Preventing double bookings in your diary

The public booking page works out free 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 is not offered, even when two clients try at exactly the same moment: only one request gets the slot, and the other sees that it was just taken.

A booking request holds its time even while it is pending, so a second client cannot take the same slot while you are still deciding. 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.

In the service settings you can set a pause, labelled “Interval (min)”, which is added after bookings, for example for tidying up or preparation. It applies to bookings made on the public page, not to bookings entered by your team. When your team creates a booking, the system still checks the provider’s availability, overlaps and busy blocks.

To take yourself off the calendar, add a block or an exception under “Availability”, such as a break, a holiday or an internal meeting. You can also import busy blocks from an external calendar through an ICS link, refreshed about every 15 minutes; there is no two-way sync. Each booking takes one slot with one provider for one service, so group classes are not supported.

Points to remember

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

Common questions

More booking guides

• Managing client appointments in an online app
• Managing staff availability in a booking system
• How to resolve overlapping appointments

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