In this guide
If nobody replies
Many people look at trips when they have time: at night, on the sofa, or on a Sunday afternoon. Whoever writes at those hours rarely asks for a booking: they ask for a price, some dates, whether there are places left. And if nobody answers, they may ask the same at another agency and, by Monday, already be looking at the trip with them.
On top of that, there’s a limit that doesn’t depend on the agency: WhatsApp’s clock.
The 24-hour clock
With the WhatsApp Business app on your phone you can reply whenever you like. With the WhatsApp Business Platform, the one used by customer service software and AI assistants, you can’t: each message from the customer opens a 24-hour window to reply with a normal message. Once it closes, you can only write to them with a template approved by Meta, which is paid separately (we explain it in what WhatsApp charges your agency).
- Friday, 21:30. The customer asks about the Japan trip.
- Saturday, 21:30. The window closes.
- Monday, 9:00. The agency opens and can only write to them with a template.
What opens the window again is a message from the customer, not the agency’s reply. So if the agency replies through software, answering at the weekend isn’t just courtesy: it’s what lets it keep talking to the customer normally.
Three ways to handle it
The away message
The WhatsApp Business app sends it automatically to whoever writes when you’re away. You set it in the Tools tab › Away message, and under Schedule you choose “Outside of business hours” (you first need to set your hours in your business profile). It’s free and reassures the customer, but it doesn’t answer what they asked. And the phone needs an internet connection to send it.
Someone on call
They really answer, but someone at the agency works while the agency is closed. If it’s an employee, it clashes with their right to digital disconnection (further down); if it’s the owner, with their rest.
An AI assistant
It answers the question at any time, with the agency’s trips and prices, and leaves the conversation noted down so someone can pick it up in the morning. It has to say it’s an AI (we explain it in the notice the law requires) and its messages are paid to Meta like any reply.
What an assistant has to get right
At night there’s nobody to correct it, so it matters more than during the day:
- Say it’s an AI in its first message, with the agency’s name.
- Answer only with what the agency has given it: its trips, its prices, its terms. If it doesn’t know, it says so and notes it down.
- Know when to hand over to a person and tell the customer when they’ll hear back, using the agency’s hours: “tomorrow from 9:00”, not “shortly”.
- Reply in the customer’s language: at night people also write from other countries.
- Note everything down: who wrote, what they wanted and what’s missing, to carry on in the morning without asking again.
One night and its morning
At 23:40 the customer has their answer. At 9:00 the agency has the whole conversation.
The assistant replies with the agency’s trip and price. When the customer asks to talk to someone, it tells them when they’ll hear back, worked out from the agency’s hours.
In the morning, whoever picks up the conversation knows which trip they want, for how many and that they want to talk it over.
Yes, there are places on the 12 April departure. It’s €2,450 per person, with flights and hotels included. Shall I prepare a quote for two?We handle your data to help you23:40Privacy
The right to disconnect
In Spain, workers have the right not to keep up with work outside their working hours. It is set out in Article 88 of Organic Law 3/2018, on Personal Data Protection and the guarantee of digital rights:
“Workers and public employees shall have the right to digital disconnection in order to guarantee, outside the working time established by law or by collective agreement, respect for their rest time, leave and holidays, as well as their personal and family privacy.”
Organic Law 3/2018, Article 88(1) (our translation)
The same article requires the company to have an internal policy on how that right is exercised, and the Workers’ Statute includes it in its Article 20 bis. An assistant doesn’t replace that policy, but it removes the temptation to check the phone at eleven at night: anything urgent is noted down and dealt with on opening.
How Tramoa does it
With Tramoa, your assistant answers at any time with your trips and your prices. With the hours you set in Instructions it works out when a person will write to the customer, and if someone at the agency is handling a conversation and the customer writes while the agency is closed, it tells them once that you’re closed and when you’ll reply. In the morning, in Home, you see how many conversations came in out of hours and which ones are waiting for a person.
Sources
- Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (Meta, updated on 30 September 2026): the 24-hour window.
- How to use away messages (WhatsApp Help Center).
- Organic Law 3/2018 of 5 December on Personal Data Protection and the guarantee of digital rights: Article 88 (BOE, in Spanish).
- Workers’ Statute (Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015): Article 20 bis (BOE, in Spanish).
- The other guides: the AI notice the law requires and what WhatsApp charges your agency.
Checked against the official sources on 28 October 2026. This is not legal advice.