How a WhatsApp AI concierge works for vacation rentals

A WhatsApp AI concierge answers your guests in a chat they already have on their phone. It replies in seconds, at any hour, in the guest's own language, using what you have told it about your property. When it can't help, it hands the conversation to you.

That's the short version. Here is how it works in practice, using HeyConcierge as the example, because it's the one we built and can describe line by line.

What does the guest actually do?

Nothing new. They scan a QR code in the property or tap a link in your booking message, and a chat opens on WhatsApp or Telegram. They can also text the concierge by SMS. No app to download, no account to create.

How does it know it's your guest?

Ask this first, whichever tool you look at. Anyone can photograph a QR code on the fridge, and your door code should not go to a stranger.

HeyConcierge links each chat to a booking in one of two ways:

1. You add the guest. Enter the guest's name and phone number on the booking in your dashboard, and the concierge sends them a welcome message on WhatsApp or SMS.
2. The guest checks in themselves. Put your property link in your Airbnb welcome message. The guest enters their last name and stay dates, and HeyConcierge matches them against the bookings imported from your calendar before the chat opens.

Each guest gets a session that lasts through the stay plus a grace period after checkout. The grace period is 24 hours by default, and you can change it per property. When the session is archived, the guest's phone number and last name are removed.

Where do the answers come from?

For anything about your property, it only uses what you tell it. So tell it everything:

• WiFi name and password, check-in steps, key box or door codes, parking
• House rules, the checkout routine, how the heating and the coffee machine work
• Your own local tips: the bakery round the corner, the quickest bus to town

Type it in, or upload the house guide you already have as a PDF or Word file, and HeyConcierge fills in the fields from it. You can also add photos tagged by topic. When a guest asks where the key box is or where to park, the concierge sends the right photo. Photos go out on WhatsApp and Telegram, since SMS can't carry them.

For the world outside your door, it looks things up while it answers: restaurants and shops nearby, how far it is to a place, the weather, and activities guests can book with partners such as GetYourGuide and Viator. In the far north it checks the aurora forecast too.

You write everything once, in your own language. The concierge replies in whatever language the guest writes in.

What that sounds like

To show you, we set up a made-up apartment in Tromsø, Harbour Loft, in the test chat you get in the setup wizard. The test chat is a preview: it answers only from the property details, without the lookups described above. We told it the WiFi details, check-in from 15:00 with key box code 4417 to the right of the blue door, third floor with no lift, checkout by 11:00, and no smoking anywhere, including the balcony. Then we asked it what guests ask. These are its replies, unedited apart from removed emoji.

Guest: Hi! What's the WiFi password?

HeyConcierge: Hi!

The WiFi network is HarbourLoft-5G and the password is northernlights24.

Let me know if you need anything else!

Guest: Hola, ¿a qué hora es el check-in y cómo entramos?

HeyConcierge: ¡Hola!

El check-in es a partir de las 15:00.

Cómo entrar:

1. La caja de llaves está a la derecha de la puerta azul principal
2. Código: 4417
3. El apartamento está en la 3ª planta, puerta 3B (sin ascensor)
4. Al salir, deja la llave en la caja antes de las 11:00

¿Necesitas ayuda con algo más?

In English: check-in is from 15:00. The key box is to the right of the blue front door, code 4417. The apartment is on the 3rd floor, door 3B, no lift. When you leave, put the key back in the box before 11:00.

Guest: Dürfen wir auf dem Balkon rauchen?

HeyConcierge: Nein, leider nicht. Rauchen ist im gesamten Apartment verboten – auch auf dem Balkon.

Falls du rauchen möchtest, müsstest du das außerhalb des Gebäudes tun.

Gibt es noch andere Fragen?

In English: no, unfortunately not. Smoking is not allowed anywhere in the apartment, including the balcony. If you want to smoke, you would need to do it outside the building.

What happens when it doesn't know?

Here is the demo apartment again, asked about something we never told it:

Guest: Is there a hair dryer in the apartment?

HeyConcierge: I don't have information about specific amenities like a hair dryer in the apartment details I've been given.

I'd recommend contacting the host directly to confirm whether one is available. If you arrive and need one, they should be able to help you out!

Is there anything else I can help you with regarding check-in or local recommendations?

The test chat stops there. With real guests, the concierge offers to check with you, and alerts you on the channel you chose: WhatsApp, Telegram or SMS. You can reply to the guest straight from that alert, or take over the conversation under Messages in your dashboard.

It is also instructed to bring you in straight away when a chat can't fix the problem: a guest who is locked out, a leak, no heating or hot water, or anything to do with safety.

Every question it couldn't answer ends up in your dashboard as a missing topic, rewritten without the guest's details. Add the answer once, and the next guest gets it instantly.

The honest limitation: an AI concierge is only as good as the information behind it. If your check-in steps are out of date, it will repeat them faithfully. The missing-topics list is there to keep that loop short.

Can it earn money as well as save time?

Yes, with the offers hotels have used for years:

• Late checkout
• Early check-in
• An extra night in a gap between two bookings
• Extending the stay

HeyConcierge drafts these before each stay, timed to the property's local check-in or checkout time. You approve them in your dashboard and they go out in the guest's chat. The guest replies YES and pays by card through a payment link. You receive the price minus HeyConcierge's 10% fee and the card processing fee, paid out through Stripe, or by bank transfer once a month in countries where Stripe can't pay out.

What does it cost?

€9 per property per month. You can sign up and look around without a card. The 30-day free trial starts when you connect HeyConcierge to real guests; you add a card at that point and are first charged on day 31. There is no setup fee, and you can cancel anytime. More than 10 properties? Get in touch for a custom price.

Six questions to ask before you choose one

Whichever tool you pick, the answers to these tell you most of what you need to know:

1. How does it check who the guest is before it shares door codes and WiFi?
2. Where do the answers come from? Your information, the open internet or both, and can you tell which is which?
3. How does it hand over to you? On which channel, and can you reply from there?
4. Do guests need an app or an account? Every extra step loses guests.
5. Who processes guest data, under what agreement, and how long is it kept?
6. Are prices and fees published, including any cut of upsell revenue?

HeyConcierge is built in Tromsø, Norway, by Jacob Nørby and Erik Austheim.