Spun automates replies, reminders and follow-ups on a travel business's own WhatsApp number, with a shared inbox for the team on top, and no message formats to submit to Meta. It runs on a flat monthly plan with team members free and a free trial, and it needs no Business API approval and no new number.
This guide covers the rest: what the Business API is and why most agencies and small hotels do not need it to automate, which tasks are worth automating, how to set each one up, and where automation should stop and a person should take over.
Two routes to automating WhatsApp
There are two ways software can send and receive WhatsApp messages for a business. The WhatsApp Business API is Meta's route for large senders: you set up a business account with Meta, messages outside a 24-hour window must use formats Meta has approved in advance, and Meta charges per message. Your existing groups do not come along.
The other route connects your normal WhatsApp number as a linked device, the same way WhatsApp Web does, through a connection provider. Your phone keeps working, your chats and groups stay, and you reply whenever the conversation needs it. Spun works this way.
The 24-hour window is a Business API rule, so it does not apply to a normal number connected to Spun. That freedom comes with a duty: normal WhatsApp behaviour still matters, so automation on your own number should answer people who wrote to you, not chase strangers.
Related: The Business API or your own number
What a travel business can automate
| Task | How it runs in Spun | Who it reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Answer common questions | Auto replies on keywords or AI intent | People who wrote to you |
| After-hours answers | Business-hours rule or AI chatbot | People who wrote to you |
| Booking confirmations | Quick reply with the traveller's name | The traveller's chat |
| Pre-departure reminders | Scheduled message from the chat | The traveller's chat |
| Deposits and balances | Payment reminder with amount and due date | Travellers you add |
| Unanswered chats | Alarm rule or first-reply target | Your team |
| Stage messages | Pipeline card moves | Only people who wrote first |
Every automated action is recorded in the activity feed with its reason.
Auto replies for common questions
Most agency enquiries repeat: prices for a package, visa requirements, what is included, how to pay. An auto reply rule answers them from your own text. A rule can start on a keyword, on an AI-detected intent such as "asking about prices", on someone's first-ever message, outside business hours or when a chat has a certain label.
The reply can be a written message, one of your quick replies, a label for your team or an AI reply. Rules run in the order you set, and each one has guards that keep it polite.
- A cooldown per contact, so the same person does not get the same answer twice in a row.
- A daily cap per contact, and a short random delay before sending.
- Only the newest message is answered when someone sends several at once.
- An AI reply steps aside as soon as someone on your team answers the chat.
- An activity log shows which rule fired, for whom and why.
Nights, weekends and travellers abroad
A traveller abroad writes at 3am. Whoever is on call sees it in the same shared inbox, or an out-of-hours auto reply tells the traveller when the team is back and how to reach the emergency number you name. Set your opening hours and timezone once in the business hours settings, and the rule knows when to fire.
If you want questions answered rather than acknowledged, switch on the AI chatbot for outside business hours only. It answers from the instructions you write, hands over to your team on the words you choose, and marks every reply as sent by the chatbot so nobody mistakes it for a person. It runs on your plan's AI budget.
Related: AI replies for hotel guests
Confirmations and reminders without message formats
On the Business API, a reminder to a traveller who has not written recently must use an approved format. On your own number it is an ordinary message. Keep your standard booking confirmation as a quick reply, insert it by typing "/" and let variables such as the traveller's first name fill in, so every agent sends the same wording.
For a reminder before departure, schedule a message from the traveller's chat for the time you choose. Each schedule sends one message, set by hand; Spun does not read departure dates from a booking system. With Human Cadence on, scheduled messages leave a few minutes after the set time, never before it, and show typing first like a person would.
Related: Booking confirmations and reminders · Automated check-in messages
Chasing deposits and balances
Set up a payment reminder with the amount and due date, choose how often it repeats, and Spun sends it on schedule and tracks which travellers have paid. The payment itself goes through your own payment link or bank details. Payment reminders come with the Payment Reminders extension.
Routing and follow-ups for the team
Automation is also for the people answering. Label Rules and AI auto-labels sort incoming chats into topics such as Quotes, Visas or Complaints. A round-robin rule applies an agent's name label in turn, so new enquiries are shared fairly; it marks whose chat it is without hiding it from anyone else.
An alarm rule flags a chat when nobody replied within the hours you set, and first-reply targets badge the chats that are close to their target and alert the assigned agent on a miss. On the pipeline board, each traveller is a card on stages you name, such as Quote, Deposit, Booked and Travelling. Moving a card can send a WhatsApp message, but only to travellers who wrote to you first.
Related: A WhatsApp CRM for travel
Where automation should stop
A good rule of thumb is that automation answers what has one right answer, and a person handles anything with money, a complaint or a change of plan. Keep auto replies short and point to a person for anything else, and read the activity log in the first week to see which rules fire more than you expected.
Be careful with outreach. Sending offers to past travellers is fine when they agreed to hear from you; Spun paces the send per number, keeps quiet hours and can add a reply-STOP opt-out line. Messaging people who never wrote to you is where WhatsApp numbers get into trouble, automated or not.
Related: WhatsApp broadcasts for travel deals · WhatsApp ban risk for travel agencies
What Spun does not do
- It does not connect to your booking system or read departure dates. Each reminder is set from the chat, and contacts and chats can be exported to Google Sheets (one way, from Spun to the sheet).
- It does not take bookings or payments. Send your own booking or payment link; Spun reminds the traveller and tracks who has paid.
- It does not use the WhatsApp Business API or its message formats. It runs on your normal WhatsApp number, so normal WhatsApp limits apply.
- It does not send AI replies unless you decide so. Suggestions and drafts wait for a person; a chatbot only runs if you switch it on, and marks its replies.
Related: Spun for travel businesses · Spun for travel agencies