Take Pre-Arrival Requests on WhatsApp with Cloudbeds

This recipe takes the messages guests send before they arrive, such as “can we check in early?”, “can you arrange a pickup?” and “we’ll arrive after midnight”, and puts each one on the reservation in Cloudbeds. Paid extras are sold in the chat by payment link. Part of the Cloudbeds integration.

What happens today

Pre-arrival requests arrive on WhatsApp, the desk replies “noted”, and the request lives in a phone instead of on the booking. The next shift does not see it. The airport transfer a guest would have paid for never gets offered, and the late arrival finds nobody expecting them.

The flow that works

AeroChat finds the guest’s reservation in Cloudbeds by name and arrival date.
It works out the request: early check-in, late arrival, cot, special occasion or a paid extra such as a transfer.
For a paid extra, it quotes the price from your extras list and sends a payment link.
It adds the request, and any payment, to the reservation as a note so every shift sees it.
It tells the guest what happens next, for example that early check-in is confirmed on the day.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a guest with a booking asks for something before arrival, follow these steps.

Ask for the booking name and arrival date, and find the reservation in Cloudbeds. If you cannot find it, ask for the reservation number, then hand over to the front desk.

For early check-in, tell them it depends on the room being ready, and offer guaranteed early check-in from our extras list if we sell it. Example: US$30 for check-in from 10am.

For an airport transfer, ask for the flight number and arrival time, quote the price from our extras list, and send a payment link.

For a late arrival, note the expected arrival time and send our late check-in instructions.

For a cot, extra bed, special occasion or dietary request, note it and say the team will prepare it.

Add every request to the reservation in Cloudbeds as a note, with the payment amount if one was paid.

Confirm in the chat what was noted and what the guest should expect.

Only offer extras and prices from our extras list. Never promise a specific room or an upgrade. Reply in the guest’s language.

Change the extras, prices and times to your own before you paste it.

What to connect

Cloudbeds. Create an API key under Account, Apps and Marketplace, API Credentials, and enter it in the AeroChat dashboard when it asks.
Your extras list and fact sheet. Upload transfer prices, early check-in options and late check-in instructions to the AeroChat knowledge base.
Payments. Airwallex is built in. HitPay and Stripe connect with your API key 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

Which extras you sell in chat, and their prices.
Whether early check-in can be guaranteed for a fee.
Which requests always go to a person, such as accessibility needs.

The result to expect

Every request lands on the reservation, so the shift that checks the guest in sees it. Paid extras get offered to every guest who asks, not only when the desk has time. Measure it with your own numbers: extras sold through chat, and requests recorded on reservations, for a month before and after you start.

Next: direct bookings and booking changes with Cloudbeds. See also the hotel recipe for pre-arrival requests.

Sell your first extra in chat

Paste the recipe, add your Cloudbeds API key and connect Airwallex, then message your own number asking for an airport pickup.

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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.