Connecting Your Calendar for Appointment Booking

Before You Start

Before connecting your calendar, decide:

• Which calendar: Your primary business calendar where appointments should appear

• Appointment types: What types of appointments can callers book (consultations, estimates, services)?

• Duration: How long is each appointment type?

• Buffer time: How much time between appointments?

• Business hours: When are you available for appointments?

Having these answers ready will make setup faster.

Connect Your Calendar

Google Calendar

1. Log in to your Hello Gubby dashboard at app.hellogubby.ai

2. Navigate to Integrations

3. Find Google Calendar and click Connect

4. Sign in with your Google account when prompted

5. Grant Hello Gubby permission to view and create events

6. Select which calendar to use for appointments

7. Click Save

Hello Gubby will now see events on your Google Calendar and can add new appointments automatically.

Note: If you have multiple Google Calendars, choose the one you use for business appointments. Hello Gubby will check this calendar for conflicts when booking.

Microsoft Outlook

1. In your Hello Gubby dashboard, go to Integrations

2. Find Microsoft Outlook and click Connect

3. Sign in with your Microsoft account

4. Authorize Hello Gubby to access your calendar

5. Select which calendar to sync

6. Click Save

Works with Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, and Exchange accounts.

Calendly

If you use Calendly for scheduling, Hello Gubby can book directly into your Calendly event types.

1. In your Hello Gubby dashboard, go to Integrations

2. Find Calendly and click Connect

3. Sign in to your Calendly account

4. Authorize the connection

5. Select which event types Hello Gubby can book

6. Click Save

Hello Gubby will respect all your Calendly settings: availability, buffer times, and booking limits.

Configure Appointment Settings

After connecting your calendar, configure how appointments work:

Appointment Types

Create different appointment types for different purposes:

Hello Gubby will offer the appropriate appointment type based on what the caller is asking for.

Availability Windows

Set when appointments can be booked:

• Business hours: Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM (or your specific hours)

• Specific days: Only certain days of the week

• Blocked times: Lunch breaks, meetings, personal time

Hello Gubby will only offer times within your availability windows.

Buffer Time

Add buffer time before and after appointments:

• Before: Time to prepare for the appointment

• After: Time to wrap up, travel, or take notes

For example, if you need 15 minutes between appointments, set a 15 minute buffer after each booking.

Booking Window

Control how far in advance callers can book:

• Minimum notice: At least 4 hours in advance (prevents last minute bookings you cannot prepare for)

• Maximum advance: Up to 30 days out (or whatever works for your business)

How Booking Works

When a caller wants to book an appointment, here is what happens:

1. Hello Gubby asks about the type of appointment needed

2. Hello Gubby checks your calendar for available times

3. Hello Gubby offers 2 to 3 available slots to the caller

4. Caller chooses a time

5. Hello Gubby collects any required information (name, contact, reason)

6. Appointment is created on your calendar

7. Caller receives confirmation (if SMS/email notifications are set up)

8. You receive notification of the new booking

This entire flow happens naturally within the conversation. No awkward pauses or transfers needed.

Timezone Handling

Hello Gubby automatically handles timezones:

• Your calendar settings determine your business timezone

• Hello Gubby asks callers about their timezone if unclear

• Times are presented in the caller's local time

• Calendar events are created in your timezone

No manual conversion needed. A caller in New York booking with a business in Los Angeles will hear times in Eastern Time, and the appointment will appear correctly on the Pacific Time calendar.

Confirmation Messages

Configure what happens after an appointment is booked:

For the Caller

• Immediate verbal confirmation during the call

• SMS confirmation with date, time, and details

• Email confirmation with calendar invite

For You

• Calendar event with caller details and notes

• Email notification of new booking

• SMS alert for immediate awareness

Configure these in your notification settings.

Appointment Reminders

Hello Gubby can send automated reminders to reduce no shows:

• 24 hours before: Reminder of upcoming appointment

• 2 hours before: Final reminder with location or call in details

• Confirmation request: Ask caller to confirm they are still coming

Reminders can go via SMS, email, or outbound call. See the Outbound Voice AI guide for setting up automated reminder calls.

Important: Automated SMS reminders require SMS to be enabled on your Hello Gubby plan. Check your settings to ensure SMS messaging is active.

Rescheduling and Cancellations

Hello Gubby can also handle appointment changes:

• Rescheduling: Caller asks to move their appointment, Hello Gubby offers new times and updates the calendar

• Cancellations: Caller cancels, Hello Gubby removes the event and notifies you

• Waitlist: If you enable it, Hello Gubby can add callers to a waitlist when no times are available

Configure cancellation policies (like minimum notice required) in your appointment settings.

Troubleshooting

Calendar not syncing

• Check that the calendar connection is still active in Integrations

• Reconnect the calendar if you see an authentication error

• Ensure you selected the correct calendar during setup

Appointments not appearing

• Confirm the appointment was successfully booked (check call transcript)

• Verify you are looking at the right calendar

• Check that the appointment date is within your calendar view

Wrong times being offered

• Check your availability windows in Hello Gubby

• Verify your calendar timezone settings

• Make sure existing calendar events are blocking time correctly

Double bookings

• Ensure Hello Gubby has read access to all relevant calendars

• If you use multiple calendars, check if they all need to be connected

• Add buffer time to prevent back to back bookings

Next Steps

With your calendar connected, Hello Gubby can now book appointments automatically. Consider:

• Setting up SMS notifications so you know immediately when appointments are booked

• Configuring automated appointment reminders to reduce no shows

• Creating different appointment types for different services

• Testing the booking flow by making a test call