Send WhatsApp Messages Through Mersal

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Business Value

• Protects your number from being blocked for spam.
• Sends the message from kwentra, with no new tab.
• Gives the guest a proper message with their name, not a bare link.
• Records every send in the reservation history.
• Adds the guest’s country code to local numbers.

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Use Cases

• A receptionist sends the registration card and the guest gets it from the hotel’s number.
• A cashier sends a folio and sees at once whether it went out.
• A front office manager opens a reservation and checks who sent what.

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How It Works

• WhatsApp blocks numbers that send many links this way. It treats them as spam.
• The guest got a bare link with no context.
• The hotel had no record of what was sent, to whom, or by whom.

• Registration Card
• Booking Confirmation (individual and group)
• Folio
• Payment Link

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What Mersal Is

• The hotel has an account with Mersal. Mersal holds the hotel’s verified WhatsApp number.
• kwentra hands the message to Mersal, and Mersal sends it.
• The hotel contracts with Mersal directly and pays Mersal for the messages. kwentra does not bill or resell messages.
• Messages must use approved templates. WhatsApp lets a business start a conversation only with a template that Meta approved. Free typing is not possible. This is a Meta rule, not a kwentra limit.

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Part 1: Set Up Mersal

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1. Get a Mersal Account

• Use a number the hotel controls and is happy to publish.
• Guests will reply to this number.

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2. Create the Message Templates

• Each template is written per language.
• The same template in English and in Arabic is two entries, with the same name and different languages. kwentra can use both.
• A template has fixed wording plus numbered blanks: {{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}.
• kwentra fills the blanks when it sends. For example: the guest name, the hotel name and the document link.

• A message cannot start or end with a blank.
• A message cannot be mostly blanks. If Meta says the message “has too many variables for its length”, add more fixed wording around them.

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3. Example Templates

Hello {{1}}, please review and sign your registration card for {{2}}: {{3}}

Dear {{1}}, your booking at {{2}} is confirmed. Reservation {{3}}, arriving {{4}}. Full details: {{5}}

Dear {{1}}, your folio from {{2}} for reservation {{3}} is ready: {{4}}

Dear {{1}}, you can pay {{2}} for your stay at {{3}} here: {{4}}

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4. Create the API Key

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Part 2: Set Up kwentra

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Step 1: Connect the Account

1. Paste the key into Mersal API key.
2. Click Check and save.
3. You see the Mersal account’s name, email and status, and when it was last checked.

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Step 2: Check the Templates Loaded

• There is one row per template and language.
• The list shows how many templates loaded, and when.
• Each row shows the name, the language, the category, the link it sends and whether it is ready.
• Filter by All, Set up or Not set up, or search by name.
• The list keeps Mersal’s order. The most recently updated template comes first.

• Large accounts can take up to a minute.
• The current list stays in use until the reload finishes.

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Step 3: Set Up Each Template

1. Link this template sends. Pick Registration Card, Booking Confirmation, Folio or Payment Link.
2. Fill the blanks. For each blank, pick what kwentra puts there.

• In a message blank only.
• In exactly one blank.
• Never in a header blank or a button blank.

• choose a link
• 1 blank is empty
• the link is in 2 blanks. Keep it in exactly one

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Step 4: Turn Sending On

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Part 3: Send a Document

1. Open the document as usual. For example Print / Email → RC on a reservation, the confirmation, the folio, or the payment link window.
2. Click Share via WhatsApp.
3. The pop-up shows the guest’s mobile, partly hidden, for example +20******44.
4. When more than one set-up template sends this document, the pop-up shows a Message template choice. Each option shows the name and language, for example booking_confirmation · Arabic. The first one is picked for you.
5. Click Save & Send. The message goes out from the hotel’s WhatsApp number. No new tab opens.

• With only one set-up template, no choice appears. That template is used.
• The same template name in another language is a separate option. Pick the guest’s language.
• If you changed the number, it is saved to the guest profile.

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Phone Numbers

• A number that starts with + or 00 already has its country code. It is sent exactly as typed.
• A number that starts with 0 is local. It gets the guest’s country code.
• The guest’s country comes from the guest profile. If the profile has none, it comes from the reservation.
• Your hotel’s country (Property Information) is used only when neither is set.
• Any other number is treated as international. It is sent as typed.
• The pop-up accepts digits with an optional + at the start. Spaces and dashes are not accepted.

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Record of Sends

• Who sent it, and when.
• The document, the template and its language.
• The number.
• Mersal’s message ID, or the error.

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When WhatsApp Web Is Used Instead

• No Mersal key is saved.
• Send through Mersal is off.
• The document has no set-up template.

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Troubleshooting

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Good to Know

• Who can send: anyone who can already open the document. Setting up the integration needs a settings permission.
• Languages: if a template exists in Arabic and English, both show in the pop-up. Staff pick the one that suits the guest.
• Not included yet: free-typed messages, delivery or read receipts, and sending from the guest profile. WhatsApp allows free typing only within 24 hours of the guest writing in.
• Volume: Mersal allows 60 messages a minute and 20,000 a day per key. This is far above normal front desk use.

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Related Articles

• Share Registration Card via WhatsApp
• Share Confirmation via WhatsApp
• Share Folio via WhatsApp