Bookings
Capturing appointment requests with enough detail that your team can confirm them without a second phone call.
Before you start
- The list of services you take bookings for
- Your availability rules, including anything you never book (bank holidays, staff-specific slots)
- A decision on whether SIMCOAI confirms bookings or only captures them
What a booking record contains
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Service | Matched against the services you configured, not free text guessed by the AI |
| Requested time | Including alternatives if the caller offered them |
| Contact details | Name, number, and email where given |
| Notes | Anything the caller said that matters - access, accessibility, a specific staff member |
| Verification state | Whether the customer was confirmed |
| Transcript | The full exchange |
Captured versus confirmed
These are different things and the distinction matters to your customers.
| Mode | Behaviour | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Capture only | The request is recorded; your team confirms | Most businesses, and anywhere double-booking is costly |
| Confirm where enabled | SIMCOAI can confirm against your availability rules, subject to your account configuration | High-volume, simple booking patterns |
Careful. If SIMCOAI is only capturing requests, do not let the greeting imply the booking is confirmed. A caller who believes they have an appointment and turns up to nothing is a worse outcome than a slower confirmation.
Getting availability right
- Keep opening hours current - seasonal closures are the most common source of wrong bookings
- State services precisely; "consultation" and "follow-up consultation" are different things to a customer
- Configure what must never be booked automatically
See also
- Phone profiles - give bookings their own line and greeting
- After hours - what happens to booking requests overnight
- Verification codes - protecting changes to existing bookings