Configure Appointment Policies and Status Outcomes

Appointment Policies control when customers can cancel or reschedule, when the team can mark a no-show, and how dashboard operators handle exceptions. The active settings do not add cancellation fees, deposits or cover charges.

Before you begin

Decide the notice periods your business can apply consistently. Use minutes for cutoff and grace fields; for example, 180 minutes is three hours.

Permission required

Only the business owner can open Settings and save Appointment Policies. Managers and staff follow these rules when they edit appointments, subject to their Appointment Manager and location access.

Where to find it

Open Settings → Appointments & Customer Policies. The panel title is Appointment Policies.

Configure the policy

Set appointment policy rules

1. Use Allow Customer Reschedule and Allow Customer Cancellation to control public self-service actions.
2. Set Reschedule Cutoff Minutes and Cancellation Cutoff Minutes.
3. Set Max Customer Reschedules.
4. Set No-show Grace Minutes to control how long after the appointment start the normal no-show action becomes available.
5. Enter the customer-facing Policy Message, Late Cancellation Message and No-show Policy Text.
6. Enable Require cancellation reason when customers must explain a cancellation.
7. Choose whether to Allow dashboard policy override.
8. Choose whether to Show policy on public booking.
9. Enable Release cancelled slots to waitlist when a cancelled opening should be checked against active waitlist requests.
10. Set Send reschedule notification and Send cancellation notification as required.
11. Select Save Appointment Policies.

How the rules affect customers

Customers can manage only Pending or Confirmed appointments with a valid management link. A cancellation or reschedule is unavailable when the relevant toggle is off, its cutoff has passed, the appointment is no longer active, or the link is no longer valid. The maximum-reschedule limit applies to customer actions.

When cancellation reasons are required, the customer must enter one. A customer reschedule keeps the existing service set, finds a new valid slot and may allocate different eligible staff.

How the rules affect dashboard users

Dashboard cancellation and rescheduling are limited to Pending and Confirmed appointments. Inside the configured cutoff:

• the action is blocked when dashboard override is off; or
• the editor shows that an override is required when override is allowed.

Enter Reason for cancellation, reschedule, or no-show for operational context. Enter the separate override reason whenever the policy indicator says Override; the appointment will not save without it.

Important information

The Require cancellation reason setting is enforced for customer cancellation. Dashboard operators should still record a clear reason for cancellation, rescheduling and no-show so the customer record and appointment history remain understandable.

No-show handling

Only a Pending or Confirmed appointment can be newly marked No Show. The normal action becomes available at the appointment start plus No-show Grace Minutes. Before that time, the editor either requires an override reason or blocks the action, depending on the dashboard override setting.

No-show records do not automatically create an invoice. If the visit took place, use Completed instead.

Completion, cancellation and waitlist outcomes

• Completed creates an invoice when none exists and locks the appointment.
• Cancelled records the cancellation and locks the appointment.
• A cancelled or rescheduled opening can produce waitlist matches. Automatic release of a cancelled slot follows Release cancelled slots to waitlist.
• Matching does not book or charge the customer. The team or customer must convert a still-valid match.

The policy for an appointment follows a branch-specific configuration when one exists; otherwise it uses the business policy shown in Settings. This fallback is automatic.

What happens next

The saved business policy appears on public booking and manage-booking screens when Show policy on public booking is enabled. Appointment editors use the cutoff, override and no-show rules when operators save a relevant status or time change.

Notifications

Save the visible reschedule and cancellation notification preferences to match the business’s intent. Actual delivery still depends on the appointment event, recipient details and available Notification Centre channels; a saved appointment is not reversed if a message cannot be delivered. Do not use a policy toggle as proof that a customer received a message.

Tip

Write policy messages as customer instructions. Keep internal exception handling in staff procedures rather than in the public policy copy.

Troubleshooting

• If a customer action is missing, check the appointment status, policy toggle, cutoff, reschedule count and link validity.
• If a dashboard action says Override, add an override reason or ask the owner to review the policy.
• If No Show is too early, wait until the displayed eligible time or follow the permitted override process.
• If no waitlist match appears after cancellation, check the release toggle and whether an active request exactly fits the location, services, date/time preference and available staff.
• If a customer was not notified, verify the notification channel separately; do not repeat the appointment action merely to resend a message.

Related guides

• Manage Appointments from Booking to Completion
• Manage the Appointment Waitlist
• Let Customers Book and Manage Appointments Online

Last reviewed: 12 July 2026