A regular calls and asks for 2:10, because she gets off work at 2. Until now the time list only went in 15-minute steps, so the front desk booked 2:15 and hoped. In Kuee 4.46 you can type the start time straight into the box, to the minute. The same release puts a Sell gift card button on the Appointment page, so a walk-in who wants a card for a friend is done in one step.
One change affects every store that lets guests book on the self check-in kiosk: guests now skip the therapist step by default, and the store assigns the therapist. If you want guests to keep choosing, turn the new switch on. The section below shows where.
Type any start time when you book
The time list still opens in 15-minute steps, but you no longer have to pick from it. Type the time you need and Kuee checks it with the same rules as the list.
How to use it
- On the Appointment page, start a new booking, or open a booking and change its time.
- Click the start time box. It turns into a text box, and the 15-minute list still opens below it.
- Type the time and press Enter, or click anywhere else. Press Esc to keep the old time.
Kuee reads 14:10, 2:10 PM, 2:10pm, 210 and 1410. If you type only 2:10, Kuee uses your business hours to decide between morning and afternoon: a store open 10 to 8 gets 2:10 PM.
There is nothing to turn on. Everyone who can book or reschedule appointments can type a time.
What Kuee checks
A typed time is accepted only if you could also have picked it from the list. If not, the box keeps its old time and a red note says why, for example 2:10 PM has already passed, 2:10 PM is outside business hours, or that the time cannot be booked because of time off or a day off. Times after closing that the list marks as After hours but still lets you pick are accepted when typed, too.
Good to know
- This is for staff only. The online booking page, the AI phone and the self check-in kiosk still offer times in 15-minute steps.
Sell a gift card to a walk-in in one tap
A guest walks in, wants a $100 gift card for her sister and has never been to your store. Before, the front desk had to create a client profile first and then find the gift card screen. Now it is one button.
How to use it
- On the Appointment page, click Sell gift card in the toolbar, between Walk-in and Book. On a narrow screen only the gift icon shows.
- The gift card dialog opens. You do not need an appointment or a selected client.
- If the buyer is new, click + New customer in the client field, enter a name and phone number, and click Create and select.
- Pick the template and amount, then take payment by card or cash as you do today.
Owners, admins and front desk logins see the button, the same people who see Quick charge.
No duplicate profiles
The phone number is how Kuee avoids a second profile for the same person. If the number already belongs to a client, Kuee selects that client and tells you: This phone number already belongs to Amy. We selected them instead of creating a new customer. Click That's them, or Not them, change phone. If several clients share the number, you pick the right one or create a new profile with the same phone.
Good to know
- A name alone works, but Kuee will not recognize the guest next time. Ask for the phone number.
- The phone number must be a 10-digit US or Canada number.
Self check-in: walk-ins skip the therapist step by default
On the self check-in kiosk, a guest without an appointment could book on the spot, but always had to pick a therapist or No preference in step 2. Many stores assign every walk-in at the front desk anyway, so that step only slowed guests down. Other stores like to let regulars ask for their favorite therapist. So this is now a store setting.
What changes on the kiosk
With the new switch off, which is the default for every store:
- The guest picks a service. The bottom bar shows the total with Therapist assigned by the store, and when the service can start, for example Now or Earliest 3:30 PM.
- Step 2 · Your phone number, then Step 3 · What's your name?. There is no therapist step.
- The booking is created without a therapist. The front desk assigns one, or a therapist takes it on the claim board.
If nobody can do that service today, the button changes to Check in, see the front desk, so the guest is not stuck: they check in with the service they picked, and the front desk arranges it.
When a guest books on the kiosk and your store uses an intake form, the form now opens right away. The extra screen with a single button is gone.
How to let guests choose again
- Open About This Store and go to Self Check-in.
- Under Allow walk-in booking, turn on Let guests choose a therapist when booking on the spot.
With it on, the kiosk works as before: one more step where guests request a therapist or choose No preference. The switch is greyed out until Allow walk-in booking is on. Owners and admins can change it.
Getting the most out of it
- Leave it off if your front desk assigns walk-ins by turn or by who is free. Guests check in faster and nobody waits on a therapist they do not know.
