Customers & Automation
AI Booking Enquiry Auto-Responder
Last updated 19 May 2026
AI Booking Enquiry Auto-Responder
When a potential customer messages your venue with a booking question, AI replies instantly with real available times and a one-tap booking link. Non-booking messages route to your inbox unchanged. Settings live in your booking-settings page; toggle it on/off in one tap.
Where to find it — Web: Settings → Booking settings → AI booking enquiries. Owner-only.
TL;DR
- AI classifies inbound SMS and email; replies to booking enquiries with available slots + a Quick Book link.
- The AI proposes — it doesn't book. The customer taps the link, completes the deposit, and confirms.
- Booking enquiries (yes) and chat / thanks / complaints (no) are auto-detected via a fast regex + AI classifier two-stage filter.
- Owner-only toggle, PRO-only feature, AU/GB SMS + all-markets email.
What customers experience
A customer texts your venue's dedicated number (or emails your venue address):
"Hi, can I book a balayage with Sam for Saturday afternoon?"
Within seconds, the AI replies:
"Hi! Sam has 1:30pm, 3:00pm and 4:30pm available on Saturday. Tap to book your favourite: {link}"
The link is a Quick Book URL that pre-fills service (balayage), staff (Sam), date (Saturday), and a specific time. The customer lands on your storefront booking wizard at the confirmation step — they review, pay any deposit, and confirm.
If the customer says "Hi, do you do balayage on weekends?" the AI also replies, but the conversation might span multiple turns before slots are offered.
If the customer says "Hi 👋" or "Thanks for yesterday!" the AI doesn't respond — the message lands in your inbox for you to reply personally.
How classification works
A two-stage filter decides whether to auto-respond:
- Fast regex — short messages and obvious non-booking content (greetings, gratitude, complaints) skip the AI classifier and route straight to inbox.
- AI classifier — for everything else, a quick AI call returns
{isBookingEnquiry, serviceKeywords, preferredDate, preferredTime, preferredStaff, customerName, reasoning}. Only booking enquiries get an auto-response.
The classifier is hardened against prompt injection (a customer can't write "ignore previous instructions" to break the system). PII is scrubbed before any telemetry leaves the venue.
SMS multi-message debounce
When customers fire off multiple SMS in quick succession ("hi" → "actually can i book" → "balayage for saturday"), the AI buffers messages for 8 seconds before classifying them as one concatenated message. This avoids three separate AI replies to what was really one question.
The buffer expires safely at 2 minutes maximum; if you only send one message, the AI replies within 8 seconds.
How it finds the slots
The AI uses real availability — same engine the storefront booking wizard uses, not a separate mock or cached snapshot.
- Fuzzy date resolution — "this weekend", "tomorrow", "Saturday", "next week" all resolve correctly with venue timezone awareness.
- Service matching — keywords from the enquiry are matched against your service list (case-insensitive, fuzzy).
- Staff matching — names are matched against your active staff list.
- Time preferences — morning (before 12), afternoon (12-17), evening (17+), or specific time ±1 hour.
Returns up to 4 slots per day, 6 total. Builds a Quick Book URL with all the resolved details so the customer's tap lands them at the right place.
Response style
The AI uses your venue's brand voice persona and your Business Memory facts. Outputs are:
- Channel-aware — SMS ≤300 chars (one segment usually); email ≤600 chars
- SMS-natural — no numbered lists or line breaks; slots woven into a single sentence
- British English — colour, customise, organise
- No AI tells — em dashes, "delve", "leverage", "seamless", "robust" are filtered post-generation
- Never reveals it's AI — if asked directly, replies "I'm here to help with bookings. How can I help?"
If your wallet is empty (no Sparks), the auto-responder falls back to a static plain-text message: "Thanks for your message! You can book online at our website, or we'll get back to you shortly." So messages still go out; they just lose the personalised slot offer.
