Hotel Booking Changes and Cancellations on WhatsApp
This recipe handles “can I change my dates?” and “I need to cancel” on WhatsApp and web chat. It finds the booking in your property management system, checks the rate it was made on and how far away the stay is, tells the guest what your policy allows, and makes the change once the guest confirms. Part of the hotel workflows.
What happens today
A guest writes “hi I need to change my booking to 13 to 15 dec instead, is that possible?”. The front office has to find the booking, check which rate it was on, check the new dates, work out whether there is a charge, and reply. Half the time the booking was made through an online travel agency, and the guest has to be told to change it there. Each change takes a few minutes and several messages, and late cancellations that nobody processes leave rooms unsold.
The flow that works
- AeroChat asks for the booking name and arrival date, or the booking reference.
- It finds the booking in your property system and checks where it was made. Bookings from an online travel agency get a clear message to change them with that agency.
- For a direct booking, it reads the rate and checks the request against that rate’s change and cancellation terms.
- For a date change, it checks availability for the new dates in your system and tells the guest whether the price changes.
- When the guest confirms, it updates or cancels the booking in your system and notes any charge. The guest gets the updated confirmation. If you prefer a person to approve each change, it passes the change to the front office instead.
A cancellation freed early goes back on sale sooner. That is the revenue this workflow protects.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a guest asks to change or cancel a booking, follow these steps.
- Ask for the booking name and arrival date, or the booking reference.
- Find the booking in our property management system. If it was made through an online travel agency, tell the guest the change has to be made with that agency, because we cannot change it from our side. Stop there.
- For a direct booking, check the rate. Example terms: Flexible rate, free changes and cancellation up to 48 hours before arrival, first night charged after that. Saver rate, non-refundable, date changes allowed once for US$25 (examples).
- For a date change, check availability in our system for every new night. If the room type is free, tell the guest the new total. If it is not, offer the nearest dates or another room type.
- For a cancellation, tell the guest exactly what our policy means for their booking, including any charge, before they confirm.
- When the guest confirms, change the dates or cancel the booking in our system, and add a note with the change and any charge. If there is a change fee, send a payment link for it. Send the guest the updated booking details.
Never waive a charge or promise a refund that our policy does not allow. If the guest asks for an exception, for example because of illness or a flight cancellation, collect the reason and hand over to the front office manager. Reply in the guest’s language.
Change the example rates, terms and charges to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your rate policies. Upload the change and cancellation terms for every rate to the AeroChat knowledge base.
- Your property management system. The same connection the room availability workflow uses. Cloudbeds, Mews or Oracle OPERA Cloud connect through their APIs. In Cloudbeds, create an API key in its settings. In Mews, approve the connection so Mews issues an access token. On OPERA Cloud, your team registers an application in Oracle’s Hospitality Integration Platform and shares its client ID and keys. Paste them in when AeroChat asks.
- Payments, if you charge change fees in the chat. Airwallex is built in. HitPay and Stripe connect through their APIs if you already use them. Payment links are included from the Growth plan.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- The change and cancellation terms for each rate.
- Whether change fees are paid in the chat or at check-in.
- Which exceptions the front office manager can approve.
- Whether AeroChat makes a change in your system on its own, or always passes it to a person to approve.
AeroChat applies your terms as written. It does not waive a charge or confirm dates your system has not shown as free.
The result to expect
Guests get a clear answer on what a change costs within minutes, at any hour. Cancellations reach your system as soon as the guest decides, so the room goes back on sale earlier. Requests for online travel agency bookings stop taking front office time.
Measure it with your own numbers: change requests handled, and how far ahead of arrival cancellations reach you, for a month before and after you start.
Next: pre-arrival requests and complaint handover.
Test your first change
Upload your rate terms, connect your property system, paste the recipe and message your own number asking to move a test booking by one night.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.