Staff, rooms and locations

Staff, rooms and equipment let two customers book the same time when two people (or rooms) are free. Each one has its own hours, time off and daily limit, and each takes one booking at a time. Services say what they need, for example "any therapist and any treatment room". If you work from more than one place, locations give each one its own hours. You need at least one service (see Set up bookings).

1. Add staff, rooms and equipment

1. On the Appointments page, click Staff and rooms.
2. Click Add staff, room or equipment.
3. Fill in:
   • Name, and What it is: Staff member, Room, Vehicle, Equipment or Other.
   • How many: add several identical ones at once, such as a fleet of cars.
   • Description (optional): customers see it when they choose who to book.
   • Most appointments a day: a daily limit for this one, if you want it.
   • Colour on the calendar, so you can tell bookings apart at a glance.
4. To give it different hours from your business hours, turn on Its own hours and set them. You can give each day its own hours and add breaks.
5. Save it.

Use the switch on a row to stop it being booked for a while.

Add time off

On the row, click the time off button, set From and Until, and add a Note (only you see it) if you like. That person or room isn't offered during their time off.

2. Say what each service needs

1. Click Services and edit a service.
2. Under Needs (optional), click Add what it needs.
3. Give the line a name in Called (for example "Therapist") and choose who can do it in Any one of.
4. Add a second or third line if the service also needs a room or a piece of equipment. A service can need up to three things.
5. Click Save service.

When a customer books, Aiva Chat books one free choice from each line. So if two therapists and two rooms are free at 10:00, two customers can both book 10:00.

A service with nothing under Needs books against the assistant, one booking per time.

Let customers choose who

If the first line is staff, you can turn on Let customers choose who (from the first line) on the booking page and with the AI. Customers can then ask for a particular person, and the AI can book them when they ask by name. If you leave it off, Aiva Chat picks the free person with the fewest bookings that day.

3. Send staff their bookings

Staff don't log in to Aiva Chat. Instead, open a staff member in Staff and rooms and use these settings:

• Emails to them: add Their email (optional) and choose what they get: New bookings, Changes and cancellations, The day's list each morning (sent at 7 AM), and whether to Include the customer's phone number.
• Schedule link: click Create link (or Create and email it) to make a private page with their next 14 days, plus a calendar feed they can add to Google, Apple or Outlook calendar apps. The link is shown once, so copy it then. Anyone with the link can see the schedule, so click Replace link if it leaks, or Turn off to stop it working.

4. Set up several locations

1. On the Appointments page, click Locations.
2. Add a location with its Name (customers see it), Time zone, address, Phone (optional) and Getting there (optional): parking, which door, which floor. That last note is sent in the booking confirmation.
3. Turn on Its own hours if this location keeps different hours from your business hours.
4. Save it.

You can add up to 50 locations. Then:

• On each service, use Offered at to choose where it's offered (or leave it at Every location).
• On each staff member or room, tick where they work under Works at. With none ticked, they work at every location.
• On the booking page, customers choose a location first.
• To tie a phone number to a location, open Communication → My Numbers, open the number and set Calls to this number are for. The assistant books callers at that location unless they ask for another one.

The calendar, the list and Reports can all be filtered by location.

Troubleshooting

Two customers still can't book the same time. Check that the service has a Needs line with more than one person or room in it, and that both are free and working at that time.

A staff member is never offered. Check their hours (or your business hours if Its own hours is off), their time off, their daily limit, the locations they work at, and that their switch is on.

Next steps

• Booking pages and booking on your website
• Classes, rentals, repeating bookings and the waitlist
• Reminders and the customer's manage link