Collect Booking Deposits on WhatsApp with HitPay

This recipe takes a deposit for a booking inside the chat, using the HitPay account you already have. The customer picks a time, pays the deposit by link and gets a confirmation. Part of the HitPay integration.

What happens today

A customer books a class, a session or a table over WhatsApp. You ask for a deposit and send your payment details. They say they will pay later. The slot stays held with nothing paid, and you remember to chase it the next day, if at all. Unpaid holds block times other customers would have paid for.

The flow that works

The customer picks a time from the ones AeroChat offered from your calendar or booking system.
AeroChat creates a HitPay payment request for the deposit and sends the checkout link.
The customer pays on HitPay’s page.
When HitPay shows the payment as completed, AeroChat books the slot and sends the confirmation.
Until the deposit is paid, nothing goes in the calendar, so the time stays open to other customers.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a customer has chosen a booking time, follow these steps.

Work out the deposit from our deposit rules. Example: US$15 per person for groups up to 6 and US$25 per person for larger groups.

Create a HitPay payment request for the deposit with the customer’s name and the booking time as the reference, and send the checkout link.

Tell them the booking is confirmed once the deposit is paid and that it comes off their final bill.

When HitPay shows the payment as completed, check the time is still free, add the booking to our calendar with the customer’s name, phone number, group size and “deposit paid”, and send a confirmation with the date, time, address and our cancellation policy.

If the time has gone by the time they pay, offer the next three closest times and keep the deposit for the new booking.

If they come back later without having paid, check the time is still free, and send a new link or offer new times.

Never confirm a booking without a completed payment. Never change or waive the deposit. If they ask to pay another way, or ask for a refund, hand the conversation to a team member. Reply in the customer’s language.

Change the deposit amounts and cancellation policy to your own before you paste it.

What to connect

HitPay. Copy your API key and salt from your HitPay Dashboard and enter them in the AeroChat dashboard when the checklist asks. If it shows a webhook address, add it in HitPay under Developers, Webhook Endpoints. Test with sandbox keys first.
Your calendar or booking system. Google Calendar connects when you connect your Google account and approve the access. A booking system with a public API connects with its key.
Your policies. Upload your deposit rules and cancellation policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.

Airwallex payment links are built into AeroChat if you do not use HitPay. 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 bookings need a deposit, and how much.
Whether a deposit is refundable, and up to when.
Which payment methods are switched on in HitPay.
Who handles requests to pay another way.

AeroChat follows these as written. It never confirms a booking that HitPay has not shown as paid.

The result to expect

Bookings arrive with the deposit already paid, so you stop chasing payments and checking screenshots. Times stay open until someone pays for them, so unpaid holds no longer block paying customers.

Measure it with your own numbers: the share of bookings with a deposit paid, and no-shows per month, before and after you start.

Take your first deposit in chat

Paste the recipe, add your HitPay sandbox keys, and book a time from your own number.

Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.

On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.