WhatsApp messages for guests: 7 ready-made templates
WhatsApp is the channel where guests actually read and reply: instant notifications, no app to download, and it works with any booking platform. Here are the messages that cover the whole stay, ready to copy — and how to stop sending them by hand.
1. Confirmation and first contact (at booking)
Goal: move the conversation to WhatsApp right away, before questions scatter across Airbnb, email, and SMS.
2. Arrival instructions (the day before)
📍 Address: {address + Google Maps link}
🕒 Check-in: from {time}
🔑 The key box is {where}, code {code} (photo below)
🅿️ Parking: {instructions}
If anything's unclear, message me here!
The day before, not at booking: that way the guest finds it at the top of the chat. Add photos of the front door and the key box — they cut help requests in half. Deep dive: stress-free self check-in.
3. Welcome (on arrival)
4. Mid-stay check (optional, stays of 4+ nights)
One message, kept light. It surfaces small problems before they end up in the review.
5. Check-out instructions (the evening before departure)
6. Thank you + review (a few hours after departure)
Ask for reviews while it's fresh: after two days the response rate collapses.
7. The message you can't schedule
And there it is, the problem: the six messages above can be scheduled, the seventh can't. Real questions arrive when they arrive — in the evening, on weekends, in German. That's why templates alone aren't enough: they cover what you want to say, not what the guest asks.
Actually automating: templates + assistant
The combination that works: messages 1–6 go out on their own at the right moment, and everything else is answered by a virtual assistant that knows your property — answering questions 24/7, in any language, and passing along only what needs the host in person. You stay the host; you just stop being the switchboard.