WhatsApp for Hotels: Bookings, Pre-Arrival Messages and Guest Requests in One Chat

WhatsApp for hotels means using the messaging app your guests already have as your booking line, front desk and concierge. Guests message to ask about prices and dates, and you can take the booking, collect a deposit, send check-in details, handle towel and repair requests during the stay, and ask for a review after checkout, all in one chat. With the WhatsApp Business API, several staff members and an AI assistant can answer from the same hotel number.

For international guests, WhatsApp is often easier than email or phone, because they can write in their own language at any hour. This guide covers the guest journey stage by stage, sample messages and templates, the Meta rules that apply, and how to set it up in MonoChat.

Why hotels use WhatsApp

• Guests ask before they book. “Is breakfast included?”, “Do you have a room with two beds?” and “Can you pick us up at the airport?” are faster to answer in chat than by email.
• Direct bookings. A guest who gets a quick, accurate answer on WhatsApp can book with you directly instead of going back to a booking site.
• Fewer calls to reception. Check-in times, Wi-Fi details and directions can be sent before arrival.
• Better in-stay service. A request typed in the chat reaches housekeeping or maintenance without a phone call, and the guest can send a photo.
• Reviews and return visits. A short message after checkout is the easiest moment to ask how the stay went.

WhatsApp across the guest journey

Stage	What the guest needs	Message type
Inquiry	Prices, availability, room options	Reply in the chat (guest wrote first)
Booking	Confirmation, deposit, policies	Reply, or utility template if outside 24 hours
Before arrival	Address, check-in time, transfer, extras	Utility template
Check-in	Room number, Wi-Fi, how to reach the team	Reply or utility template
During the stay	Requests, repairs, restaurant, tours	Replies in the chat
After checkout	Feedback, review link	Utility or marketing template, depending on content
Months later	Offers for past guests	Marketing template, only with marketing consent

Inquiry and booking

Most hotel conversations start with the guest. When someone messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens, and you can reply with any content. Answer with the facts they need to decide: total price for their dates, what is included and how to book.

Guest: Hi, do you have a room for 2 adults, 12 to 15 June? Is breakfast included?

Hotel: Hello Ana, yes, we have two options for 12 to 15 June (3 nights, 2 adults):
- Garden Double, breakfast included: €465 total
- Sea View Double, breakfast included: €585 total
City tax is included. Would you like me to hold one of these for you?

Rooms shown as cards with a photo and a “Book this room” button are easier to compare than a block of text. Our guide to WhatsApp interactive messages covers buttons, lists, Flows and carousels.

Deposits and payment

After confirmation, send the deposit request with a payment link and confirm when it is paid. See how to accept payments in WhatsApp chats for the options.

Pre-arrival and check-in

A message a few days before arrival removes most of the “what time is check-in?” calls. Include the address, check-in time, parking or transfer options and one way to ask a question.

During the stay

Make it obvious that guests can message the hotel during the stay: a QR code in the room or at reception that opens the chat works well. Requests should reach the right department, and the guest should hear when it is handled.

Guest: The air conditioning in room 214 isn't working. [photo]

Hotel: Thanks for the photo, Mr. Weber. Maintenance has the request and will be at room 214 within 20 minutes. We'll message you when it's fixed.

After checkout

Ask for feedback while the stay is fresh. Send happy guests to your review page and route unhappy ones to a manager before they write a public review. For question ideas, see our customer satisfaction survey questions.

Hotel WhatsApp template examples

Templates are needed when you message a guest who has not written to you in the last 24 hours. Meta classes messages tied to a specific booking, with no promotional content, as utility. Anything that promotes, upsells or offers a discount is marketing, and adding a promotion to a utility message makes the whole template marketing.

Booking confirmation (utility)

Your stay is confirmed, {{1}}. Booking {{2}}: {{3}}, {{4}} nights from {{5}}. Check-in is from 14:00. Reply here if you have any questions.

[View booking]

Pre-arrival details (utility)

Hi {{1}}, we look forward to welcoming you on {{2}}. Our address is {{3}} and check-in starts at 14:00. Let us know your arrival time or if you need an airport transfer.

[Book a transfer]  [Ask a question]

Deposit reminder (utility)

Hi {{1}}, a deposit of {{2}} is due for booking {{3}} by {{4}} to keep your reservation. You can pay securely with the link below.

[Pay now]

Post-stay feedback (utility, no offer)

Thank you for staying with us, {{1}}. How was your stay? Tap a rating below, it takes a few seconds.

[Excellent]  [Good]  [Could be better]

Seasonal offer to past guests (marketing, only with marketing consent)

Hi {{1}}, our autumn season starts on {{2}}. Past guests get early access to sea-view rooms for three-night stays. Want to see dates?

