The booking tools let your AI agent manage appointments during calls. This article explains how these tools work.
Booking Manager Overview
The Booking Manager is the primary tool for appointment handling. It gives your AI agent the ability to:
- Check calendar availability
- Create new appointments
- Modify existing bookings
- Cancel appointments
Handling Modes
The booking manager has three handling modes:
AI Handles
The AI agent fully manages bookings:
- Checks availability in real-time
- Suggests available slots
- Creates appointments directly
- Confirms details to the caller Best for: Businesses wanting full automation
Transfer to Human
The AI agent transfers booking calls to staff:
- Recognizes booking requests
- Informs the caller about the transfer
- Forwards to configured phone number
- Staff completes the booking Best for: Businesses preferring human touch for bookings
Send Booking Link
The AI agent sends an online booking link:
- Collects the caller's phone number
- Sends booking URL via SMS
- Caller completes booking online Best for: Businesses with established online booking
Configuration Options
Common Settings
- Send SMS Confirmation — Text booking details to customer
- Send Email Confirmation — Email booking details to customer
Mode-Specific Settings
For Transfer mode:
Transfer phone number For Send Link mode:
Booking page URL For AI Handles mode:
Resource rotation method
Staff preferences handling
How AI Booking Works
During a call:
- Caller requests an appointment
- Agent asks for preferences (service, date, time)
- Agent checks availability
- Agent presents options
- Caller confirms choice
- Agent creates booking
- Confirmation sent (if configured)
Your AI agent understands flexible time requests. If a caller says something like "tomorrow afternoon" or "next Friday evening" without giving a specific time, the agent will automatically list available time slots for that period and let the caller choose. There's no need for callers to know an exact time — the agent will guide them.
Booking Failure Handling
When the booking tool encounters an issue, it returns a specific failure reason to the AI agent:
| Failure Type | Description | Agent Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Staff doesn't offer service | The selected staff member doesn't provide the requested service | Suggests different staff or service; does not suggest a different time |
| Service not at location | The service isn't available at the caller's location | Suggests other available services |
| All staff booked | Every qualified staff member is booked at the requested time | Suggests alternative time slots |
| Staff member booked | The specific requested staff member is unavailable | Suggests a different time or other available staff |
The agent uses this structured information to provide accurate, helpful responses rather than generic "unavailable" messages.