# Managing services and bookings

Configure a service, choose its booking rules and manage time slots, statuses, rescheduling and payment requests.

Language : en
Updated : 2026-09-07
Source : https://app.bookelio.app/docs/en/activities-and-bookings

## Service, booking or training course?

In the Bookelio menu, **Services** refers to activities that can be booked in a time slot. The service describes what you offer; the booking associates a service delivery with a customer, a time, a room and a member.

This workflow suits an individual treatment or exclusive hire of a space. For training editions with participants and certificates, use [Training courses](/docs/en/trainings). For several independent registrations for a shared session, use [Group classes](/docs/en/group-scheduling).

You will mainly work under **Planning → Services** and **Planning → Bookings**. First prepare the [places, rooms and availability](/docs/en/places-and-availability), the authorised members and, if collecting payment, the VAT and payment settings.

## Creating or editing a service

1. In **Services**, open the creation form or edit the relevant service.
2. Enter a clear name and a description that is useful to the customer: content, duration, how it works and practical information.
3. Set the booking interval and, if necessary, the cleaning time after a booking.
4. Choose the booking and cancellation cutoffs.
5. Set the room occupancy mode.
6. Configure pricing, VAT and full payment or a deposit.
7. Save, then associate the relevant rooms and members from the service list.

Do not confuse the three time settings:

- **Duration** is the booked time for delivering the service.
- The **booking interval** sets the spacing between offered start times.
- **Cleaning** preserves a buffer after occupancy; if the room also defines one, the longer duration applies.

With a duration of 60 minutes and an interval of 30 minutes, a service does not become a 30-minute appointment. Start times are simply offered on a finer grid, subject to availability.

### Cutoffs and resource occupancy

**Bookable until**, expressed in hours before the start, helps prevent last-minute bookings. For example, 2 prevents a start less than two hours away. Leaving the field empty does not make past time slots bookable again.

**Cancellable until** defines a cancellation cutoff. Changing the status of an existing booking may be refused once this cutoff can no longer be respected. This setting is not a refund policy and does not guarantee that every public website has a cancellation button.

For occupancy mode, choose a single room or all linked rooms simultaneously. The second mode protects several spaces for the same service; all of them must then be available.

## Preparing the price

The form offers pricing with a base price and duration, quantity-based pricing tiers, and a people × hours matrix for services with variable pricing. Tiers set a unit price from a minimum quantity. The matrix describes specific combinations of number of people, duration and price.

Enter combinations that match the options you actually offer. A missing amount in a matrix is not an invitation to invent a price at booking time. Check the calculated summary before confirming anything.

A service can also include **bookable extras**, with a name, description, price, calculation method and VAT policy. Explain each extra clearly enough for the customer to understand what they are choosing. A description alone does not add a paid extra: you must configure it in the dedicated section.

### Full payment or deposit

The **Online payment** section allows full payment, a percentage deposit or a fixed deposit including VAT. Check the amount requested now and the amount still due: collecting a deposit does not mean that the whole service has been paid for.

The service's payment settings define the payment journey. They do not replace the connection to the payment provider, transaction checks or the possible creation of an invoice. See [Payments](/docs/en/payments).

## Creating a booking from the dashboard

1. Open **Bookings**, then the creation action.
2. Select the customer. Check their identity to avoid creating a duplicate customer record.
3. Choose the service, the room when it can be selected, and then the member.
4. Select the date and an available time slot. Enter the number of people and duration when the service uses these parameters.
5. Optionally add a beneficiary's name, separate from the customer associated with the record.
6. Check the requested status.
7. Decide whether to create a payment request.
8. Save and check the result in the list or calendar.

The form also allows you to enter times manually. Reserve this for situations you understand well: a manually entered time is not proof that the resources are available. Check team and room constraints before confirming.

### Booking only or booking with a payment request

The **Create a payment request** option separates occupancy of the time slot from financial tracking. If you untick it, Bookelio creates only the booking, without calculating a price or creating a payment request in this workflow.

A booking created in this way is not ‘paid free of charge’: this operation simply has not generated a payment request for it. Document your intention within your organisation and handle any amount to collect separately.

## Understanding statuses

| Booking status | Practical meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Pending | The booking has not yet been approved; it can still occupy the time slot. |
| Approved | The booking is confirmed from a scheduling perspective. |
| Cancelled | The booking is no longer an active occupation of the schedule. |

Booking status and payment status are two separate pieces of information. The administrative form can create an approved booking without collecting payment first. Conversely, a paid public journey waits for payment confirmation to finalise approval under its rules.

Do not change the status to ‘Approved’ solely because a customer shows a payment screenshot. Check the payment request and associated transactions.

## Finding and rescheduling a booking

The page offers **List** and **Calendar** views. The list has filters for period, status, payment, service and member, as well as search and pagination. Remove unnecessary filters if a booking seems to be missing. The calendar does not display cancelled bookings as active occupancy.

To reschedule a booking:

1. Find the exact record and open it for editing.
2. Check the customer, service and resources before changing the date or times.
3. Check availability for the new time slot.
4. Review the **Notify by email if the time slot changes** option.
5. Save, then check the new position in the schedule.

This notification option sends a message to the administration and the assigned member only if the date or time changes. It does not promise an email to the customer: arrange their confirmation using your usual procedure. A schedule change should not be interpreted as automatic new billing.

## Cancelling or deleting: two different consequences

Changing the status to **Cancelled** keeps an identifiable record in the history. **Deletion**, offered with confirmation in the list, removes the booking. Do not delete a booking in an attempt to refund its payment: financial tracking is a separate record.

Before cancelling, check the applicable cutoffs, the other resources involved, the communications needed and any amounts already collected. A status change alone does not trigger a refund to the customer.

## Resolving common problems

### No time slots are available

Check the service–room–member associations, opening hours, closures, pending bookings, cleaning time and booking cutoff. The [Places and availability](/docs/en/places-and-availability) guide provides a complete checklist.

### The amount does not match the price displayed on the service

Check the number of people, duration, pricing tiers, extras, VAT and any deposit. Compare amounts on the same basis, and do not confuse the total service price with the amount requested immediately.

### Rescheduling did not send an email

Check that a date or time actually changed, that the option was ticked and that the administration's and member's addresses are filled in. Then see [Communication](/docs/en/communication) to track sending, without repeatedly editing the record to try again.