[See dates]  [Stop promotions]

An upgrade or spa offer sent before arrival is marketing, even though it relates to a booking. If you want to offer extras, either send them in a separate marketing template to guests who agreed to offers, or mention them when the guest is already chatting with you.

WhatsApp rules hotels must follow

• Opt-in. Meta’s policy requires that guests gave you their number and agreed to hear from your business. Add a consent line to your booking engine and reservation forms, and keep consent for booking updates separate from consent for offers. Our WhatsApp opt-in guide has wording you can adapt.
• Approved templates outside 24 hours. Free-form replies are only allowed within 24 hours of the guest’s last message.
• Per-message charges. Meta charges per delivered message by category and guest country. Since October 1, 2026, service replies inside the 24-hour window are charged too, at the market’s utility rate. The bulk messaging calculator shows the rates.
• Marketing limits. WhatsApp may limit how many marketing templates a person receives from businesses, and it does not currently deliver marketing templates to users with US phone numbers. Utility messages such as confirmations are not affected by the US restriction.
• Opt-out. Honor every request to stop, on any channel.
• Guest data. Collect passport or ID details only where the law requires it, store them securely, limit access and follow the data protection rules that apply to you, such as GDPR.
• Quiet hours. Meta does not set them, but guests on holiday notice a promotion at 23:00. Keep business-initiated messages to daytime in the guest’s time zone.

A practical setup for a small hotel

1. Decide what the chat handles: rooms only, or also tours, restaurant tables and transfers.
2. Write your facts down once: room types, rates, seasons, policies, check-in times, parking and pets. AI answers are only as good as this.
3. Create the utility templates for confirmation, deposit, pre-arrival and feedback.
4. Add consent to your booking form and a QR code to reception and rooms.
5. Set routing: reservations to the front office, in-stay requests to the right department, complaints to the duty manager.
6. Measure response time and booking requests from WhatsApp every week.

How to run hotel guest messaging in MonoChat

MonoChat brings WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram and web chat guest messages into one shared team inbox, so reservations, front office and management see the same conversation. The tourism and hospitality solution covers the full journey: collecting dates, room type, guest count, language and transfer needs in chat, reservation workflows, pre-arrival and check-in reminders, multilingual replies, post-stay feedback and analytics on guest demand and response speed.

For hotels that want a ready-made front desk, the Hotel & Travel Assistant from the MonoChat Store works on WhatsApp, Instagram and web chat, around the clock, in the guest’s own language, including voice messages:

• Real prices, never invented. Quotes are worked out from each room type’s base rate, your seasons (higher or lower rates, minimum nights, stop-sell), extra adults, children, the meal plan and city tax.
• Rooms as cards. Each room shows a photo, the total for the stay, size, beds and view with More photos and Book this room buttons. On WhatsApp, several rooms arrive as a swipeable carousel.
• No double-promising. Rooms held by requests and confirmed stays are counted night by night. You choose whether a booking is a request your reception confirms or is confirmed at once while rooms are free.
• Deposits. After confirmation, the guest gets a deposit request with Pay now. With a payment integration, it sends a payment link and records the payment; without one, it sends your payment instructions.
• Four things it can book. Rooms, tours and day trips, restaurant tables, and airport and city transfers, each switched on or off.
• Before arrival and at check-in. A few days before arrival, the address and check-in time with Book a transfer, See extras and Ask a question; at check-in, the room number and a small menu for Housekeeping, Dining and I need help.
• In-stay requests. Requests go to housekeeping, maintenance, room service, spa, reception or concierge. Guests can send a photo and hear when the team starts and finishes.
• Ratings and careful campaigns. A rating after the stay leads happy guests to your review link. Campaigns to past guests are off by default, go out a little at a time as approved marketing messages, and leave out people reached in the last 14 days. Nothing goes out in quiet hours or to anyone who said stop.
• Reports. Over 30 days: booking requests by source, confirmations, nights and stay value, payments, guest requests by department, and more.

The app writes and submits its WhatsApp templates on your number, and whenever a person is needed, it hands the conversation to your team. You can go further with WhatsApp Flows for structured forms and guest concierge automation for in-stay journeys.

Start on the free Basic plan (one agent, one channel) at app.monochat.ai, and see the pricing page for larger teams.

Sources

• WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy
• Meta for Developers: Template categorization
• Meta for Developers: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform
• Meta for Developers: Pricing updates for service and utility messages
• Meta for Developers: Per-user marketing template message limits
• Meta for Developers: Obtaining opt-in for WhatsApp