How to build a WhatsApp chatbot for your spa

Start from what customers actually send. Clients ask which treatment suits them, how long it takes, whether a therapist is free on a given day, about couples or group bookings, and whether gift vouchers are available.

Then look at what goes wrong today:

• Single-visit guests never become members. They loved the deep tissue massage. They never came back because nobody followed up with a reason to return.
• Upsell opportunities missed at checkout.
• Booking requests pile up on the phone. Every weekend, your front desk is on 3 calls simultaneously while guests wait at the counter.

Each of these is a conversation with a predictable shape — a question, a lookup, a confirmation. That shape is what a chatbot handles well.

Spa menus are long and the names are unfamiliar. A bot that asks one question first — "What are you looking for today?" with [Relax] [Ease sore muscles] [Skin and face] [For two] — narrows the menu to a few treatments with their duration and price. Clients who know what they want can type it directly; the bot recognises treatment names and the words clients use instead ("deep tissue", "pressure massage", "facial for glow").

Notice what the business side does: it answers with the specific detail (time, reference, next step), it asks for one thing at a time, and it gives the customer a one-word way to reply. Those three habits matter more than how clever the bot is.

1. Treatment — from the narrowed list.
2. Therapist preference — a named therapist, male or female therapist, or no preference.
3. Date and time — only slots where a suitable therapist and the right room are both free for the full duration.
4. Intake — the health questions, with a person following up if needed.
5. Confirm with arrival time and what to bring.

Reputoo supports both, and most spas end up using both:

• Keyword flows — a fixed menu or trigger word ("MENU", "BOOK", "STATUS") leads down a set path. Predictable, easy to audit, right for anything with a fixed answer.
• AI chatbot — reads the customer's own words and answers from your knowledge base (website, price list, policies). Right for the long tail of questions nobody wrote a menu item for.

A sensible start for a spa: keyword flows for the top two or three tasks, AI for everything else, and a person behind both.

Couples' treatments need two therapists and the couples' room at once; a bridal party needs several therapists for hours. The bot can find simple couples' slots on its own. Groups larger than two, or anything with several treatment types, it collects — date, number of people, treatments wanted, occasion — and hands to the spa manager.

"I want a gift voucher for my wife's birthday tomorrow" is a common message. The bot offers treatment vouchers or amounts, takes the recipient's name and a message, sends the payment link, and delivers the voucher as an image or PDF the buyer can forward. When the recipient books, the bot asks for the code and checks it.

• Complaints, refunds and anything where the customer is upset.
• Anything involving money the bot cannot see — a disputed bill, a custom quote.
• Health, safety or legal questions.
• Any customer who asks for a human. Do not make them ask twice.

For spas specifically: health conditions, pregnancy, allergies to products, and complaints about a treatment belong with a senior therapist.

Handover on Reputoo moves the chat into the shared inbox with the conversation so far, so staff never ask the customer to repeat themselves.

1. Connect your WhatsApp number to Reputoo (official API; takes minutes).
2. Add your website and documents to the knowledge base so the AI answers in your spa's own terms.
3. Build keyword flows for the top tasks above. What to connect: A spa or salon booking system with therapist calendars; it holds the appointment and the treatment history.
4. Choose who gets handed-over chats, and during which hours.
5. Test from a personal phone, then share the number or a QR code with customers.

"Can I have a massage when pregnant?" or "I have a skin allergy — is the facial safe?" are not for the bot to answer. It says a therapist will reply, collects the details, and hands over. The same applies to any intake answer that flags a condition.

From the reminder, clients reschedule or cancel in two taps, and the bot applies your notice rule and deposit policy. The freed slot can be offered to clients waiting for that day. Exceptions go to the manager.

Spas are busiest before festivals and at weekends. Keep holiday hours and fully booked days updated in one place so the bot offers only real slots and suggests the nearest alternatives rather than a dead end.

Short, warm messages, no exclamation marks on every line, no hard sell. The bot's replies are the first taste of the calm a client is paying for. A chatbot that sounds like a busy call centre undoes the promise on your website.

• Book a single treatment, a couples' treatment and a long ritual, and check therapist and room clashes.
• Buy a voucher and redeem it.
• Answer an intake question with a condition and check it reaches a therapist.
• Reschedule and cancel from the reminder.

Watch bookings made without staff, vouchers sold in chat, and calls to reception. Read handovers weekly for treatments the bot does not recognise and questions it cannot answer, and add them.

Clients do not always know your menu's names. They ask for "a massage that really works the knots", "the one with hot stones", "something for tired legs" or "a facial before my wedding". Map these phrases to your treatments in the bot's keyword flows and the knowledge base, so the client sees the right two or three options instead of "I didn't understand". The AI chatbot handles phrasings you did not anticipate.

For spas inside hotels, the bot asks whether the client is staying at the hotel. In-house guests give a room number and charge to the room; day visitors pay by link. Day-pass rules — pool access, lockers, towels — are explained before the visit.

For long rituals and couples' bookings, the bot sends a deposit link with the cancellation rule in one sentence and holds the booking as provisional until paid. Clients who miss the deadline get one reminder; then the slot is released. Exceptions go to the manager.

Handovers arrive with the client's booking or voucher, their words and the reason — a health question, a group booking, a complaint. The bot tells the client who will reply and when. Health questions go to a senior therapist, bookings and complaints to the manager.

After a treatment, a short aftercare note written by your therapists — drink water, avoid a hot shower for a few hours after certain treatments, what to expect the next day — and a button to book the next visit. Clients leave feeling looked after and with an easy way back.

Clients write in the language they are comfortable in, and tourists at hotel spas write in many. The AI chatbot replies in the client's language; keyword flows cover common words in the main ones. Whatever the language, keep replies short and calm — the chat is the first part of the spa experience.

Clients with packages ask how many sessions are left and until when. The bot answers from the records and offers to book the next session with their usual therapist. Membership renewals are explained factually; renewal offers go in separate marketing messages to clients who opted in.

Many spa bookings are made in the evening, when clients plan their week. The bot takes them at any hour, and anything needing a person — health questions, groups — is queued for the morning with the client told when to expect a reply.

Brides and wedding parties ask about packages weeks ahead. The bot collects the wedding date, the number of people, the treatments wanted and any trial preference, and hands to the manager with everything attached. The bride should hear from a person within the day; the bot's job is to make that reply fast and well-informed.

Watch bookings completed without reception, vouchers sold in chat, and deposits paid on time. Read handovers weekly: recurring questions point to missing treatment descriptions or policies, which are quick to add.