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How an AI assistant can take bookings for your salon or studio

How an AI chat assistant takes bookings for salons, clinics, studios and tour operators: booking links, Google Calendar, Calendly and what to check.

The Ansa teamPublished 5 min read

Short answer: Yes, an AI assistant can take bookings. The simplest way is for it to share your booking link whenever someone asks to book. The better way is for it to check your real calendar, offer free times inside your opening hours, take the customer's name and email, and book the time they pick. Ansa does both: a booking link on every plan, and Google Calendar or Calendly booking on Pro and Business.

This guide is for salons, barbers, clinics, studios, tutors, tour operators and other service businesses that spend part of every day answering "do you have anything on Saturday?".

Why bookings belong in the chat

Most booking questions come with another question attached: "How much is a cut and colour, and can I come in Friday?" or "Is the safari suitable for kids, and is there space next week?". A booking page answers the second half. A chat assistant can answer both, then book, without the customer leaving the conversation.

It also works out of hours. Many people look for a salon or a class in the evening, when nobody is there to answer the phone.

Three ways an AI assistant can take bookings

The assistant gives the customer your booking page when they ask to book, visit or meet. It works with any booking tool you already use, and it's quick to set up.

On Ansa this is included on every plan, including Free. Add your link in Actions and Ansa shares it when it's needed. See Take bookings in the chat.

2. Book straight into Google Calendar

The assistant checks when you're busy, offers free times inside your opening hours, asks for the customer's name and email, and books the one they pick. The customer gets a calendar invitation by email, and the booking appears in your calendar with their name, email and note.

On Ansa this is on Pro and Business. You set your timezone, how long a booking is, your opening hours, how soon the first time can be and how far ahead people can book. Ansa only reads when you're busy and adds the bookings customers make; it doesn't read your event details.

3. Offer times from Calendly

If you already use Calendly, the assistant can show your free times for one event type. Calendly doesn't let other apps make the booking itself, so the customer picks a time in the chat and then confirms on Calendly's page, through a link that opens on that time with their name and email filled in.

On Ansa this is also on Pro and Business.

What a good booking assistant should never do

  • Make up free times. If it can't reach your calendar, it should say so and point the customer to you. Ansa does this.
  • Book without contact details. It should ask for a name and email first, so you can reach the customer.
  • Guess prices or policies. Deposits, cancellation rules and how long a treatment takes should come from your own information. For answers that must be exact, Ansa uses your Q&A pairs word for word.

Set it up in an afternoon

  1. Teach the assistant your services. Add your website, and upload your price list or treatment menu as a PDF or Word document. See Upload documents.
  2. Add your cancellation and deposit rules as Q&A pairs, so they're quoted exactly.
  3. Turn on bookings. In Ansa's Actions, choose Share a booking link, Book into Google Calendar or Book with Calendly.
  4. Test it. Ask "can I book a cut on Saturday morning?" in the test chat. See Test Ansa before you publish.
  5. Put it where customers ask. Add the chat to your website, share your chat link in your Instagram bio, or connect your WhatsApp number on Starter, Pro and Business.

Conversations that end in a booking show Booked in your dashboard, so you can see what the assistant is doing.

When a customer needs a person

Some requests are better handled by you: a bridal party, a complaint, a complicated group tour. On Starter, Pro and Business, Ansa can take the customer's email (and phone number, if you like) and email you their request with a summary of the chat. You reply from your own inbox. See When Ansa can't help.

What it costs

Each reply Ansa sends uses one answer from your plan, whether or not it ends in a booking. There's no extra charge for bookings, and you're never charged more than your plan.

  • Free ($0): 20 answers a month, 1 MB of knowledge, up to 20 website pages per read, 5 documents, just you, 1 assistant.
  • Starter ($25 a month): 500 answers a month, 5 MB of knowledge, up to 100 website pages per read, 20 documents, 3 team seats, 1 assistant.
  • Pro ($89 a month): 2,000 answers a month, 20 MB of knowledge, up to 500 website pages per read, 50 documents, 10 team seats, 3 assistants, and you can remove “Powered by Ansa”.
  • Business ($199 a month): 5,000 answers a month, 50 MB of knowledge, up to 1,000 website pages per read, 200 documents, 25 team seats, 10 assistants, and you can remove “Powered by Ansa”.

Calendar booking is on Pro and Business. See Pricing.

FAQ

Can an AI chatbot book appointments in my Google Calendar?

Yes. On Pro and Business, Ansa checks when you're free, offers times inside your opening hours, and books the one the customer picks. The customer gets a calendar invitation by email.

Does it work with Calendly?

Yes, on Pro and Business. Ansa shows your free Calendly times, and the customer confirms the booking on Calendly's page.

Does it work with my salon booking software?

If your booking software has a booking page, Ansa can share that link on every plan. Direct booking into the calendar works with Google Calendar and Calendly.

Can it take bookings on WhatsApp?

Ansa answers on your own WhatsApp number on Starter, Pro and Business, from the same knowledge and settings as your website chat. See Connect your WhatsApp number.

Will it double-book me?

It only offers times your Google Calendar shows as free, inside the opening hours you set, and checks again just before booking. If the time has just been taken, it offers the current free times instead. If the calendar can't be reached, it doesn't offer times.

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