- Turn it on if many walk-ins are regulars who ask for someone by name.
More new features
Text overage on your bill, even without a comms package
Stores without a comms package still pay for text segments above their plan's allowance, but the web app did not show it. Now it does:
- On the Subscription page, the SMS Notifications (segments) card shows Overage (segments) and Est. overage charge, with the note Estimate; your invoice is final.
- In System Settings → Communications → AI Phone, the comms package card shows a line such as Overage 50 segments, est. $1.25 when you are over.
The count comes from the segments Kuee recorded as overage when the texts went out, for the current billing period. If Kuee cannot work it out, the card says Overage can't be calculated right now instead of showing a number. The invoice is always the final amount.
Store number registration for sole proprietors
To text clients from your own store number, the carriers need your business registered. Until now the form assumed an EIN. In System Settings → Communications → AI Phone, the business details form now has I'm a sole proprietor (no EIN).
Check it if you run the business as an individual and have no EIN. You then enter a brand name (your store name by default) and the owner's name and mobile number; the address comes from your store profile. After we submit the brand, the owner must reply YES to the carrier's text within 24 hours.
The limits: one texting campaign and one number per brand, and about 1,000 text segments a day to T-Mobile (about 3,000 across all carriers). Stores with an EIN should leave it unchecked: carriers reject them on this route and charge a fee. Once a number is bought, the route is fixed.
"Amy's guest" everywhere
When a client books for a friend online and leaves the friend's name empty, the calendar card already showed "Amy's guest" instead of Walk-in. Now the same name shows on the Operations page, in the day search (search "Amy" or "Amy's guest"), in therapist notifications and the new online booking alert, and on the appointment details avatar.
Smaller improvements
- Calendar shows a new walk-in at once. After the front desk creates a walk-in, the calendar reloads by itself. Before, a missed live update could hide the new card for up to two minutes, and some desks created the booking twice.
- Clear message when no therapist is free. If no therapist can be picked for a walk-in at that moment, Kuee now says No therapist available to pick right now — please try again later or reschedule instead of an empty list.
- Help Center. The online booking tutorial now explains the current rule: a No preference booking waits for the front desk to assign a therapist, and whether it is confirmed at once depends on your store's auto-confirm setting.
Fixes you may notice
- Walk-ins no longer create duplicate clients. Registering a walk-in with a new name and a phone number that a client already has made a second profile, which split points, packages and visit history. Kuee now uses the existing profile, or asks you to choose when several clients share the number. Duplicates created before this update are not merged.
- Win-back texts: one per phone number, at most two per absence. When several client profiles shared one phone number, the same person could get the same win-back text more than once. Now each number gets one message (birthday and holiday messages too). Win-back now counts from the last visit: one reminder after your set number of days, a second after twice that, then none until the client comes back. Clients who never visited get no win-back texts, and the switch does not send a burst to clients who were already overdue.
- Overage counts. When part of a text batch fell inside the allowance and part went over, the overage showed the whole batch. It now shows only the segments that went over.
- Replying Y to a booking text when the system was busy. A client who replied Y at a busy moment could get no answer. Kuee now retries once and, if it still cannot book, texts the client that the booking is not confirmed yet and shows the front desk a note to follow up.
- AI phone transfers that came back to the AI. If your store phone forwarded a transferred call back to your Kuee AI number, the caller was answered by the AI again, and sometimes transferred again. The AI no longer picks up a call that comes back this way.
- Security improvements.
On the iPad in the next app update
- Type any start time when booking or rescheduling on the iPad: the time field is a text box, and the small clock beside it opens the list.
- Usage this period card at the top of the Notifications and AI Phone tabs in Communications: text segments and AI phone minutes used, the amount included, and any overage. It shows counts only.
- Void & redo checkout for owners and admins on a checked-out appointment, as on the web: the checkout is voided after you confirm, card payments are refunded in full to the original card, and the appointment goes back to awaiting checkout.
- "Amy's guest" in the pending confirmation list and on the appointment avatar.
Questions about this update
Tell us what works for your store and what does not: contact us and we will walk you through any of these changes on your own store.
