The guide for people who use HousemanAI

1.How HousemanAI works

HousemanAI is a receptionist that answers your customers for you when you can't: on WhatsApp, on Telegram and in the chat on your website.

The customer writes the way they would write to you: "Do you have room on Saturday for four?". The receptionist understands the request, checks the seats that are really free and closes the booking with a code. You find it in the dashboard, on the right day.

Seats are counted by the software, never by the artificial intelligence: if the room is full, the receptionist doesn't invent a table. The same goes for the chairs in a salon or the rooms in a practice.

The receptionist follows the customer's language: someone who writes in French gets the answer in French, without you doing anything.

The confirmation arrives in chat with the code, and the receptionist can also send the reminder before the appointment, on WhatsApp and Telegram. With the Premium plan alerts even reach people who haven't written in days, using Meta-approved templates.

2.First steps

After signing up it takes a few minutes, even from your phone. In order:

1. 1Choose your type of business: restaurant, salon, practice or other. The words and fields change, the receptionist is the same. You can change it later, from Settings → Type of business.
2. 2Set your opening hours, day by day. The format is 19:00-23:30; if you do two services write 12:00-15:00, 19:00-23:30. A day left empty is closed.
3. 3Say how many places you have — seats, chairs or rooms — and the times when the receptionist may offer a booking.
4. 4If you work by appointment, fill in the price list under Services: name, length in minutes and, if you like, the price. Each service takes up its own length.
5. 5In Settings, fill in the box "What the receptionist needs to know": menu, parking, pets, allergies, how to get there. The receptionist only answers with what you write: if a piece of information is missing, it tells the customer you'll get back to them.
6. 6Upload your logo under Logo and website: it appears on your public page and in the chat.

Try it yourself first: open your public page and write to the receptionist the way a customer would. If an answer doesn't convince you, add the information in Settings and try again.

3.Your website and the widget

Every business has a public page with the chat ready to go, and a widget to put on the website you already have.

The page is housemanai.eu/r/your-address: you see it at the top of the dashboard. Put it on Google, in your Instagram bio, on the menu: whoever opens it can book right away, without installing anything.

The widget is one line to paste into your website, just before the closing </body>. You find it under Logo and website, already with your address. It adds a button in the bottom right corner that opens the chat; the button label follows your type of business ("Book a table", "Book an appointment").

It works on any website: WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, a hand-made site. If someone else manages your website, just send them that line.

4.Connecting Telegram

On Telegram, customers write to a bot with the name of your business. Creating one is free and takes two minutes.

1. 1Open Telegram and search for @BotFather. Send it /newbot, then choose the name customers will see and a username ending in "bot" (for example @trattoriadaninobot).
2. 2BotFather replies with a token: a long line of letters and numbers. Copy it.
3. 3In the dashboard go to Channels → Connect Telegram and paste the token. HousemanAI does the rest: from that moment, messages to the bot reach the receptionist.
4. 4Put the bot link (t.me/your-bot) wherever you like: customers open it and write.

The token is like a password: don't publish it. If you lose it, BotFather can generate a new one (/revoke) and you paste it again under Channels.

5.Connecting WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the channel customers use most, and also the one with the most things to know before you start. Read it calmly.

HousemanAI connects to WhatsApp through the official platform for companies (WhatsApp Business). The number you connect becomes dedicated to HousemanAI: while it's connected, you can't use it in the WhatsApp app on a phone. Chats on that number are handled by the receptionist.

Which number to use? You have three options. The simplest is the business landline: WhatsApp verifies it with a phone call, someone has to answer and read out the code. The second is a dedicated SIM: a cheap one is enough, it's only needed to receive the verification SMS, then keep it alive with a top-up now and then. The third is moving the WhatsApp number you already use over to HousemanAI: WhatsApp guides you through it, but from that moment the chats on your phone stop.

What the customer sees: the name of your business and your logo, like any business profile. Profile photo, description and address follow what you have in the dashboard on their own. The display name is approved by Meta: usually within a few hours, sometimes a couple of days.

What it costs: conversations started by customers — that is, all the ones a receptionist has — are free. There are no costs beyond the subscription.

You connect it yourself from the Channels page, in the “The WhatsApp number” box: choose “I already have a number” (enter the number, receive the code by SMS or call and type it there) or “Give me one”, and a new local number arrives already connected. Within a couple of minutes the receptionist answers from your number.

To disconnect the number: remove it from the WhatsApp Business account and register it again in the phone app with the SMS. The conversations handled by HousemanAI stay in your dashboard.

Meta is working on a "coexistence" mode where the same number works both in the phone app and with a receptionist. It's not available yet: as soon as it is, we'll let you know.

6.Bookings in the dashboard

The dashboard opens on the month's calendar. The bar under each day shows how full it is; click it to see the list.

In every booking you find name, time, people or service, and a "Good to know" line with what the customer said in the chat: gluten-free, highchair, dog, unsure about the time. The receptionist writes it, you read it at a glance.

Bookings you take over the phone, add them by hand from the day: that way the receptionist counts them and doesn't promise a place you've already given away.

Bookings taken from the website chat arrive as «to confirm», in a yellow strip at the top of the day: the customer has 10 minutes to confirm from their own WhatsApp or Telegram (one button, the message is pre-written), and from then on you see their real number or username. If they don't confirm, the seats free up on their own. If the business has no channel connected, the receptionist asks for a phone number and you confirm yourself, with «Confirm», after calling back.

Need to close a day? Open it and press "Mark closed": the receptionist stops offering it. To cancel a booking, open its card and press Cancel.

Every customer gets a confirmation code. With that code they open their page housemanai.eu/p/code, where they see the details and can cancel on their own: the booking disappears from your calendar without you doing anything.

