In most of South America, Africa, and Asia, WhatsApp is how hotels communicate with guests. Booking confirmations, check-in instructions, and late checkout requests all happen in the same chat thread. The problem is that when it comes to actually collecting payment, the conversation usually breaks down into something like "please transfer to this bank account" or "we'll sort it when you arrive."

Bank transfers are slow, often expensive for the guest, and difficult to reconcile on your end. Pay-on-arrival means your booking isn't really confirmed - it's just an intention. Guests cancel, don't show up, or arrive without enough cash.

A payment link solves this. Instead of asking a guest to transfer money or promising to pay later, you send them a link directly in WhatsApp. They open it on their phone, enter their card details, and pay in their own currency. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds, and you get a notification the moment payment goes through.

The practical difference is significant. A booking where a guest has paid a deposit — even a small one — is a fundamentally different thing to a reservation that's just an email exchange. People show up, and if they can't make it, they tend to give enough notice to let you resell the room or tour spot, because there's money on the line.

Using Tab, you can create a payment link from your dashboard in under a minute. You set the amount, choose whether it's a deposit or full payment, attach a refund policy if you want one, and send it. The guest receives a clean payment page in their currency, with Apple Pay and Google Pay supported alongside standard card payments. Once they pay, the confirmation appears in your dashboard and you can see it in real time.

The fee is 2.9% plus $1 per transaction. There are no monthly fees and no hardware involved - just a link sent over a chat you're already using.

For properties that take bookings from international guests but don't have a formal booking system, this is often the simplest way to start collecting payments reliably. You don't need a website, a booking widget, or any technical setup. If you have WhatsApp and a Tab account, you can send a payment request to a guest anywhere in the world in the time it takes to write a message.