WhatsApp for Hotels: Bookings and Guest Messages

Hotels use WhatsApp to answer booking enquiries, send arrival details, handle requests during a stay, ask for feedback after checkout and invite guests back. Guests can message reception from their room without calling, and your team sees every request in one place. Most of this runs on a few approved templates and a shared inbox.

This guide follows a guest’s stay from first enquiry to next booking, with a sample message for each stage. It also covers the rules that catch hotels out: when you can message first, which templates count as marketing, and why ID and card details stay out of the chat. Automate AI has no direct link to hotel booking software, so we’ll be clear about what’s manual.

What to send at each stage of a stay

Start by mapping the moments your team already calls or emails about. Here’s how those look on WhatsApp.

Meta’s categorisation page doesn’t name hotels or check-in, so the template types here are our reading of its general rule. Meta makes the final decision on each one.

The rules that matter for hotels

Four rules shape almost everything a hotel does on WhatsApp.

• The 24-hour window. When a guest messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens and resets with each new message. Inside it you can reply normally. Once it closes, you can only send approved templates.
• Opt-in. You need the guest’s number and their permission to hear from your hotel, and the opt-in has to name your business. Add a tick box to your booking form and a line on your registration card.
• Categories. A utility template can’t be promotional or persuasive. A confirmation with “upgrade now!” added counts as marketing, because Meta treats mixed content as marketing.
• Sensitive details. WhatsApp’s policy says not to share or ask for full payment card numbers, financial account numbers, personal ID card numbers or other sensitive identifiers.

Guests from abroad need thought too. WhatsApp doesn’t currently deliver marketing templates to US phone numbers. Utility templates and replies still reach them. Full details are in WhatsApp opt-in and the guide to the 24-hour window.

Turning enquiries into direct bookings

A wa.me link or QR code on your website, Google profile and social pages lets a guest ask a question without a form. Set a pre-filled message such as “Hi, I’d like to check rates for these dates”. See how to make a WhatsApp link and QR code.

Most enquiries ask the same few things, so a short chatbot menu saves your team time:

1. Greet the guest and offer buttons: Rooms and rates, Directions, Talk to us.
2. Rooms and rates: send a short message with photos and a link to your booking page. Don’t quote availability from a chatbot unless someone keeps it up to date.
3. Directions: send the address and a map link.
4. Talk to us: pass the chat to your team.

Take payment on your own booking page, not in the chat. Paid guests can then get the confirmation template with their dates and reference. Our travel page covers tour operators and agencies, if you run packages as well.

Sample messages for each stage

These are samples with demo data. Our template library has more, including a “Hotel arrival details” sample in the Travel group. Meta reviews every template, so approval isn’t assured.

Booking confirmation (utility)

Pre-arrival details (utility)

During the stay (a normal reply)

Feedback after checkout (utility)

Return stay invitation (marketing)

Keep offers out of the feedback message, because that turns it into marketing. More on this in WhatsApp feedback messages. If you ask for a Google review, Google prohibits offering anything in exchange for one, and doesn’t allow asking only happy guests.

Handling guest requests during a stay

Put a QR code in the room or at reception, with a line such as “Message reception on WhatsApp”. When a guest taps it, the chat opens with your pre-filled message. Once they send it, the 24-hour window starts, so your replies are normal messages.

• One number for the whole team. Reception, housekeeping and managers work from one shared inbox, with chats assigned to the right person.
• Notes stay internal. Staff can leave a note the guest never sees, such as “Late arrival, keep room 204”.
• Quick replies handle things like Wi-Fi details and breakfast times.
• A keyword reply answers simple questions at any hour, such as “wifi” or “checkout”.
• Hand over to a person. WhatsApp’s policy requires clear escalation when a bot handles chats. A guest with a problem needs a human quickly.

Tell guests when the chat is staffed. If nobody reads messages overnight, say to dial reception for anything urgent. An AI assistant trained on your hotel’s details can cover common questions, with a person to step in. Hotels with several properties should read WhatsApp for multiple locations before deciding on one number or several.

Set it up in Automate AI

Automate AI doesn’t connect directly to any hotel PMS or booking engine, so bookings don’t flow in by themselves. You have three routes:

Here’s a pre-arrival setup that needs no developer. Campaigns work on every plan. Scheduled Automation, chatbots, the AI assistant, website forms and the API are from Series 2.

1. Add fields. In Settings › Contact Fields, add Arrival date, and any others such as Room type. Its key will be arrival_date.
2. Import arrivals. Include the guest’s phone number and the date in the format YYYY-MM-DD, such as 2026-12-14. Existing contacts are matched on phone number.
3. Create the template. Use the pre-arrival sample, under the Utility category, and wait for approval.
4. Schedule it. At Automation › Schedule, create a Scheduled Automation with the Custom Date Field trigger, enter arrival_date, and choose 1 day or 3 days before. Map the template’s variables to contact fields.
5. Test it on your own number with a sample date.
6. Clear the date after the stay. The trigger matches the day and month, so an old date would fire again next year. An import only replaces the date for guests in that file, and a blank cell leaves the old date in place. So clear it on the contact, or give it a new date when the guest rebooks.

Replies arrive in the shared inbox. A guest’s button tap reaches the app as a message, so you can run keyword flows from it. Use the chatbot builder at Automation › Flows for the menu and feedback replies. A typed STOP opts a guest out automatically, while a button tap doesn’t, so keep the footer on marketing templates.

Bringing guests back

Direct repeat bookings are where WhatsApp can pay off, since you’re talking to someone who already knows you. Keep it occasional and relevant.

• Group past guests by something useful, such as “Family stays” or “Weekend guests”, and send to a group or tag.
• Time it to seasons they’ve already stayed in, rather than every sale you run.
• Offer something you can deliver, such as a room upgrade if one’s available. Don’t make up a limited offer.
• Use a Smart Link on the booking button, so Button Clicks shows who tapped it.
• Stop when asked. You must respect every opt-out request, on or off WhatsApp.

Meta charges per delivered template, and may limit how many marketing templates each person receives, so frequent sends cost more and do less. Check current rates on our WhatsApp API pricing page. A customer who messages you back opens a new window, and the first 1,000 service replies per number each month are free.