New in OpenChair: Instagram replies and waitlist controls | 15–30 April 2026
Reply to Instagram enquiries in OpenChair, match waitlist clients to their available days and control how often you send appointment offers.
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You can now answer Instagram enquiries from OpenChair alongside your other client messages. This fortnight’s web update brings Instagram Smart Replies on Pro, weekly waitlist availability and controls for spacing out appointment offers.
Reply to Instagram enquiries from Inbox#
On Pro, connect your salon’s Instagram Business account to bring its DMs into Inbox. Owners and managers can read and reply to those conversations alongside email and booking-enquiry SMS. Two-way SMS requires a dedicated OpenChair number in Australia or the UK.
Conversation rows show the channel, unread status and assigned team member, with a summary where available. Open the thread to read the full exchange, reply or assign it to the person who needs to follow up.
At a lash and brow studio, a client might ask whether to book an infill or a full set. Reception can keep the conversation in Inbox and hand the question to the artist, rather than passing on a screenshot. The artist can review what the client has said before recommending the next step.
Choose which Instagram questions Smart Replies handles#
Owners can choose Off, Draft or Auto-send for supported types of Instagram enquiry. Draft prepares a reply for you to check and edit. Auto-send can answer eligible, high-confidence questions using your salon’s recorded services, prices, hours and availability, subject to validation and your sending limits. AI drafts and auto-sent replies use Sparks.
A barbershop could enable Auto-send for opening-hours questions while keeping service enquiries in Draft. A complaint about a previous haircut goes to the team for review instead of receiving an automatic reply.
Hourly and daily limits control how many replies can be sent automatically, and the pause control stops Auto-send when you need to take over. Email replies remain draft-only. A booking link takes the client to your booking page; it does not complete or change an appointment inside the Instagram conversation.
Read more about handling salon messages across SMS, email and Instagram.
Match a cancellation to the days the client can attend#
Waitlist requests now support Weekly windows alongside Date range and Specific days. Use Weekly windows when a client can regularly attend on the same days and at the same times, rather than recording that detail only in a note.
A waxing client might be available on Tuesday afternoons or Saturday mornings and prefer their usual therapist. Those preferences can stay with the request, so a Thursday cancellation is not treated as suitable because the client is waiting for that service.
When an opening appears, review the matching request, service length and team member before sending an offer. The weekly windows describe when the client can attend; the appointment still needs to fit the available diary time. Basic waitlist management is available across plans, while Pro adds AI ranking and automatic offer modes.
Space out offers and follow their outcome#
Owners can now set the minimum time between offers under Maximum offers per customer in Waitlist settings. Offers held back by that limit are recorded as suppressed rather than sent. This gives you control over repeated outreach when several openings could suit the same client.
For a standard offer, the client receives a link to review the appointment and accept the time. Check the resulting booking confirmation before treating the gap as filled. A declined or expired offer has not booked that client into the appointment.
Clients can also opt into Auto-confirm on their waitlist request. With that option enabled, an eligible match can become a booking without a separate acceptance step. Leave it off when the client wants to consider each proposed time first. This is a specific waitlist choice, separate from the authority you give Smart Replies.
SMS offers also respect the client’s SMS opt-out. A STOP reply records that preference for your venue and blocks further waitlist SMS; START lets the client opt back in. SMS delivery remains subject to the configured channel and available messaging allowance or Wallet funds.
The salon waitlist guide explains the wider cancellation-recovery workflow.
Book an OpenChair walkthrough to follow a client enquiry through Inbox and review a waitlist offer for your salon.
