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Business Hours and Scheduling

Set business hours, configure after-hours handling, appointment settings, and your public booking page.

3 min readConfiguration

Setting Your Business Hours

  1. Go to Voice & AI > Business Hours.
  2. For each day of the week, set your open and close times.
  3. To mark a day as closed, toggle it off.
  4. Click Save.

Adding Special Hours

For holidays or special events:

  1. Click Add Special Hours.
  2. Select the date.
  3. Enter adjusted hours or mark the day as closed.
  4. Add an optional note (e.g., "Closed for Independence Day").

The AI will automatically reference special hours when callers ask about availability on those dates.

How the AI Handles After-Hours Calls

When a call comes in outside your business hours, the AI:

  1. Greets the caller and mentions that you are currently closed.
  2. States your next opening time (e.g., "We open tomorrow at 9 AM").
  3. Offers to take a message or schedule a callback.
  4. If the caller has an urgent matter and you have enabled emergency forwarding, transfers the call to your designated number.

Customize After-Hours Behavior

Go to Voice & AI > Call Routing > After Hours to configure:

  • Take message (default) - AI records the caller's name, number, and reason for calling.
  • Voicemail - Caller leaves an audio voicemail.
  • Emergency forward - Calls with urgent keywords route to your cell phone.
  • Appointment only - AI only offers scheduling, no general Q&A.

Appointment Duration and Buffer Settings

If your business takes appointments:

  1. Go to Appointments > Settings.
  2. Set your default appointment duration (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour).
  3. Set a buffer time between appointments (e.g., 15 minutes). This prevents back-to-back bookings and gives you transition time.
  4. Set your maximum advance booking window (e.g., 30 days out).
  5. Optionally, set a minimum notice period (e.g., 2 hours before appointment).

Multiple Appointment Types

You can create different appointment types with different durations:

  • Consultation - 30 min
  • Full Service - 60 min
  • Follow-Up - 15 min

The AI will ask the caller what type of appointment they need and check availability accordingly.

Public Booking Page Setup

AIVO provides a public booking page your customers can use to self-schedule:

  1. Go to Appointments > Booking Page.
  2. Toggle Enable Public Booking.
  3. Customize your page:
  • Business logo and colors
  • Available appointment types
  • Visible availability (e.g., next 2 weeks)
  • Confirmation message
  1. Copy your booking link from the dashboard — it will be available once the page is enabled.
  2. Share it on your website, social media, or email signature.

Bookings made through the public page appear in the same calendar as AI-booked appointments.

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