Hostaway bookings: confirmation and check-in
Guests arrive with questions: what time is check-in, where to go. With this integration every confirmed booking in Hostaway gets your WhatsApp from your number with the property and arrival date, and a reminder 24 hours before check-in, in the property's time zone.
What it does and doesn't do
| ✅ It can | 🚫 It can't |
|---|---|
| Confirm every new booking on WhatsApp: property, arrival date and check-in time. | Message guests with no phone on the booking (some channels hide it). |
| Remind the guest 24 hours before check-in, in the property's time zone; if the stay moves, the reminder moves with it. | Write about inquiries, pending requests, owner stays or cancelled bookings. |
| Register the webhook in Hostaway for you (nothing to paste) and remove it if you disconnect. | Change bookings, prices or calendars: it only reads them and manages its own webhook. |
| Write without Meta-approved templates (Utility category). |
🔐 A Hostaway API key gives access to the account. ChatSales stores it encrypted and only uses it to read bookings and listings and to create or remove its webhook. You can delete the key any time in Hostaway; it then stops working here.
Before you start
You need:
A WhatsApp API number connected in ChatSales (Connect your WhatsApp). These messages are the first contact with someone who has not written to you, so WhatsApp only allows them with a Meta-approved template.
To be an admin of your ChatSales team and have access to your Hostaway account.
Open the App Store
In the left menu go to App Store and click Create (1).
Choose Hostaway
Find the Hostaway card (1) and click it. You can also find it with the Property Management filter.
In Hostaway: create an API key
In Hostaway go to Settings → Hostaway API and click Create. Name it (e.g. ChatSales) and choose "Hostaway Public API" as partner. Copy the API key (Hostaway shows it only once) and your Account ID.
Paste the Account ID and API key, and save
In ChatSales paste the Account ID (1) and the API key (2), and click Save (3). ChatSales checks them with Hostaway, registers its webhook in your account and creates 2 templates on your WhatsApp API number: booking confirmed and check-in reminder.
Done: nothing to paste in Hostaway
You see Connected to with your Hostaway account (1). ChatSales registered the webhook in Hostaway; if you disconnect, we remove it. Bookings made before you connected get no confirmation, but they do get the check-in reminder.
Check that it arrives
Create a test booking with your own number, arriving more than two days ahead. You get the confirmation and Activity (1) shows the reminder as Scheduled, with when it goes out. If you cancel or move it, you see why.
The message (optional)
Under Message you see the template's status at Meta (1) and the text that is sent. To customise it, pick another flow or create one (2): Meta must approve it. The switch (3) turns it off. Click Save.
Rules that protect your number
Numbers without a country code: your guests come from many countries, so by default we only message numbers with "+code". If nearly all your guests are from Mexico, you can turn it on under Connection.
Find it later
Your connected apps show at the top of the App Store, under Your apps (1), with what is left to do. Click Hostaway to open it.
Common problems
A guest got nothing. Only confirmed bookings with a phone get messages; some channels hide the guest's number. Inquiries, pending requests and owner stays get no messages.
Where does the check-in time come from? From the booking or, if it has none, from the property's check-in time in Hostaway. If neither has one, the message says «a la hora indicada en tu reserva» (at the time shown in your booking).
I see "Hostaway refused the API key". If you deleted it in Hostaway, create a new one, paste it under Connection and save.
I want to stop using it. Under Connection click Disconnect: the URL stops working and this app's activity is deleted.