WhatsApp Booking Deposits Paid Before the Slot Is Confirmed
A booking deposit on WhatsApp is a small payment the customer makes in the chat before the slot is theirs. AeroChat checks availability in Google Calendar or your booking system, sends a deposit link through Stripe, HitPay or Airwallex, and confirms the booking only when the payment completes.
What happens today
A customer asks for Saturday at 3pm. Someone checks the diary, pencils the slot in, and asks for a deposit by bank transfer. The customer says they will pay later.
The slot sits on hold while someone checks the bank account and chases the screenshot. Some deposits never arrive, the slot stays blocked, and the customer who would have paid books elsewhere.
How it runs on WhatsApp
- The customer asks to book a treatment, a table for a group, or an event.
- AeroChat reads availability from your calendar or booking system and offers the open slots.
- When the customer picks one, it holds the slot and sends a payment link for the deposit.
- It checks the payment with your provider and treats the deposit as paid only when the provider reports it completed.
- It writes back: creates the booking in your calendar or booking system with the deposit amount and payment reference.
- It confirms the booking in the chat with the date, time, address and your cancellation policy.
- If the deposit is not paid within the hold time, it releases the slot. Group bookings above your size limit, or requests to waive the deposit, go to your team.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks to book, follow these steps.
- Ask which service, the date and how many people.
- Check our Google Calendar (example) and offer up to three open slots.
- When they choose a slot, create a tentative event and send a payment link for a deposit of 30 (example).
- Tell them: “Your slot is held for 2 hours (example). It is confirmed once the deposit is paid.”
- When the payment completes, change the event to confirmed, add their name, phone number, service and the payment reference, and send the confirmation with our cancellation policy.
- If they ask whether their payment went through, check the payment status and tell them.
- For groups of more than 8 (example), or if they ask to skip the deposit, hand the conversation to our bookings team.
Never confirm a booking before the deposit shows as paid. Reply in the customer’s language.
Set the deposit, the hold time and your cancellation policy before you paste it. A tentative event that is not confirmed when the hold time ends is released by your team or your booking system’s own rules.
Connect the systems behind it
- Stripe: creates the deposit link and reports when it is paid. See collecting deposits with Stripe.
- HitPay: creates the deposit payment request and confirms completion. See collecting deposits with HitPay.
- Google Calendar: holds the slot and turns it into a confirmed booking. It connects by linking your Google account.
- Phorest: for salons and spas that book in Phorest, reads availability and creates the appointment.
- Airwallex payment links. Built in, for businesses that collect through Airwallex.
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 it costs on WhatsApp
The customer starts the conversation, so the slot offers, deposit link and confirmation go as service replies, free up to 1,000 a month per business phone number and charged per message after that. If the customer came from a click-to-WhatsApp ad on their phone, messages in the free window of up to 7 days cost nothing. Booking in a few replies keeps the cost down. Rates vary by country and are set in Meta’s rate cards. AeroChat passes Meta’s WhatsApp fees through at cost.
Also on Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and web chat
The same workflow runs on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok (DMs and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, web chat and email, with the same calendar and payment provider behind it.
Who uses it
See how spas and wellness centres book with a deposit and how restaurants and caterers take event deposits.
Questions
How do I take a deposit for a booking on WhatsApp?
Send a payment link for the deposit in the chat and confirm the booking once it is paid. AeroChat does both, and only confirms when your payment provider reports the payment completed.
Can it send booking reminders before the appointment?
AeroChat replies inside conversations. Send reminders from your booking system, or as a WhatsApp broadcast to customers who opted in, using an approved template. Broadcasts come with the Growth and Advanced plans.
What does a booking with a deposit cost on WhatsApp?
The customer’s messages are free. Inside the 24-hour window that opens with their last message, your replies are free up to 1,000 a month per business phone number, then charged per message.
Which plan do I need?
Workflows via Skills are on every plan, Free included. Built-in payment links come with Growth (2,000 AI responses and 10 seats) and Advanced (5,000 AI responses and 25 seats). Starter has 500 AI responses and 3 seats.
Fill your slots with customers who have paid to come
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: appointment booking and no-show reduction.