Bookings are the appointments and reservations your customers make. This article explains how the booking system works in Speako.
What Is a Booking?
A booking is a scheduled appointment or reservation that includes:
- Date and time — When the customer is coming
- Customer information — Name, phone, email
- Duration — How long the booking lasts
- Resource — Table (restaurants) or staff member (services)
- Status — Confirmed, cancelled, completed, etc.
Booking Sources
Bookings can come from multiple sources:
AI Agent
When customers call your business:
- Your AI agent handles the conversation
- Collects customer details and preferences
- Checks availability in real-time
- Creates the booking automatically
Your AI agent is smart about time — if a caller says something general like "tomorrow afternoon" or "Friday evening", the agent will automatically list available time slots for that period so the caller can choose one.
Online Booking Page
Customers can book directly online:
- Visit your booking page
- Select date, time, and service/party size
- Enter their contact information
- Confirm the reservation
Manual Entry
Your team can create bookings:
- Open the booking calendar
- Click to add a new booking
- Enter customer and booking details
- Save the reservation
Booking Lifecycle
A booking goes through stages:
- Created — Booking is made, status is "confirmed"
- Confirmed — Active reservation awaiting service
- Customer arrives — For restaurants, marked as "seated"
- Service delivered — Appointment or meal happens
- Completed — Booking finished successfully Alternative paths:
- Modified — Customer changes date/time (old booking marked "modified")
- Cancelled — Customer or business cancels
Key Booking Information
Every booking stores:
- Booking reference number
- Customer name and contact
- Date and time
- Duration
- Party size (restaurants) or service type (services)
- Assigned table or staff member
- Special requests or notes
- Status
- Creation timestamp
How Availability Is Checked
When a booking is requested:
- System checks operating hours for that date
- Verifies resource availability (table/staff)
- Confirms no time conflicts exist
- If available, booking is created If unavailable, alternatives may be suggested.
Flexible Time Handling
Your AI agent understands different levels of time specificity:
| What the caller says | What the agent does |
|---|---|
| "Tomorrow at 6pm" | Checks availability for that exact time |
| "Tomorrow afternoon" | Lists available slots between 12:00 and 5:00 PM |
| "Friday evening" | Lists available slots between 5:00 and 10:00 PM |
| "Next Monday for lunch" | Lists available slots between 11:00 AM and 2:30 PM |
| "Today" | Lists all remaining available slots for today |
This means your callers don't need to have a specific time in mind — the agent will guide them to an available slot.
Booking Notifications
When bookings are created or changed:
- Customer receives confirmation email
- Team receives notification (if configured)
- Dashboard updates in real-time
When a Booking Can't Be Completed
The system handles booking failures with specific, actionable responses:
- Service mismatch: If a staff member doesn't offer the requested service, the system identifies this as a service issue (not a scheduling issue) and suggests appropriate alternatives
- Time conflict: If the requested time is fully booked, the system suggests the nearest available time slots
- Staff unavailable: If a specific staff member is requested but booked, the system can suggest other qualified staff members
These specific responses help callers quickly find a suitable booking option.