not exist yet, they are created in the process. If the guest does not read the reply in the Messenger, ReGuest later notifies him about it by email. Afterwards, the add-in shows “Reply sent via Re:Guest”.
“Insert reply in Outlook” opens an Outlook reply window with the suggestion. If the AI has recognised a different sender with name and email address in the email, a new message to this address opens instead. The reply is then sent by Outlook.
If a building or hotel must be chosen when sending, “Send via Re:Guest” and “Insert reply in Outlook” are in a selection menu; “Insert reply in Outlook” is there under the subheading “In Outlook”.
“Suggest answer” when writing
When writing a reply in Outlook, the same box is in the compose pane. “Insert reply” inserts the suggestion into the email and replaces its text, and “Send via Re:Guest” is also available here.
For this, the add-in needs the guest's original email. It remembers it on the device if the email was opened in the task pane on this device. Instead of a suggestion, the box can show a notice:
“You are writing a new email that is not related to a conversation, suggestions are not available. …” appears for a new email that is not a reply.
“The message is either too old or was never opened on this device. Please open the message you want to reply to in order to generate a suggestion.” Then it helps to open the email that is to be answered in the task pane.
“This message has already been answered via Re:Guest”
Text assistant
The text assistant “Re:Guest Copilot” revises the text in the editor. It opens via the unlabelled symbol next to the editor. Its functions are in the two groups “Create text” and “Edit or check”:
“Continue writing” continues the text.
“Improve writing style”, “Correct spelling and grammar”, “Shorten text” and “Simplify language” revise the text in the named direction.
“Change tone” changes the tone of the text, with five tones to choose from: “Professional”, “Informal”, “Direct”, “Confident” and “Friendly”.
“Translate” translates the text in the editor into the hotel's languages.
The result changes the text in the editor only when it is applied:
“Replace your text” replaces the text in the editor with the result.
After “Continue writing”, “Add to your text” appends the result to the text in the editor.
“Insert text” puts the result into the editor if it is empty.
“Cancel” closes the text assistant after a confirmation prompt and discards the result.
Prerequisites
‘Reply suggestion and text assistant in the Outlook add-in’ belongs to the licence module Channels › Microsoft Outlook™ Integration.
If the module is licensed, access to it is enabled for specific users through their role. Roles are managed by ReGuest support.
Frequently asked questions
Why is “Suggest answer” missing? If your own role does not grant access to guest data, the add-in hides “Detect request”, “Transfer message” and “Suggest answer” in the task pane and shows a notice about it. Roles are managed by ReGuest support.
What is needed for the reply suggestion and the text assistant to work? Your own role must grant access to both. ReGuest support can tell you whether the reply suggestion and the text assistant are set up for the hotel. Roles are managed by ReGuest support.
Why is there no suggestion when writing? The add-in has not remembered the original email on this device. That only happens if the email was opened in the task pane on this device, and remembered emails older than three days are deleted. Signing out of the add-in deletes them too. Opening the email in the task pane fixes this.
Why is the reply in a different language than the email? If the guest is known in ReGuest, the language stored for him applies, not the language of the email. You cannot choose the language yourself in the reply suggestion; “Translate” in the text assistant translates the text into the hotel's languages.
What is the difference between “Send via Re:Guest” and “Insert reply in Outlook”? “Send via Re:Guest” stores the email and the reply in the guest's conversation in ReGuest. “Insert reply in Outlook” opens the reply in Outlook, and it is sent from there.
Is the reply suggestion also available in Outlook on a mobile phone? No. The add-in is only registered for Outlook on the desktop, when reading and when writing an email.
As of: 2026-10-26.