What an AI WhatsApp assistant does and doesn't do for your spa

Estefanía runs a spa in Puerto Vallarta’s Zona Romántica, a few blocks from the beachfront hotels. Almost all her clients are tourists booking from their hotel rooms, and almost all of them end up with changed plans: a tour gets rescheduled, it rains, a flight gets moved up. The “can you push it back?” message lands mid-massage. That’s exactly what an AI WhatsApp assistant is for, as long as you know how far it goes.

Linda, a Canadian tourist, had a hot stone massage booked for Saturday at 11:00 AM. She got her reminder on Friday, and at 10:40 PM she replied, in English: her Marietas Islands tour had been moved to Saturday morning, could she come at 4 instead? Sara answered her, in English and right then, with three open slots that afternoon. Linda picked 4:00 and confirmed. Estefanía saw it early Saturday, with the appointment already moved on her calendar.

What Is an AI WhatsApp Assistant for Your Spa?

An AI WhatsApp assistant is a program that reads what a client writes to you and replies on your business’s behalf while you’re working. In Proyecta it’s called Sara, though you can rename her, and she handles clients who reply to their appointment confirmation or reminder.

A lot of people search for this as a WhatsApp chatbot for appointments. Sara reads what the client wrote in her own words, even something like “can you move it to the afternoon?”, and replies in two or three sentences, no menus of options. You don’t need to connect your own number for it to work.

What Does Sara Do When Your Client Replies to Her Reminder?

With the appointment your client already has, Sara can do five things:

1. Tell her which appointments she has with you, with the service, day, and time.
2. Reschedule it. She offers two or three slots that are genuinely open, confirms which one was chosen, and only moves the appointment once the client says yes.
3. Cancel it, also only after a clear yes.
4. Confirm she’s coming. On your calendar, the appointment shows up as “Client confirmed.”
5. Stop sending her WhatsApp messages about her appointments, if she asks. She’ll keep getting the emails.

The client can ask however she likes: by typing, or by tapping a button on the reminder, “I’ll be there,” “Reschedule,” or “Cancel appointment.” If she taps “I’ll be there,” Sara logs it without asking her anything else.

She also answers questions using what’s on your website, like the price of a facial, how long a massage lasts, or what time you open. And she replies in whatever language she’s written in: Linda’s reminder went out in Spanish, because Estefanía’s website is in Spanish, but Sara answered her in English.

What Number Does She Reply From, and At What Hours?

From Proyecta’s notifications number, the same one that sent the reminder, and at any hour of the day. On your client’s WhatsApp, that chat shows up as “Proyecta,” so in her first reply Sara tells her which business she’s writing from.

Replying at night doesn’t mean she skips your rules. She only moves an appointment to a slot that’s actually open on your calendar, and she respects your minimum booking notice and your cancellation window, just like when the client does it herself on your website.

What Doesn’t Sara Do?

She doesn’t decide anything that’s your call, and she doesn’t make things up. If the answer isn’t on your website or in what you’ve taught her, she tells the client she’ll confirm with the team and hands you the conversation.

• She doesn’t reply to someone who’s never gotten a notification from your spa. A new client books through your website.
• She doesn’t handle billing. A charge that went wrong, a refund, or a payment that didn’t go through gets passed to you.
• She doesn’t make exceptions on your behalf. She won’t offer a different therapist, a discount, or a change outside your window; if she’s asked, she either hands you the conversation or gives the client your contact info.
• She doesn’t show someone else’s appointments. She only sees those of the person writing to her, by their number: if Linda asks about her sister’s appointment, Sara won’t show it to her.
• She doesn’t pretend to be a person. If asked “are you a robot?”, she says she’s an assistant answering for your spa and offers to connect the client with someone.

She also hands off the conversation when the client asks to speak to someone, when she’s upset, or after two back-and-forths with nothing resolved. This happened to Estefanía with Romina, whose flight got moved up and who asked if she’d get her massage deposit back. Sara didn’t promise anything: she told her someone from the spa would get back to her, and Estefanía got the notification.

What Do You See After Sara Replies?

The same thing you’d see if the client had done it through your website. The appointment gets rescheduled or canceled on your calendar, you get your usual notification, and if someone was on your waitlist, they’re offered the slot that just opened up.

The conversations are in your dashboard, under WhatsApp, marked “Proyecta notifications.” At the top it says “Sara answers them for your business; if you write, Sara steps aside.” If you want to take over a conversation yourself, just reply there or tap “Pause Sara here”; to bring her back, tap “Reactivate.”

When Sara hands off a client to you, you get an email that reads “Romina needs a reply from you on WhatsApp,” with her phone number and the reason, plus a WhatsApp message too. That notification is on by default; you’ll find it in your Schedule, under Settings, in “Alerts for you.”

How Do You Teach Her What Your Website Doesn’t Say?

By writing it down for her. On WhatsApp, under the “Assistant” tab, there’s “Train Sara,” and that’s where you put whatever you answer from memory that isn’t on your website. Sara uses it with clients on the notifications number too.

Estefanía wrote in two things she got asked every week: that the hot stone massage isn’t given to someone with sunburn, and a facial is the better pick instead, and that in December it’s best to book two days ahead.

How Do I Set This Up for My Spa?

Describe your business to Proyecta in your own words. Something like: “a website for my spa in Puerto Vallarta, near the hotels, with massages, hot stones, and facials listed with their price and duration, online booking with each therapist, and WhatsApp reminders.”

And once you have your calendar set up, do one thing: on the “Assistant” tab, under “What we tell the customer,” write down when you actually reply when you’re in session with someone, for example “Estefanía gets back to you between appointments, before 8 PM.” Sara only promises the client a time if you gave her one, and a tourist leaving Sunday needs to know whether to wait for you or look elsewhere. Get started at proyecta.dev.