By default, a visitor who picks a free time is booked at once. Turn on approval for a booking type and each booking arrives as a request instead, which you approve or decline. It suits services you may not always take, or rooms you share.
Turn on approval
- Go to HappenBoard → Bookings → Booking types and open the booking type.
- In the Scheduling panel, switch on Require approval.
- Click Save.
It applies to new bookings from then on. Bookings already made keep their status. The other settings are explained in creating a booking type.
What the customer sees
The booking page works as usual, but its button reads Request booking instead of Confirm booking. After booking, the panel says the request has been sent, not confirmed.
The customer receives an acknowledgement saying the request is not confirmed yet. It has no calendar invite, and it has a link to cancel the request.
The time is held while you decide
A request keeps its time: nobody else can book it while it waits. A request you approve an hour later therefore never clashes with another booking.
The downside: requests left unanswered keep good times off your calendar. The host and the site administrator receive an email when a request arrives, unless you switched off Email the host and the site admin about bookings under HappenBoard → Settings → Email.
Approve or decline a request
Go to HappenBoard → Bookings and open the Requests tab. Requests show the status Awaiting approval. Both answers work on one row or on several selected rows.
- Approve request confirms the booking. The customer receives the confirmation with its calendar invite, and the reminders are scheduled.
- Decline request frees the time. The request moves to the Declined tab, and the customer receives an email saying it could not be accepted, with a Book another time button.
A declined request reads Request declined in the customer’s My Bookings block. The link in their emails opens a Booking request declined page, with nothing left to cancel or move.
Each request can be answered only once. A second answer is refused with “This booking is not waiting for approval.”
Neither answer asks for a message. If the reason matters, email the customer yourself. To keep it for your team, add it under Notes, which the customer never sees.
Requests declined before HappenBoard 0.2.0 were stored as cancelled, and they stay under the Cancelled tab.
When the customer changes a request
The customer can cancel a request from the link in their acknowledgement, or move it to another free time. A moved request stays a request: they receive an email with the new time, and you still have to answer it. Both work until the booking type’s Customer change cutoff.
Bookings you enter yourself
A booking you add with New booking on the Bookings screen, for someone who phoned, is confirmed at once, even on a booking type that needs approval. The time is still checked against the host’s availability and other bookings.
Approval with online payment
With HappenBoard Pro taking payments online, a priced request holds the customer’s card instead of charging it. Approve request charges the card, Decline request releases it. A request still unanswered six days after it was made is declined automatically, because the card hold would expire, and the site administrator is emailed the list. See booking payments, deposits and pricing rules.
Next steps
- Creating a booking type: set the cutoff, price and other options.
- Appointment booking: overview: see the Bookings screen and every email sent.
- Publishing the booking page: see how customers move or cancel a booking.