How can several receptionists answer one hotel WhatsApp number?
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. AI suggests replies and summarises long conversations, while a person sends every message.
Who this is for: a hotel, guesthouse or resort manager who wants the front desk, the night shift and the owner working on the one number guests already message.
Before you start
- The phone that holds the hotel's WhatsApp number, to scan a QR code once.
- The email address or phone number of each person you want to invite.
- Optional: a saved filter for each group of chats you want to share separately (for example one per property).
Step 1: Connect the hotel's number
- Sign in to Spun. On first login the connect screen opens; later you find it under Settings → WhatsApp → Health.
- Check the country under We'll connect it from:. It should be the country where the hotel normally uses WhatsApp. Press Change if it is not.
- Press Continue to QR.
- On the hotel phone, open WhatsApp, go to Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device, and scan the QR code.
- Wait for the green Connected status. Your chats and groups start to appear.
The number stays on the hotel phone. Spun works alongside it as a linked device, and messages typed on the phone appear in Spun too.
Step 2: Invite the front desk
- Open Spun Tools → Inbox → Team (or its pinned icon in the sidebar).
- Click Share Access. The Share Wizard opens.
- Who: enter the receptionist's email address or phone number.
- Role: pick a preset. Full Control sees the whole inbox, the same as you. Manager, Team Member and Viewer see only the chats you share in the next steps.
- Pipeline: if you have a pipeline board, pick it and tick the stages to share, or skip the step.
- Filters: for a scoped role, pick the saved filters the person may work in.
- Review: confirm, then copy the invite link or send it as a WhatsApp message.
Repeat for each person. Team members are free: there are no per-seat fees.
Step 3: Decide who picks up new chats
Two simple patterns work well for a front desk:
- Everyone sees everything. Give each receptionist Full Control or a role scoped to an "All guests" filter. Whoever is on shift answers.
- Share out new chats in turn. Each person who accepts an invitation gets a personal label with their name. In Labels → Rotation, add the people on shift so new chats are labelled with the next person's name in turn.
Step 4: Catch chats that wait too long
- In Settings → Team → Response Targets, set a first-reply target, for example 15 minutes.
- Chats close to or past the target are badged in the chat list, and the right person is alerted.
- For a specific guest, set an alarm from the message menu (Add Alarm), or open Alarms from the sidebar and add a rule on its Auto-Rules tab so a chat that has waited too long creates one on its own.
What to expect
- One conversation per guest. Replies sent from Spun and replies typed on the hotel phone land in the same conversation, so the morning shift can read what the night shift said.
- Smart replies. In one-to-one chats, Spun suggests ready-to-send replies above the message box. A receptionist picks one, edits it if needed, and sends it.
- Who replied. A reply sent from Spun shows a "Sent by" line with the receptionist's name in the chat. The Team Performance view on the Dashboard shows, per team member, messages sent, conversations handled and average first reply against your target.
Limits
- Replies typed on the hotel's own phone appear in the conversation with no team member's name, and they are not counted to a person in Team Performance.
- Scoped sharing follows the saved filters and pipeline stages you set up. It is not hand-picking single chats one by one, and a scoped person still works inside the same number.
- Rotation applies a name label only. It does not hide chats from the others. Each person can have work hours, but a window that ends after midnight is not supported, and if nobody is on shift a new chat still goes to the next person in turn.
- Alarms notify your team. They do not reply to the guest.
What Spun does not do
- It does not connect to your PMS or channel manager. Copy what you need into your booking system.
- It does not use the WhatsApp Business API. Spun connects your normal number as a linked device through a connection provider, so normal WhatsApp limits apply.
- It does not send AI replies on its own. Smart replies wait for a receptionist; an AI chatbot answers only if you switch it on, and marks every reply it sends.