Should I build a chatbot on the OpenAI API or use one made for car rental?
It is the right question, and the answer hinges on one thing: the chatbot has to actually book against your reservation system, not just chat. This guide lays out what is behind each option, without the sales gloss.
Chatting is the easy part; booking is the work
A language model answers well from day one. The hard part comes after: reading live availability and rates from your reservation system, understanding dates, offices and opening hours, applying your extras and deposits, and writing the confirmed booking where your team sees it. That is where a weekend prototype turns into months.
- Live availability and prices from the reservation system, not a copy
- Dates, offices, opening hours, minimum age, extras and deposits
- The booking written into your system, with the customer identified
What building it involves
You need a WhatsApp Business provider (Twilio, 360dialog or Meta directly), the integration with your reservation system (Karve, Wheelsys, Rently, HQ…), the conversation logic with its edge cases, the hand-over to a person when the customer asks for one, and somebody to maintain it when the model, the WhatsApp API or your system changes. It is a product, not a script.
- Weeks of development and a developer on call afterwards
- Monthly fees for the WhatsApp provider and the model, whether it sells or not
- Nobody has tested your edge cases: you discover them with real customers
What a product made for car rental gives you
Bota is already integrated with Karve, Wheelsys, Rently, RentHub, Rentsyst and HQ Rental Software, and with any system exposing the standard API. It searches real availability, quotes with your rates, confirms the booking in your system and, when a conversation is not a sale, routes it to the right person. Car rental companies on Karve, Wheelsys and in-house systems run on it; their numbers are in the case studies.
- WhatsApp on your own number, web chat and phone, with the same agent
- Hand-over to your team inside the chat, with the conversation already filled in
- Six languages, chosen automatically by the customer
When to build, and when not to
Building makes sense if you already have a development team, a sales flow no product covers and a budget to maintain it. If what you want is to sell through WhatsApp and the web without adding staff, a product that only charges when it books saves you the months and the risk. Bota is free up to 6 bookings a month and charges 1.9% per booking after that.
- Build: your own team, a unique flow, a maintenance budget
- Buy: you want to sell now, with no development and no fixed fee
- Middle path: your in-house system connected to Bota through the standard API
Try it live
See how Bota replies in a real chat, using the same booking flow.
Can I build a booking chatbot on the OpenAI API?
Yes, and the conversation part will work within days. What takes months is connecting it to your reservation system with live availability, covering the edge cases (dates, offices, hours, extras) and maintaining it. That is the difference between a chatbot and an agent that books.
How long does a custom chatbot take to go live compared with Bota?
Custom: usually weeks or months, then ongoing maintenance. Bota: create the account, connect your reservation system with your own credentials, choose which offices it sells and paste the widget or connect your WhatsApp number. There is no prompt configuration.
What if my reservation system is not on the list?
You can connect it through the standard provider API: your system exposes ten JSON endpoints and Bota calls them. There is a guide for developers and for AI coding agents, and a sandbox to verify the integration without an account.
What does each option cost?
Custom: you pay development, the WhatsApp provider and the model every month, whether it sells or not. Bota is free up to 6 bookings a month and then 1.9% of each booking that is actually fulfilled: if the customer cancels or does not show up, that booking is credited back.
Can a custom chatbot hand the conversation to a person?
It can, if you program it and build an inbox for the team. In Bota the hand-over comes built in: your team receives the conversation inside the chat, with the details already filled in, and can take over or hand it back to the agent.
No card. Free up to 6 bookings a month.
Put Bota to work selling for you
Start free for up to 6 bookings a month. You only pay 1.9% per booking when Bota sells. No lock-in, no setup fees.