WhatsApp Hotel Bookings and Guest Requests
Guests message hotels and holiday rentals on WhatsApp to ask if a room is free next weekend, change their dates, or ask for an early check-in or an airport transfer. AeroChat answers those messages from your property system, such as Cloudbeds, Mews, Guesty or Hostaway. It reads availability and rates, creates or finds the reservation, and records what the guest asked for so the front desk sees it.
What happens today
Room enquiries arrive at all hours and in many languages. The night shift answers when it can, often hours later, and the guest books through an online travel agent instead, with a commission attached.
Guest requests arrive by WhatsApp and stay in one person’s phone. The early check-in that was promised never reaches the front desk, and the guest arrives to a room that isn’t ready.
How it runs on WhatsApp
- The guest asks about a stay. AeroChat asks for the dates, number of guests and room type.
- It reads availability and rates from your property system and offers the matching rooms with prices.
- It creates the reservation with the guest’s details, or sends your booking engine link, depending on how you take payment. It can also send an Airwallex payment link for the deposit (Growth and above).
- For an existing stay, it finds the reservation by phone number, or asks for the booking reference or email when no number is available.
- It adds requests such as early check-in, a cot or an airport transfer to the reservation as a note, and tells the guest which ones need confirmation.
- Complaints, refund requests and anything about a guest already in the hotel go to the duty manager with the reservation details.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a guest asks about a stay or an existing booking, follow these steps.
- For a new stay, ask for check-in and check-out dates, number of adults and children, and room preference.
- Check availability and rates in our property system and offer up to three matching rooms with the total price.
- When they choose, create the reservation with their full name, email and phone number, and send the deposit link for the first night (example rule).
- For an existing booking, find it by phone number. If there is no phone number, ask for their booking reference or email.
- Add any request, such as early check-in, late check-out, a cot or an airport transfer, to the reservation as a note. Tell them early check-in from 11am (example) depends on availability and the front desk will confirm on the day.
- If the guest complains, asks for a refund or is already staying with us and has a problem in the room, hand the conversation to the duty manager.
Answer questions about breakfast, parking, the pool and nearby places from our knowledge base. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the deposit rule and check-in times to your own before you paste it.
Connect the systems behind it
- Cloudbeds: reads availability and rates, creates the reservation and adds guest requests to it.
- Mews: reads availability and pricing, finds the guest’s reservation and adds what they asked for.
- Guesty: checks the listing calendar, finds or creates the reservation and logs requests for your team.
- Hostaway: checks the calendar, creates the booking and records what the guest asked for.
Deposits use Airwallex payment links, sent inside the chat. AeroChat never sees card numbers and never holds your funds.
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
A guest’s enquiry is free. AeroChat’s replies inside the 24-hour window are service messages, free up to 1,000 a month per business phone number and charged per message after that. Pre-arrival messages you send outside that window, such as check-in details, are utility templates charged per message. Guests who reach you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad get a free window of up to 7 days. 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 (direct messages and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same property system connection. A guest who asks on your website chat and a guest who asks on WhatsApp get the same rates from the same system.
Who uses it
See how it works for hotels, including room availability questions, booking changes and pre-arrival requests.
Questions
Can guests book a hotel room directly on WhatsApp?
Yes. AeroChat reads availability and rates from your property system, creates the reservation and sends a payment link for the deposit. A direct booking in the chat carries no travel agent commission.
How are guest requests passed to the front desk?
AeroChat adds each request to the reservation in your property system as a note. Your team sees it where they already look, and the guest is told which requests need confirmation.
Can I message guests before they arrive?
Yes, with an approved template and the guest’s opt-in, because the message starts outside the 24-hour window. Those are utility templates, charged per message. When the guest replies, AeroChat handles the conversation.
Which AeroChat plan do I need?
Workflows via Skills are on every plan, Free included. Starter has 500 AI responses and 3 seats. Growth has 2,000 AI responses and 10 seats, and adds payment links and broadcasts. Advanced has 5,000 AI responses and 25 seats.
Answer room enquiries before the guest books elsewhere
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: booking deposits on WhatsApp and review requests after the stay.