WhatsApp chatbot for hotels
International guests often message hotels on WhatsApp to ask about early check-in, airport transfers and towels for room 214, while most US guests call or text. An AI agent answers WhatsApp messages from your house information, logs requests for the right team and keeps the front desk free for the people standing in front of it.
How do hotels use WhatsApp with an AI agent?
The hotel connects its WhatsApp number through the official WhatsApp Business API, and the agent replies to guests at any hour using your property information: check-in times, Wi-Fi, breakfast hours, parking, transfers and local tips. Requests that need a person, like extra pillows or a late checkout, are logged and sent to staff with the thread, and complaints go straight to a duty manager.
Worked example
One night of guest messages at a 90-room hotel
These are example messages between 10pm and 7am; the volume and mix at your property will differ.
| Example message | What the agent does |
|---|---|
| "What's the Wi-Fi password?" | Answers from your house information |
| "Can we check in at 10am tomorrow?" | Explains your early check-in policy and logs the request for the morning team to confirm |
| "Is there a shuttle to the airport at 5am?" | Shares the shuttle schedule or the taxi option you listed |
| "Room 312 is too noisy" | Apologizes, does not offer anything, and alerts the night manager with the room number |
| "Book me a table nearby for Saturday" | Shares your local recommendations and says the concierge will follow up |
The night auditor sees one urgent item instead of five interruptions.
Templates and opt-in
Messages you start versus messages you answer
- Business verification first. Meta verifies the business before API access, which usually takes 24 to 48 hours.
- Templates for anything you send first: a pre-arrival welcome, a check-out reminder, a post-stay review request. Each one needs Meta approval.
- Free replies inside 24 hours. When a guest messages you, replies within 24 hours of their last message need no template and are free.
- Opt-in matters. Ask at booking or check-in whether the guest wants WhatsApp updates, and honor a "stop".
Meta bills its own template fees and Botcadence passes them through without a markup.
Routing
Sending each request to the right team
A hotel is several departments sharing one number. Decide which request types go where: housekeeping items, maintenance, concierge, restaurant bookings, billing questions. The agent tags each request and hands it to the shared inbox with the guest's name and room, or pushes it through a webhook or Zapier into the tools your teams already use. Billing disputes, refunds and compensation always go to a manager.
International guests
Replying in the guest's language
Hotels host guests from everywhere, and the agent replies in 50+ languages from the same English source content. Keep your house information in one language you can check, and spot-read some foreign-language transcripts with a bilingual colleague during the first weeks.
Guests from inside the US mostly call or text instead, and SMS is the default text channel there. Offer both at booking and let each guest choose; the same agent answers on either channel from the same house information, and every thread lands in one inbox.
See hospitality AI take a booking change request
Book a demo to map booking questions, change requests and guest FAQs onto Botcadence before peak season.
Common Questions
Hotel WhatsApp questions
Usually yes. The number is moved onto the WhatsApp Business API, which means it stops working in the free Business app on the reception phone. Staff then reply from a shared inbox instead.
It explains your policy and logs the request. Whether a room is actually ready depends on housekeeping, so a staff member confirms unless you have connected availability through a webhook or Zapier.
There is no native PMS integration. Hotels connect through a webhook or Zapier, for example to look up a reservation or post a guest request, or keep it simple with a Google Sheet.
Yes, with a Meta-approved template sent only to guests who opted in. Keep it to one message and route any unhappy reply to a manager instead of the review link.
Start with booking questions or guest FAQs
Begin with pre-booking questions on website chat, then add WhatsApp and phone overflow once answers match your policies.
- Reader-first workflows
- Human handoff when needed
- Grounded in your content