If you run a restaurant, in Settings you find the switch "Ask about allergies and intolerances": when on, the receptionist asks at every booking and writes it in the "Good to know" line.

If you run a restaurant, on the “Tables” page you can list your tables (number, seats, room, whether it can be joined). From then on the receptionist thinks in tables: for 5 people it gives a table for 5 or two joined in the same room, not “5 free seats” scattered around. In the day view you see the room at a chosen time, table by table, and from the booking page you can move the table. If you don't list tables, seat counting stays as it is.

For groups you can ask for a deposit (Payments): from how many people, how much (fixed or per person) and within how many hours. The money goes straight to you: with your Stripe account (connected from HousemanAI, 5–10 minutes) the booking confirms itself when the customer pays; with your own Satispay/PayPal link you mark it with “Deposit received”. Until paid the seats stay held; at the deadline they free up. One-click refund from the booking.

If several people see customers (doctors, stylists) list them under Staff: for each, what they do and when they work (empty = business hours). From then on availability is per person: whoever asks “with Dr Bianchi” only sees their times, whoever doesn't is assigned to someone free, and the confirmation says with whom. In the dashboard the appointment shows the staff member and can be reassigned.

From the Standard plan the receptionist remembers regulars who write from WhatsApp or Telegram (Customers): name, visits, “usually 2”, things that came up in the notes (gluten-free, high chair, dog). Next time it greets by name and confirms instead of asking again. It remembers facts, not conversations; allergies are health data: the customer can say “forget my data” in chat, you can delete from the panel, and anyone who doesn't come back for 24 months disappears by itself. Turn it off in Settings.

If you have outdoor seating (the “outdoor” item under What you offer, or a room named outdoor/terrace), on the Premium plan the receptionist knows the next days' forecast (from the address, free): whoever asks for outside on a rainy day is told and offered inside or outside with a reserve; the calendar shows “Weather: rain, 80%”. Whoever booked outside gets a WhatsApp/Telegram alert 8 hours before if rain is forecast (on WhatsApp only if they wrote you in the last 24 hours: outside that window a Meta-approved template is needed, not yet active).

In the confirmation and the reminder the customer gets the map link to get there (from the address in Settings; it can be turned off there). With several locations the link is the one of the booked location. On the Premium plan WhatsApp and Telegram also get the map pin as a second message.

The menu (from Standard): under Menu you fill in sections, dishes, prices, allergens and “suitable for” (gluten-free, vegan…). The receptionist answers about prices and allergens only with what's written. On the Premium plan the same list becomes the public page with the QR for the tables (search, filters, allergens in plain sight, Book button); a dish marked “sold out” disappears from the QR and from the answers. For salons and practices the QR shows the price list.

If a customer asks to talk to a person, on WhatsApp and Telegram the chat passes to you: the receptionist goes silent, you get an alert on your Telegram (Settings → Owner alerts) and reply from Conversations, in the customer's own chat. When you're done press “Resume the receptionist”, otherwise it resumes by itself after 6 hours.

7.The subscription

Three plans: Basic €49 (up to 150 bookings a month), Standard €99 (unlimited, tables, more locations), Premium €149 (everything, plus weather and customer alerts). Monthly prices plus VAT, by card or SEPA debit. No commitment: change plan or cancel whenever you like. Each plan covers one venue or one professional: every additional venue or professional costs 50% of the plan price, and a solo professional working in several cities pays once.

Card, invoices and cancellation are managed from Subscription → Manage subscription. It opens the Stripe portal, which holds the payment details: we never see your card.

If you cancel, the receptionist keeps taking bookings until the end of the period you've already paid for; after that it only answers customers with your phone number and opening hours. Bookings already taken stay visible in the dashboard.

If a payment fails, Stripe retries for a few days and a notice appears in the dashboard: update your card from Manage subscription and everything starts again on its own.

8.Languages

HousemanAI speaks Italian, English, Spanish, French and German. There are three languages at play, and it's worth knowing which does what.

The interface language is the one of the dashboard and the website: you change it from the selector at the top, and it only applies to you.

The business language is chosen at signup: it's the language of your public page, of the receptionist's greeting and of the widget button. If your business is in Italy, it's usually Italian.

The customer's language isn't up to you: the receptionist answers in the language the customer writes in. A tourist who writes in German books in German, and you see the booking in the dashboard as always.

9.Frequently asked questions

The receptionist said something wrong. What do I do?

It can't get the seats wrong: the software counts them. For everything else it only answers with what it finds in Settings; if it doesn't know, it says you'll get back to the customer. If it answered badly, almost always a piece of information is missing or written ambiguously: fix it in "What the receptionist needs to know".

Does it answer voice messages and photos too?

If the service is enabled on your account, yes: it listens to the voice message or looks at the photo and replies. Otherwise it kindly asks the customer to write.

Can my staff have their own login?

Yes. From Account → Add a person you create a login with a name and a password; no email is needed, you tell them the password. They see the same things you see.

Can I use my personal WhatsApp number?

No. The number connected to HousemanAI no longer works in the phone app, so you need a dedicated number: the business landline or a SIM just for this. You find everything in the WhatsApp section above.

How do I stop bookings for the holidays?

For a few days: open the day in the dashboard and press "Mark closed". For longer periods: leave the hours empty under Hours until you reopen. The receptionist keeps answering customers, but tells them you're closed.

Where does my customers' data end up?

On servers in Europe, and only you see it. The details are in the privacy policy. Read the policy

How do I delete my account?

Write to support at the address you find at the bottom of the page. We close the account and delete the data within 30 days, except for the invoices we're required by law to keep.