Calendly and WhatsApp: how to handle reminders, cancellations and reschedules¶

If you use Calendly to let clients book from your website, you have solved half the problem. The booking lands in your calendar on its own. But everything that happens afterwards, the reminder the day before, the last-minute cancellation, the client asking to move, keeps arriving on WhatsApp and you keep handling it by hand.

This guide explains how to make Calendly and WhatsApp work together. Neither needs replacing and you don't need a dedicated connector: the bridge between the two is Google Calendar, which Calendly already uses and which a WhatsApp assistant can read and update.

What Calendly does well and where it stops¶

Calendly is excellent at one specific thing: turning a link into a confirmed booking. The client opens the page, sees the free times, picks one, and the event lands in your calendar. For people coming from your website or an email signature it works brilliantly.

The catch is that not every client comes from there. A good share of them message you on WhatsApp, because it's the channel they use for everything else during the day. And when they write on WhatsApp they aren't looking for a link: they're looking for an answer.

From there on you're back to doing it by hand:

• You copy and paste the link and hope the client opens it
• The day before, you write the reminders yourself, one by one
• If someone wants to move, you open the calendar and look for a gap
• If someone cancels in the chat, you update the calendar yourself

None of these tasks takes skill. All of them take time, and they always arrive at the wrong moment.

Google Calendar is the bridge¶

Calendly writes bookings to Google Calendar. A WhatsApp assistant like Wably reads and updates the same Google Calendar. The two pieces of software don't need to talk to each other directly: they share the same source of truth.

The result is that you have two front doors and a single calendar:

• People coming from your website book with Calendly
• People writing on WhatsApp book by chatting with the assistant
• Neither can take a slot already taken by the other

Calendly, for its part, treats as busy the times already taken in the connected calendar, provided the events are marked as "Busy" and the calendar is selected among those checked for conflicts. They are two settings of the connection, nothing more.

How to set it up in four steps¶

Step 1. Check that Calendly writes to the right calendar

In Calendly's calendar settings, check which calendar new bookings are added to. It must be the same one you will connect to the WhatsApp assistant.

Step 2. Turn on syncing of changes

Still in the calendar connection settings, Calendly offers the option that syncs cancellations and reschedules from the calendar back to Calendly. With it on, if a booking is cancelled or moved directly in the calendar, the same happens in Calendly too.

It is the most important setting of all and it is not on by default. Without it, a client who cancels on WhatsApp would still show as booked in Calendly.

Step 3. Add the phone field to the booking form

In the form the client fills in on Calendly, add the phone number as a required field. Without a number, the assistant has no way to reach that person on WhatsApp and the reminder doesn't go out.

It's the step almost everyone skips, and then they can't work out why half the reminders never arrive.

Step 4. Connect the WhatsApp assistant to the same calendar

You authorise access to Google Calendar, enter your hours and services, and the assistant starts working on the appointments it finds, whoever created them.

What happens in practice¶

A concrete scenario, from Monday to Thursday.

Monday. A client finds your website, opens the Calendly link and books for Thursday at 3 pm. The appointment goes into Google Calendar.

Tuesday. Another client messages you on WhatsApp: "good morning, do you have anything on Thursday afternoon?". The assistant checks the calendar, sees that 3 pm is taken and offers 4 pm. The client accepts and the appointment is created.

Wednesday at 11 am. Both receive the reminder on WhatsApp, with the option to confirm or ask to move with one tap.

Wednesday afternoon. The first client writes that they can't make it and asks to postpone to the following week. The assistant frees the 3 pm slot, offers alternatives and moves the appointment. The 3 pm slot becomes available again on the Calendly page too, and the original booking shows as updated there as well.

Thursday evening. The client who turned up receives the review request.

Meanwhile, you haven't opened the calendar once.

It works with other tools too¶

The mechanism isn't specific to Calendly. It applies to any system that writes to Google Calendar: Cal.com, Acuity, the booking forms on some websites, several industry management systems and the calendar of business profiles.

The question to ask is always the same: does this tool write appointments to Google Calendar? If the answer is yes, the WhatsApp assistant can take care of everything that happens after the booking. If the answer is no, because it uses a closed proprietary calendar, the connection isn't possible.

The three conditions for it to work¶

To be honest, there are three technical conditions to meet, and they should be checked before you start.

1. Appointments must be marked as "Busy" in the calendar. Events marked as "Free" are ignored in the conflict check, and at that point two systems can take the same time.
2. The phone number must reach the calendar. No number, no WhatsApp reminder. Hence the importance of step 3.
3. Syncing of changes must be turned on explicitly in Calendly. It is not on by default.

They are three boxes to tick once, at the start.

Frequently asked questions¶

Do I have to give up Calendly?¶

No. It keeps doing what it does well, which is collecting bookings from your website, email and social media. The WhatsApp assistant handles the chat channel and everything that happens after the booking.

Is there a direct connection between Wably and Calendly?¶

No, and you don't need one. The connection happens through Google Calendar, which both use. It is also more robust: it works with any tool that writes to the same calendar, without depending on a specific connector.

Do I risk two appointments at the same time?¶

No, as long as events are marked as busy and the calendar is among those checked for conflicts. Both systems read the same calendar before offering a time.

Does the reminder also go out for appointments booked through Calendly?¶

Yes, provided the appointment contains the client's phone number. That's why the phone field in the Calendly form should be made required.

Do I need a second WhatsApp number?¶

No. The assistant works on the WhatsApp number you already use, which stays active on your phone.

Two front doors, a single calendar, no double bookings. Calendly brings in clients from your website, the assistant looks after the ones who message you and everything that happens afterwards.