WhatsApp for lodges, guesthouses and holiday stays
Answer enquiries while you're out on a game drive, remind guests before their hold lapses, send check-in details before they arrive, and ask how it went once they've left.
What you can send
Every message comes from your own WhatsApp number, and replies land in your Sonar inbox. A few examples:
How Sonar helps
- Enquiries answered at any hour. The AI Agent answers questions about rooms, rates, directions and what to pack, from the facts you give it, and leaves availability, and anything else it can't answer, to your team. Included from the Plus plan (R1,499 a month). How it works
- Holds that follow themselves up. Tag a guest when a hold is placed, and a flow waits a day, checks whether the deposit is in and, if not, sends the hold-ending reminder.
- Timed to their dates. Save each guest's arrival and departure dates, and flows send the before-you-arrive message 3 days before and the thank-you the day after they leave.
- Guest messages ready to use. Start from templates for booking confirmed, hold ending, deposit received, before you arrive, how was your stay and come back soon.
- Confirmations from your booking system. If your booking system can send new bookings to a web address, Sonar confirms each one on WhatsApp from your number. How it works
- Keep the lodge phone. Connect the WhatsApp Business app number guests already message. Chats keep working on the phone and show up in Sonar too. How it works
What it costs
Say you message 400 guests in a month, with 400 marketing messages and 1,200 updates. That fits the Plus plan at R1,499 a month, which includes the AI Agent. WhatsApp's own charges, paid to Meta from your card, come to about R451.
| Size | Sonar plan | WhatsApp* | Total a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guesthouse1 number, 200 marketing and 600 updates a month | Plus, R1,499Includes the AI Agent | R225 | R1,724 |
| Lodge1 number, 600 marketing and 2,000 updates a month | Plus, R1,499Includes the AI Agent | R708 | R2,207 |
| Group of four lodges4 numbers, 3,000 marketing and 8,000 updates a month | Plus, R1,499Includes the AI Agent | R3,218 | R4,717 |
* WhatsApp's own charges for South African numbers, paid to Meta from your card, an estimate at today's exchange rate. Sonar's prices include VAT. Every plan.
Plans start with a free trial of 50 contacts and 250 messages, with replies you type free, no card needed. Work out your own month with the calculator.
Questions
Most of our guests are from overseas. Does that change the cost?
Sonar's plan costs the same wherever your guests are. WhatsApp charges by the country of the guest's number, and some countries cost more than South Africa. The calculator has the rates by country.
Can guests pay their deposit on WhatsApp?
Sonar doesn't take payments. Put your payment link in the message, and tag the guest as paid when the deposit comes in, by hand or from your booking system, so the reminders stop.
We run booking software for many lodges. Can each one connect its own number?
Yes. With the partner API, each lodge connects its own WhatsApp number from inside your product, and keeps its own guests and opt-outs.
Guides for this
- AI Agent and Copilot: a WhatsApp chatbot in your voice
- Order and booking updates from your other systems
- Use Sonar with the WhatsApp Business app
- WhatsApp pricing in South Africa
Other industries
- Restaurants, bars and cafés
- Shops and online stores
- Salons, spas and studios
- Sports clubs and schools
- Estate agents and property developers
- Laundries and dry cleaners
- Medical, dental and therapy practices
- Recruitment and staffing agencies
- Car dealers, workshops and parts shops
- Software platforms and SaaS
- Accountants, brokers and financial advisers
Need a hand?
Tell us about your business: email support@whats-hub.co.za or chat to us on WhatsApp, and we'll help you set it up.