What a booking site keeps, and what direct is worth
Most Indian hotels pay between 15% and 25% of the room rate as commission, and the big platforms sit at the upper end once visibility programmes are added. GST applies on that commission too.
Source: Indian OTA commission guides, 2026. GST applies on the commission itself.
A guest who books you directly next time is worth that difference on every night they stay. WhatsApp is the cheapest way to stay in touch with someone who has already slept in your hotel and liked it.
Nothing here breaks your agreement with the platform. You are simply serving a guest who is already yours during and after the stay.
The three messages every property should send
- Before arrival — check-in time, a location pin, parking, what to carry, and "reply here if you need an early check-in".
- During the stay — one message on the first evening: "Anything you need, message here." That replaces the intercom nobody uses.
- After checkout — a thank-you, a request for a review, and how to book directly next time.
Each one is an approved template. Guest replies land in a shared inbox the front desk and manager both see, so a request is not stuck on one person's phone.
Requests in one place instead of six phones
Extra towels. Late checkout. A cab to the station. Today's menu. In most small hotels these arrive on the manager's personal number and are forgotten at shift change.
On the API every request sits in one inbox with the guest's name, and stays unread until someone marks it done. The night shift sees what the day shift promised.
Source: Industry benchmarks for marketing messages, 2025. Exact rates vary by business.
The Growth plan's bot answers the fixed questions on its own — timings, address, tariff, whether pets are allowed — at 1 am, when guests actually ask.
Travel agents and tour operators
For an agent, WhatsApp is already the office. The API adds the parts that break at volume: itineraries and quotes sent from one number, documents kept in the media library, and a team that can all reply.
Send the itinerary PDF, the visa checklist and the hotel voucher from the library rather than hunting through a phone. Keep past travellers in lists by destination, and send the next season's package to the people who actually went there.
Honest limits for hospitality
It is not a booking engine. There is no room inventory, no rate calendar, no availability check and no payment collection inside WhatsApp. Your property management system or booking page still does that, and the message links to it.
It does not connect to travel platforms, so bookings from them do not flow into this inbox. The bot is rule-based, not AI, and messages go only to guests who opted in.
Which plan a property needs
A homestay or small hotel sending the three messages by hand fits Starter at ₹790 a month. Growth at ₹990 adds lists and the night-time bot. A hotel whose software should send pre-arrival messages by itself takes Pro at ₹1,290, with API access and the larger media library. No setup fee; details on the plans page.
Send us your check-in details, your tariff sheet and your five most asked questions, and we will write the first templates. See also API integration if your PMS should trigger the messages.
Plans & Pricing
Billed monthly. No setup fee, no minimum term — upgrade, downgrade or stop any time.
For small businesses starting with WhatsApp broadcasts and a shared inbox.
For growing teams that need automation, agent handoff and lists.
Everything unlocked — API, webhooks, flows and large media for scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much commission do Indian hotels pay travel sites?
How does WhatsApp help a hotel get direct bookings?
Is this a booking engine?
Can travel agents use it for itineraries?
Ready to put your business on the WhatsApp API?
Message us with what you send today — broadcasts, order updates, support replies — and we will tell you which plan fits before you pay anything.