WhatsApp for hotel groups: enquiries, guest requests and event groups
How a hotel group can run WhatsApp across properties: enquiries as a pipeline, in-stay requests as tickets, shift handover and a group for each event.
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- By WavesFlo team
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- Published
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- 2 min read
A hotel's WhatsApp does two jobs that should not share a queue: the reservation enquiry that has to become a booking before the date goes, and the guest in the building who needs something now. The first is a pipeline with a deadline; the second is a ticket with a clock.
How should the business be arranged?
| Conversation | Where it goes | What tracks it |
|---|---|---|
| Reservation enquiry | A sales number per property | An opportunity: stages, tasks, a forecast |
| In-stay request or complaint | A guest-services number set up for tickets | A ticket with first-reply and resolution targets |
| Wedding or conference party | A group with the organiser | Admins, rules and a closing date |
| Brand review | Read access | A Viewer role that never replies |
What does a property do every day?
- Reply to enquiries from the property's number, with an owner and a stage on each.
- Set a task for the quote's expiry, and see overdue ones on the owner's list.
- Treat a guest request as a ticket, so it has a clock, an owner and a record.
- Hand over at shift change: queues, shifts and time off mean work goes to whoever is on.
- Use saved messages in the languages your guests write in.
How should event groups be run?
One group per wedding, conference or booking party, named plainly, with the organiser in it and an admin on the property's number. Make it announcement-only for schedules and keep payments and documents out of it. Post the rules on day one and close the group when the event ends. See WhatsApp group rules and admin settings. Do not ask guests to send identity documents in a chat.
What does the first month look like?
- Week 1: list properties, numbers and who answers enquiries and who answers guests.
- Week 2: split sales and guest-services numbers, and set pipeline stages.
- Week 3: set the guest-services policy and shifts across the day.
- Week 4: run one event group, and read the funnel and ticket reports.
What are the usual mistakes?
- Enquiries and guest requests in one queue.
- No cover at night.
- Identity documents sent in chat.
- An event group left open for months.
Across a group of properties, WavesFlo can split the reservations desk and guest services into separate teams on every hotel's numbers, so a booking enquiry goes onto a pipeline and a request from a room becomes a ticket. WavesFlo for businesses with many sites describes how properties, teams and roles are set up.
Questions
Can a hotel group use WhatsApp for reservations?
Yes, as enquiries tracked in a pipeline with stages, tasks and a forecast, from each property's number.
Can guest requests be tracked?
Yes, as tickets with first-reply and resolution targets.
How should I run an event group?
Announcement-only, with an admin on the property's number, rules on day one, and closed when the event ends.
Does WavesFlo replace my booking system?
No. It covers the WhatsApp conversations only.