How to set up Telegram notifications for online orders

Online-menu orders are unattended by definition — a guest scans the QR at their table or opens the menu link, builds an order, and submits. If nobody is watching the POS screen, the order sits there until someone notices. Telegram notifications close that gap: every new online order pings a chosen Telegram group within a couple of seconds.

Step 1 — Create or pick a Telegram group

Open Telegram and either create a new group (New Message → New Group) or pick an existing internal group. Add the people who should be alerted: kitchen lead, bar lead, F&B manager, owner — whoever needs to know that a new order just came in. A dedicated group named something like 'HotelBee Online Orders' is cleanest because Telegram notification settings can then be tuned per-group.

Step 2 — Add @HotelBeeBot to the group

In Telegram, search for @HotelBeeBot. Open the bot's profile, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Add to Group (or Add to Group or Channel). Select the group you created in Step 1 and confirm.

Step 3 — Promote the bot to admin

Open the group, tap the group name to see members, find @HotelBeeBot, tap it, and choose Promote to Admin. You don't need to grant any specific permissions — admin status alone is enough to bypass Telegram's bot privacy restrictions so it can read /start and post order messages reliably. Untick everything if Telegram requires you to confirm the permission set; just keep the bot as a basic admin.

Step 4 — Send /start in the group

From any member of the group (it doesn't need to be the owner), send the message /start in the group chat. The bot will reply with a short message containing the group's chat ID — a numeric value that usually starts with a minus sign, like -1001234567890. This is the address HotelBee uses to deliver order notifications to this exact group.

Step 5 — Paste the chat ID into HotelBee

In HotelBee Backoffice, open Settings → Integrations → Telegram (or the Online Menu settings panel where the Telegram chat ID field lives). Paste the chat ID exactly as the bot returned it, including the leading minus sign, and save. The integration is now live — no restart, no further configuration.

Step 6 — Test it

Open the online menu URL on your phone (or scan a table QR), add an item, and submit a small test order. Within a couple of seconds you should see a new message in the Telegram group with the table, items, and total. If nothing arrives within ten seconds, jump to the troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting

• Bot didn't reply to /start — almost always means the bot isn't an admin. Telegram's privacy mode hides group messages from non-admin bots. Promote it and re-send /start.
• Order placed but no Telegram message — confirm the chat ID is saved correctly (no spaces, leading minus included). Then check that the bot is still in the group and still admin — if a colleague kicked it, notifications stop.
• Notifications arrive but everyone has them muted — Telegram's per-user mute is independent of the integration. Have each recipient open the group, tap the group name, and set Notifications to On (or to a custom sound that stands out from regular chat groups).
• Wrong group is getting notifications — you pasted a chat ID from a different conversation. Re-send /start in the correct group and paste the new ID, replacing the old one in settings.

Practical patterns

• Custom notification sound — set the Telegram group to a distinctive sound (siren, bell) so a buzz on the phone is unambiguously a new order, not a personal message. Especially valuable for kitchen leads who get a lot of group chatter.
• Pair with Live Order Printing — Telegram is the awareness channel; Live Order Printing is the action channel. Together: kitchen sees the buzz on the phone, walks past the printer, ticket is already there, no clicks at any POS terminal. See the Live Order Printing guide for setup.
• Owner spy mode — quietly add yourself to the group with notifications muted. You won't get the buzz, but Telegram history gives you a real-time feed of online order volume to glance at on slow afternoons.
• Don't add guests to the notification group — the messages contain order totals and table numbers and are intended for staff. Keep the group strictly internal.