AI receptionist or AI assistant: what is the difference?

What is the difference between an AI receptionist and an AI assistant for a salon, spa or studio?

An AI receptionist replies to your clients' messages for you. An AI assistant works for the person using it. In your Bookatu admin, that person is you or someone on your team with the Admin role.

The receptionist answers when a new client messages your business and points them to your booking page. The assistant in your Bookatu admin helps with the work inside Bookatu, such as moving a booking or adding a service, and it changes nothing until you confirm.

What does Bookatu's AI receptionist do?

Bookatu's receptionist answers the first message of a new conversation from your real services, prices and hours. When someone asks about booking, your hours or your prices, the reply includes your booking link.

It does not book. It sends your booking link, and the client picks a free time on your booking page.

It passes a complaint, a refund request or a request to speak to someone to your team, and it politely declines questions that have nothing to do with your business.

You switch it on in Inbox, then Channels, with the Auto-reply new chats setting, which is part of every plan. By text or WhatsApp, it replies only when you send from your own number on an account you pay for. The guide is at bookatu.com/help/ai-receptionist.

What does the assistant in my Bookatu admin do?

The assistant in your Bookatu admin is a chat that does everyday tasks for you when you ask in plain words. It can book and move appointments, add clients and services, and read a supplier invoice into stock from a photo.

It shows each change on a card first. Nothing is saved until you tap Confirm, and you can undo a change from the chat afterwards.

Only the business owner and people on your team with the Admin role can use it, and your staff do not see it. There is more about it at bookatu.com/ai.

Can I connect my own AI assistant to my Bookatu account?

Yes, if your assistant app can connect to an MCP server by its web address. Bookatu runs one for your account. Through it, Bookatu lets an AI assistant app you connect check your availability and make or move bookings for you.

You connect it by signing in to Bookatu from the assistant, or with an API key you make in Settings. When you sign in, you choose Read only or Read and write, and whether it may see your clients' names and contact details. Bookatu never lets it do more than that connection allows. What it reads goes to the AI provider you use, under that provider's terms.

You can disconnect it at any time in Settings. The page at bookatu.com/ai/assistants shows how to connect one and whether connecting costs extra on your plan. The guide at bookatu.com/help/api-and-mcp explains the API and the MCP server.

What is MCP, and do I need to know it?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open protocol that lets AI assistants use other software's tools, and you do not need to know it to use Bookatu's AI.

An MCP server is the software's side of that. It lists the actions an assistant may take, and the software stays in charge of what each action is allowed to do.

Bookatu runs one for your own account, and an assistant reaches it only after you sign in or give it an API key. Bookatu also runs one that only reads its help guides, blog and developer docs, and that one needs no key.

Auto-reply and the assistant in your admin need no MCP setup at all. Connecting your own assistant takes the server's web address and either a sign-in to Bookatu or an API key.

Which Bookatu AI should I start with?

Start with auto-reply if new clients message you while you are busy. Start with the assistant in your admin if your time goes on tasks such as moving bookings or adding services.

If an AI assistant app you already use for other work can connect to an MCP server, you can connect it to your account. Bookatu then lets it check your availability and move bookings, as far as the connection allows.

What can't an AI do in my Bookatu account?

Bookatu sets the same limits for auto-reply, the assistant in your admin and any assistant you connect.

• Bookatu does not let any of them take a payment.
• Bookatu gives none of them a way to delete your client list or your past bookings.

Questions owners ask

Is an AI receptionist the same as an AI booking assistant?

No. An AI receptionist replies to your clients' messages for you, and on Bookatu it sends your booking link so the client books for themselves. An AI assistant works for whoever uses it, and the assistant in your Bookatu admin can book a client in for you once you confirm.

Can I use Bookatu's AI receptionist and AI assistant together?

Yes. They do different jobs and run side by side. Auto-reply answers new clients' messages, and the assistant in your admin helps you with the work inside Bookatu.

Does an AI receptionist cost extra on Bookatu?

Auto-reply, Bookatu's receptionist, is part of every plan. Below it on the Channels page is a second setting, AI receptionist, for more natural replies, and the page says what that one needs. The page at bookatu.com/pricing lists every add-on.

Do I need to understand MCP to use AI with Bookatu?

No. Auto-reply is a setting and the assistant in your admin is a chat. Only connecting your own AI assistant uses MCP, and it takes a web address and a sign-in or an API key.

Where to start

Go to Inbox, then Channels, and turn on Auto-reply new chats. The guide at bookatu.com/help/ai-receptionist explains what it answers. To see what the assistant in your admin can do, read bookatu.com/ai. To see which AI assistant apps you can connect, and how, start at bookatu.com/ai/assistants.