Handle Hostaway Booking Changes on WhatsApp

This recipe handles date changes and cancellation requests in chat. It finds the guest’s reservation in Hostaway, checks whether the new dates are free and records the request on the reservation for your team. Part of connecting Hostaway to WhatsApp and AI chat.

What happens today

A guest asks on WhatsApp to move their stay back two days. The person replying has to find the booking, check the calendar, read the cancellation policy and ask a manager. The guest waits, asks again on Instagram, and the request ends up answered twice with two different answers.

The flow that works

AeroChat matches the guest to their reservation in Hostaway.
It asks what they want to change: dates, number of guests, or to cancel.
For new dates, it checks the listing calendar in Hostaway.
It explains your change and cancellation policy from the knowledge base.
It records the request on the reservation and hands it to your team to approve.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a guest asks to change or cancel their booking, follow these steps.

Find their reservation in Hostaway by phone number or email. If there is no match, ask for their reservation number and the name on the booking. Only continue if both match.

Confirm the current dates, property and number of guests with them.

Ask what they want to change. If they want new dates, check the listing calendar in Hostaway for every night. Tell them whether the new dates are free.

If the reservation came from a listing site, tell them changes must be made on that site, and stop there.

Explain our change and cancellation policy from the knowledge base, including any difference in price.

Add the request to the reservation’s host note in Hostaway, with the new dates or the cancellation and the time of the request.

Tell them our team will confirm the change within four hours (example) and hand the conversation over.

Never confirm a change or a refund yourself. Never share a reservation with someone who does not match it. Reply in the customer’s language.

Change the confirmation time and the policy wording to your own before you paste it.

What to connect

Hostaway. Create an API key in your Hostaway dashboard and copy it with your account ID. Paste them in when AeroChat asks. AeroChat reads reservations and the calendar and updates the reservation notes.
Your knowledge base. Upload your change and cancellation policy to AeroChat so it explains the same terms every time.

After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect Hostaway, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from Hostaway’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.

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

Who approves changes and cancellations.
Whether AeroChat records requests only, or your team lets it make simple date moves later.
How a guest proves the reservation is theirs.

The result to expect

Every change request reaches your team on the right reservation, with the new dates already checked against the calendar. Guests get a clear answer on availability and policy straight away, and your team only has to approve.

Measure it with your own numbers: time from change request to confirmation, and repeat messages about the same change, for a month before and after.

Next: take direct booking enquiries in chat.

Works on every chat channel

This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same Hostaway connection behind it. See what each channel does on the Hostaway integration page.

Handle your first change request in chat

Paste the recipe, add your Hostaway account ID and API key, and ask to move a test reservation from your own phone.

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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.