WhatsApp Setup & Connecting

Used by over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp Business supports vacation rental businesses of all sizes. OwnerRez's WhatsApp Business integration (Private Beta) lets you connect directly with your guests in the OwnerRez Inbox.

OwnerRez's integration with WhatsApp Business is designed for ad-hoc guest communication and currently does not support OwnerRez template and trigger features.

If you haven't already, be sure to review our Messaging Overview support article.

• Prerequisites
• Setup & Connecting
• What's Next
• Troubleshooting
  • How do I handle continued WhatsApp errors with my account?
  • I received an email from Meta stating, "We restricted your business," and I cannot complete the WhatsApp connection in OwnerRez.
  • Some of my pre-configured WhatsApp Business account templates are no longer sent after I've connected my WhatsApp business account with OwnerRez.
  • WhatsApp changed my Utility template category to Marketing. How do I change my WhatsApp Template category?
  • At the start of my WhatsApp connection flow, Facebook sent me a 2FA code, but I never received it, even after I tried "try another way."

Prerequisites

You can connect OwnerRez's WhatsApp integration in the following ways.

• Use your existing WhatsApp Business account
• Create a new WhatsApp account during the OwnerRez WhatsApp connection process

If you have a consumer WhatsApp account, you can convert it to a WhatsApp Business account prior to connecting to the OwnerRez WhatsApp connection by following the instructions in WhatsApp's Help Center article, How to move your WhatsApp Messenger account to the WhatsApp Business app.

Setup & Connecting

In OwnerRez, navigate to Settings > Messaging > WhatsApp > Connect WhatsApp.

Connect your WhatsApp account to OwnerRez by clicking Continue.

Select your Business from the Business portfolio dropdown list and either Create a new WhatsApp Business account or Connect your existing WhatsApp Business App.

Complete your business profile by entering your business name, country, business website, and clicking Next.

Enter your business phone number and click Next.

Click Next on the "Enter your WhatsApp Business phone number" page.

Confirm your phone number and/or select your timezone. If you are using the WhatsApp Business app, you can scan the QR code with it.

If using your WhatsApp Business app, connect to OwnerRez by clicking OK.

If using the WhatsApp Business app, decide whether to share all or none of the chat history, then tap Confirm.

If using the WhatsApp Business app, tap on Connect to the Business Platform.

If you are using the WhatsApp Business app, you may need to rescan a QR code to complete the connection. 

Review what you'll share with OwnerRez and click Confirm.

Connecting your WhatsApp Business account may take a few moments. When your account is connected, click Finish. Optionally, you can add a credit card by clicking the Add Payment Method button.

Your WhatsApp Business account connection will be initiated, pending, and under review by WhatsApp.

Before you can begin messaging on WhatsApp, OwnerRez will need to verify your business and/or system message template. You will receive an email at the email address associated with your Facebook account, with the subject line of "Your WhatsApp message template state has been changed," when this is complete.

What's Next

Depending on your chat history selection during your connection process, older WhatsApp messages and contact information from before OwnerRez was connected will be automatically pulled into the Inbox, but you may not be able to respond in the Inbox until your business is fully verified by Meta, which can take 12-24 hours.

Most users with existing WhatsApp Business accounts can engage in guest conversations in both the WhatsApp app and the OwnerRez Inbox. In contrast, those who create a new WhatsApp Business account through OwnerRez may be limited to communicating with guests within the OwnerRez Inbox, much like SMS messaging.

You can also connect your WhatsApp Business account to your Facebook account. For instructions, see Meta's How to add a WhatsApp Business account to a Facebook Page Help Center article.

Troubleshooting

How do I handle continued WhatsApp errors with my account?

If you continue to have WhatsApp account errors, ensure your WhatsApp Business Account has a valid payment method, tax information, time zone, and currency configured. You must have Finance Manager permissions to make these changes.

I received an email from Meta stating, "We restricted your business," and I cannot complete the WhatsApp connection in OwnerRez.

Navigate to business.facebook.com by clicking the Request Review link in the email you received from Meta. This is the central management portal where users can view their account status and submit an account Review Request, which includes ID verification and can take up to 4 days to process, according to Meta.

After Meta has reviewed and reinstated your account, you should receive an email with the subject "URGENT: Your Business Account’s advertising access was reinstated."

Some of my pre-configured WhatsApp Business account templates are no longer sent after I've connected my WhatsApp business account with OwnerRez.

If you had pre-configured WhatsApp Business account templates set up in your account before connecting with OwnerRez, those templates may be disabled during the connection process. You may be able to re-enable those templates in your WhatsApp Business app.

WhatsApp changed my Utility template category to Marketing. How do I change my WhatsApp Template category?

The OwnerRez WhatsApp integration automatically configures your templates to the Utility category. Once the initial Utility template is approved by Meta, they may arbitrarily change the template category to Marketing. What's the difference between Utility and Marketing template categories?

• Marketing templates – Enable businesses to achieve a wide range of goals, from generating awareness to driving sales and retargeting customers.
• Utility templates – Enable businesses to follow up on user actions or requests, since these messages are typically triggered by user actions.

Some users may encounter WhatsApp message failures, such as "New message start template failed: This message was not delivered to maintain healthy ecosystem engagement. - In order to maintain a healthy ecosystem engagement, the message failed to be delivered." This indicates that Meta (WhatsApp) blocked your message to prevent spam and protect the user experience, as part of its Per-User Marketing Template Limits. This means the recipient has received too many marketing messages recently without responding, or that your message was categorized as marketing by Meta and flagged as low engagement. This is a temporary restriction, not a permanent ban on your account, but it indicates that your current messaging approach is too aggressive according to Meta's guidelines.

Users can submit a Category change appeal from Marketing back to Utility by navigating to WhatsApp Manager > Overview > Message Templates > See more > Review category updates in the Business Support Home, selecting the affected template, and clicking Request Review.

The status will change to "In Review." If approved, it moves to "Reversed"; if denied, it moves to "Unchanged".

At the start of my WhatsApp connection flow, Facebook sent me a 2FA code, but I never received it, even after I tried "try another way."

As advised in the Setup & Connecting section, we suggest that you log in to your Facebook account in another browser tab or app. However, if you have multiple linked Facebook profiles (with the same login credentials), you may not receive the 2FA code sent by Facebook, or you may not successfully receive the 2FA code even after you attempt to "try another way."

We recommend checking your Facebook account to ensure you are logged in to the correct profile so that you can receive Facebook's 2FA code.