Availability determines when your business is open to receive bookings and when your AI agent can schedule appointments or reservations. This article explains how the availability system works in Speako.

Overview

Speako's availability system works on a hierarchy:

  1. Location Hours — The default business hours for your entire location
  2. Staff Hours — Individual schedules that can differ from location hours
  3. Date-Specific Overrides — Special hours for specific dates
  4. Holidays — Automatic closures for national holidays Each level can override the one above it, giving you precise control over when bookings can be made.

Types of Availability

Recurring Hours

Recurring hours are your standard weekly schedule. You set hours for each day of the week (Monday through Sunday), and these repeat every week automatically.

  • Apply to the entire location by default
  • Cascade down to all staff and venue units
  • Can include multiple time slots per day

Date-Specific Hours

Date-specific hours override your recurring schedule for particular dates. Use these for:

  • Holiday hours (opening late, closing early)
  • Special events with extended hours
  • Temporary schedule changes

Closed Days

You can mark specific days as closed, either:

  • As part of your weekly schedule (e.g., closed every Sunday)
  • For specific dates (e.g., closed for renovations December 25-27)
  • Through the holiday system

Time Slots

Each day can have multiple time slots. For example:

  • Breakfast: 7:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  • Lunch: 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM

  • Dinner: 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM Each slot can have:

  • A name for easy identification

  • A service duration (how long each booking takes)

  • An optional tag for categorization

How Availability Affects Bookings

When a customer requests a booking (through your AI agent or booking page):

  1. The system checks your location's hours for that date
  2. It applies any date-specific overrides
  3. It checks holiday settings
  4. For services, it verifies staff availability
  5. For restaurants, it checks table/venue availability Only time slots that pass all these checks appear as available.

Updating Availability

After making changes to your availability settings, you need to publish them for the changes to take effect. Click Update Availabilities to regenerate your availability data for the next 60 days.

💡 Note: Changes to availability settings don't take effect until you publish them. This ensures you can make multiple changes before going live.