Scheduled Support Hours

Last updated: December 3, 2025

Introduction

When your phones are staffed, taking a few high-touch calls is essential to keep diners happy and operations running smoothly. But you can't keep the phones staffed 24 hours a day. That's where Scheduled Support Hours come in! You can set your concierge to forward to your staff only when they're available, and assign a specific after-hours outreach method.

How does it work?

On the Settings page for your Slang dashboard at ilove.slang.ai, we currently recommend having one or more phone numbers saved that are available to route your guests to staff in-house if their questions are beyond the current capabilities of our system, or you have special departments for certain caller topics that help streamline your operations.

Important: Slang always answers calls first, regardless of your scheduled support hours. The schedule only controls when calls can be transferred to your staff numbers - not when Slang is available to help guests.

You can see how these numbers are being used through helper text beneath each one.

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The default transfer behavior for these phone numbers is 24/7, which you'll see as "Restriction Free" when you first save a new number. If you have self-serve options for guests that are better than leaving a voicemail, we can share those after hours!

Examples:

  1. Private Dining requests go to staff during the day, but after hours calls could route to an online event request form on your website.

  2. Callers asking to talk to staff can go to the host stand during operating hours, but after hours calls might be better served if the guest sent an email to the manager.

What’s the guest experience?

Guests calling during those times when your phones aren’t staffed will hear specific messaging that alludes to the fact that different times of day will lead to specific support outcomes.

Example:

We usually take calls about private dining by phone, but no one is available to take your call at this time. The best way to get a hold of us is through our website. Would you like me to text you that link?

How do I set it up?

Click on the "Restriction-free schedule" label on the Settings page to jump right into the schedule for that phone number. Or, on the new Hours page of the Slang admin portal, navigate to the number you'd like to manage.

Your currently saved phone numbers on the Settings page will default to a restriction-free schedule, and you can change the settings to “Google Business schedule" or "Custom schedule” on this page.

Google Business schedule:

You can keep the buffer at zero to ensure your phones only ring during business hours, or add a buffer window if your staff can answer the phones a bit before you open, and/or for a period of time after you close.

Custom schedule:

For phone numbers not tied to service hours, like a call center or a regional events manager, you can set up a fully custom answering schedule based on their availability.

Call Handling Options:

From there, you can select any other Settings page resource for how to handle calls when your staff is unavailable, such as:

  1. Offering an email address

  2. Offering a link to an online contact form/request submission form

  3. Forwarding to a phone line that goes straight to voicemail

  4. If a transferred call goes unanswered and you have voicemail set up, the caller will be able to leave a voicemail

How will I know it’s working?

When Scheduled Support Hours is set up, Slang will continue to answer all calls, but will only transfer calls to your staff during your stated staffed hours. Placing a phone call outside of your Support Hours schedule will result in after hours messaging and the suggested outreach method you select.

Interested in this feature?

This feature is available to all Core and Premium subscriptions. Reach out to your account manager for more information!