Spun lets every receptionist answer your hotel's existing WhatsApp number from one shared inbox, each with their own login, so day and night shifts see the same guest chats. 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: which kind of WhatsApp suits a hotel, how to set the front desk up, what to send at each stage of a stay, who answers at night, how to handle other languages, and how to send offers without putting your number at risk. Most of it applies whatever tool you use.
Why guests write to hotels on WhatsApp
Guests already have WhatsApp open. Before they arrive they ask about parking, early check-in and the airport. During the stay they send a photo of a broken lamp or a voice note asking for more towels. After they leave they ask about something they forgot in the room.
That makes WhatsApp the hotel channel that is hardest to share. Email has a shared mailbox and the phone has a switchboard, but WhatsApp usually lives on one handset at the front desk. The questions are easy; the trouble is that the night shift cannot see what the morning shift promised, and a message in German waits until someone can read it.
Business app, Business API or your own number with a team tool
There are three ways a hotel can run WhatsApp. Pick by how many people answer and whether your messages are driven by a booking system.
| Option | Suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Business app on the front-desk phone | One person answering at one desk | Several shifts share one handset, and there is no record of who said what |
| WhatsApp Business API through a provider | Large hotels sending messages driven by a PMS | Needs approval, moves the number onto the API, needs Meta-approved message formats outside the 24-hour window, charges per message and cannot join groups |
| Your own number with a team tool such as Spun | Small and mid-sized hotels with a team on one number | Connects as a linked device through a connection provider, not the Business API, so normal WhatsApp limits apply |
The 24-hour customer-service window is a Business API rule. It does not apply to a normal WhatsApp number.
If you run a hotel with hundreds of rooms and need messages sent by your PMS, a hospitality messaging tool built on the Business API will suit you better. Spun is built for the front desk that already runs on one WhatsApp number.
Setting up the front desk
- 1
Connect the number guests already have
Scan a QR code with the hotel phone and Spun becomes a linked device on that number, with its existing chats and groups. The phone keeps working alongside it, and messages sent from it appear in Spun too.
- 2
Give each receptionist a login
Day shift, night shift and the manager share one inbox on the same number. Team members are free, with no per-seat fees. To give someone less, share only the chats in a saved filter or pipeline stage.
- 3
Save your standard answers
Write Wi-Fi details, parking, breakfast times and check-in steps once as quick replies. Anyone inserts one by typing "/" in the empty message box. They are your own saved texts, not Business API templates, so there is nothing to submit for approval.
- 4
Label chats by stay stage
Create labels such as Enquiry, Booked, In-house and Checked-out, or let AI auto-labelling suggest one. A saved filter then shows, for example, everyone in-house today.
- 5
Decide who answers at night
Either someone on the night shift answers from the same inbox, or an auto-reply or AI chatbot answers outside business hours. More on this below.
Related: Shared WhatsApp inbox for hotels · 20 hotel WhatsApp message templates
What to send at each stage of a stay
Most guest messages fall into the same handful of moments. Have a saved answer ready for each, and send it from the guest's chat at the right time.
- Enquiry: answer the dates and room question, and send your own booking link. The booking itself stays on your booking page.
- Deposit: if you take one, a payment reminder can repeat on a schedule with the amount and due date until you mark it paid. Spun reminds; it does not take the payment.
- The evening before arrival: schedule the address, check-in time and parking from the guest's chat. One message per schedule, set by hand.
- Arrival day: check-in steps, Wi-Fi and how to reach the desk.
- In-house: answer requests, and turn anything the housekeeping or maintenance team must do into a task.
- Check-out: a short reminder of the time and where to leave keys, plus a late check-out offer if you have one.
- After the stay: a thank-you with your review link, sent to guests you actually hosted, one at a time.
Scheduled messages are set from each chat, one message per schedule. They are not a bulk drip, and Spun does not read arrival dates from a booking system. With Human Cadence on, a scheduled message may leave a few minutes late, never early.
Related: Automated check-in messages · Booking confirmations and reminders
Who answers at night
A guest who lands late and cannot find the entrance needs an answer within minutes. Decide this before it happens, and write the rule down for the team.
With a night receptionist, they answer from the same inbox as the day team, so the morning shift sees the whole conversation. Without one, an auto-reply rule for outside business hours tells the guest how to get in and when the desk opens. Each rule has a cooldown and a daily cap per contact, so a guest who writes five times does not get five copies.
An AI chatbot can go further, answering from the instructions and documents you give it, always, only in business hours or only outside them. Every bot reply is marked "Sent by AI chatbot", you set the words that hand a guest over to a person, and it can be wrong where your instructions are silent. An alarm rule can flag any chat that has waited too long, so the morning team sees it first.
Related: AI replies for hotel guests
Guests who write in other languages
Turn on automatic translation for a chat, or translate a single message, and the receptionist reads the guest in their own language and replies in the guest's. The detected language is shown so a wrong guess is easy to catch. For anything with legal or medical weight, have a person check the wording.
Voice notes can be written out as text automatically, for every chat or only the ones you choose, and shown in another language. On paid plans a receptionist can also record a voice note in their language and the guest hears it in theirs, with a preview before sending.
Related: Translate guest messages
Let AI read while people send
The slow part of hotel messaging is reading, not typing. In a guest chat, Spun suggests ready-to-send replies, and a receptionist can write two words and let the AI draft or rewrite the answer. A long conversation can be summarised in the reader's language, or asked a direct question such as "what did we promise about the late check-out".
A person reads every suggestion and presses send. No AI reply goes out on its own unless you switch the chatbot on, and then its replies are marked.
Offers to past guests without putting your number at risk
WhatsApp is a good place for a returning-guest offer, and a bad place for messages nobody asked for. Send offers only to past guests who agreed to hear from you.
Spun paces campaigns per number with daily limits, keeps quiet hours by default, limits first contacts while a number is new, and can add a reply-STOP opt-out line. Sending Health warns when sending looks risky; treat it as advice, not a promise. No tool can promise a number will never be restricted.
Related: Direct booking promotions · WhatsApp broadcasts for travel deals
What Spun does not do
- It does not connect to your PMS or channel manager. Copy what you need into your booking system, or export contacts and chats 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 can remind the guest about a deposit.
- 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: WhatsApp for hotels · WhatsApp for travel businesses · WhatsApp etiquette for hotel guests