Channel coverage
| Channel | Where it works |
|---|---|
| SMS | AU and GB venues with a dedicated number provisioned. NZ doesn't have SMS — this is email-only there. |
| All markets (AU, NZ, GB). No setup beyond having venue email configured. |
Inbound webhooks at /api/webhooks/sms-inbound and /api/webhooks/email-inbound handle the routing.
Inbox surfacing
Every AI response is logged to the conversation in your Inbox with:
handlingMode: "ai"— distinguishable from human repliespersonaUsed— which brand voice persona generated the reply- A short summary label, e.g. "AI offered 3 slot(s) (2 msg batch)" or "AI responded — no availability"
You can step in any time — once you reply manually, the conversation switches to human-handled and the auto-responder backs off.
Cost
Each AI response charges 1 Spark (CONCIERGE_OUTBOUND). Idempotent: if the customer's message is reprocessed by the webhook (rare), the cost isn't double-charged.
Non-booking enquiries that route to inbox cost nothing.
Configuration
| Setting | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Master toggle | Settings → Booking settings → AI booking enquiries | Owner-only. Default: on for new venues. |
That's the entire settings surface — there's no per-service or per-staff exclusion, no time-of-day restriction, no per-channel toggle. The feature is on or off venue-wide.
On the FREE plan
The AI booking enquiry responder doesn't run on FREE. Inbound messages still land in your inbox — they just won't get an auto-reply. Upgrade to PRO to enable.
Common mistakes
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Customer sent an SMS but no auto-reply went out | Confirm Settings → Booking settings → AI booking enquiries is on; venue is PRO; dedicated number is provisioned (AU/GB). |
| AI replied to a non-booking message ("Hi, how's your day?") | The classifier occasionally flags ambiguous messages as booking enquiries. Edit the AI's reply in the inbox or send a corrective follow-up. Pattern over time helps the system learn (PostHog telemetry). |
| AI offered slots that don't exist | Should not happen — the slot resolver uses real availability. If the slot was offered but is no longer available, the customer will see the conflict at the booking wizard step and pick another. |
| AI responded with a static "Thanks for your message" | Wallet balance is empty. Top up to restore personalised responses. |
| Customer says they got 3 AI replies in a row to one question | Shouldn't happen — the 8-second debounce coalesces messages. If you see this, contact support with the conversation ID. |
| AI is using outdated venue facts | Update Business Memory — it's the single source of truth for cross-feature venue context (booking enquiry replies, templates, campaign drafts, all read from it). |
FAQ
What does the AI booking enquiry responder do?
When a customer messages your venue with a booking question — by SMS or email — AI classifies the intent, looks up real available times for the service and staff they asked about, and replies with up to 6 slot suggestions plus a one-tap Quick Book link. Non-booking messages route to your inbox unchanged for manual reply.
Does it actually book the appointment?
No. The AI hands the customer a Quick Book link that pre-fills service, staff, and time at the storefront booking wizard. The customer completes the deposit (if required) and confirms the booking themselves. The AI proposes; the customer chooses.
How does it tell a booking question from chat?
A fast regex check catches obvious non-booking messages first ('hi', 'thanks'). For everything else, an AI classifier returns whether the message is a booking enquiry plus extracted hints (service, date, time, staff). Booking enquiries get the auto-response; non-bookings route to inbox for you to reply.
How do I turn this on or off?
Settings → Booking settings → AI booking enquiries → toggle 'Respond to booking enquiries automatically'. Owner-only, PRO required. The default is on for new venues.
Does it work for email too, or just SMS?
Both. The SMS path requires a dedicated number (AU/GB only). Email works in every market. New Zealand is email-only for this feature like for the rest of the messaging stack.
What if the customer asks for something I don't offer?
The AI will reply that the service isn't in your menu and direct the customer to your storefront. If you want the AI to proactively suggest a related service, add that link to Business Memory — e.g. "We don't do nails; for nails we recommend partnering with {salon} next door."