A booking request is an appointment with the status Awaiting Confirmation. It holds its time slot, so nobody else can book that time, until you approve or decline it.
Requests come from:
- Clients booking online when the default status in Settings › Booking is Pending Confirmation. See Approve bookings before they're confirmed.
- Clients who pay online when the default status is Pending Confirmation. After the payment arrives, the appointment moves to that status.
- Clients who reschedule online when Status After Reschedule is set to Revert to Default Status.
- Team members with the User role who book or move an appointment for a colleague.
Members with the User role can approve and decline their own appointments. Administrators and above can handle everyone's.
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Step 1 of 2
Open your pending requests
Go to Appointments and choose Pending Appointments from the view menu. The number in brackets shows how many are waiting. The soonest appointments are listed first.
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Step 2 of 2
Approve or decline
In the Status column, click Approve (✓) or Decline (✗). On the calendar, click the appointment, then click its status badge and pick Confirmed or Declined.
You will see:Status Updated appears and the status changes to Confirmed or Declined.
What happens next
- Approved appointments become Confirmed. Before approving, Softalon checks that the time is still free. You can later complete, cancel or mark it as a no-show.
- Declined is a final status. The time slot is freed straight away and the status can't be changed again. If you declined by mistake, book a new appointment.
Clients aren't messaged by Softalon itself when you approve or decline. They're messaged by your automations, so set one up if you want clients to hear back. See Automation triggers explained.
You can also send the client a Confirm link from Share in the appointment menu. When the client opens it and confirms, the appointment becomes Confirmed without you doing anything. See Send a client a confirm, reschedule or review link.
If something is off
Approving fails because the time slot isn't available
The time is no longer free, for example because working hours changed or someone booked over it with an override. Open the appointment's menu, choose Update, set Status to Confirmed, and, if you're an administrator, turn on Manual Override. Or reschedule it to a free time first.
An appointment says Awaiting Payment, not Awaiting Confirmation
The client chose to pay online and hasn't finished paying. You can still set it to Confirmed or Declined from the status badge. See Appointment statuses explained.
Common questions
No. Declined is a final status. Book a new appointment for the client instead.