Avoiding double-booked appointments

Only open times are offered, and a request holds its time from the moment it is sent.

Running your business

Double bookings are among the most common headaches when you manage a schedule by hand. 4appointments reduces them by offering clients only open times and by holding a time as soon as a request arrives.

The public booking page works out open times from each provider’s weekly schedule, exceptions and blocks, and from the bookings that already exist. A time already taken with the same provider isn’t offered, though different providers can of course be booked at the same time.

A booking request holds its time even while it’s pending, so a second client can’t take the same slot while you’re still deciding. If two people try to take the same time together, only one succeeds and the other sees a message that the slot was just taken.

In the service settings you can set a pause, labelled “Interval (min)”, which is added after bookings, for example for cleanup or preparation. It applies to the public page, not to bookings entered by your team. When your team creates a booking in the panel, the system checks the provider’s availability, overlaps and any busy blocks imported from an external calendar by ICS link, refreshed about every 15 minutes. There’s no two-way sync.

To take yourself off the calendar, add a block or an exception under “Availability”. A pending request that nobody confirms or rejects is cancelled automatically about an hour after the end of the requested time, which frees the slot again, so check your pending list regularly.

Key takeaways

  • ✓Only open times are shown to clients on the public page
  • ✓A pending request holds its time until it is confirmed, rejected or expires
  • ✓Pauses added after bookings leave room for preparation

Common questions

What if two clients book at the very same instant?+

Only one request gets the slot. The other client sees a message that the slot was just taken and can choose another time.

Can I close off a time slot myself?+

Yes. Under “Availability” you can block a provider for a period, whether it’s for a break, a holiday or an internal meeting, and clients will no longer be offered it. Group sessions with a capacity aren’t supported: each booking takes one slot with one provider for one service.

Related guides

Seeing overlaps in your schedule today?

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