What can I change in Booking Settings?

In TeleportHQ, every rule of your bookings is in one drawer. In the editor's left sidebar, open Bookings, then click the gear at the top right of the panel (its tooltip reads Booking Settings). A drawer titled Bookings Setup opens beside the panel, with one row per setting: who can book and how, payment and invoices, booking times, opening hours, closed days, the booking page and the emails. A switch on a row saves as soon as you flip it. A blue link on a row opens that setting's own panel beside the list.

Open Booking Settings#

1. In the editor's left sidebar, click Bookings. If you don't see it, click Plugins, click the Bookings row, then, under Panel, click Open next to Bookings panel.
2. At the top right of the Bookings panel, click the gear (Booking Settings). The Bookings Setup drawer opens beside the panel.
3. To change a setting that has its own panel, click the blue link on its row, for example Booking Times. The panel opens beside the list and the row is highlighted. To close it, click the link again or the X at the panel's top right.

If an orange warning icon shows next to the gear, your booking emails can't go out yet. Click it: Customer Emails opens, where you set up the email service. See Which emails does Bookings send, and how do I set them up?.

What's in Bookings Setup#

The TeleportHQ Bookings Setup drawer has 14 rows. A row with a switch turns its setting on or off; its blue link shows only while the switch is on.

Below the rows, Disable Bookings switches Bookings off for the project. See How to turn off Bookings.

Choose how new items are booked (New Items)#

The New Items row says how a new item starts, for example "Start booked by time. Each item is booked its own way — by time, night or day — set in its form."

1. On the New Items row, click Change. The New Items panel opens.
2. Under New Items Start Booked, click a card:
   • By time: appointments, classes, tables. Customers pick a day and a start time.
   • By night: rooms and holiday homes. Customers pick a check-in and a check-out day.
   • By day: bikes, cars, equipment. Customers pick their first and last day.
3. Click Save at the bottom of the panel. The message "New items start this way now." appears.

This only decides how a new item starts. Your existing items keep their own way, which you change in each item's form. See How to add a bookable item.

While your items are still the untouched sample items TeleportHQ added (nobody booked them, you didn't change them), a switch Replace the sample items shows after you pick another card. It's on: the samples are swapped for samples booked the new way. Otherwise the panel says "Your items keep how each of them is booked. Change an item's "How It Is Booked" in its form."

Approve each booking by hand#

With Approve Each Booking off (the default), a TeleportHQ booking is confirmed as soon as the customer books, or as soon as it's paid when it's paid online. Switch it on to check every booking first: "Bookings wait for you to accept or decline them; their time is held meanwhile."

With Approve Each Booking on:

• Every new booking arrives as a request, with the status Awaiting confirmation. Its time stays held, so nobody else can book it while you decide.
• On the item's page, customers read "The business confirms each booking. You will get an email."
• The customer gets the email "We received your booking request". When you click Accept, they get "Your booking is confirmed". When you click Decline, they get "Your booking request could not be accepted", and the time is free again.
• You answer requests in Growth → Bookings, on the Requests tab ("Waiting for your answer"), or in your site's admin panel. See How to find and manage bookings in Growth.
• A booking paid online is paid first and becomes a request once it's paid. Declining it doesn't refund the customer. The message says "It was paid online — refund it under Payment.": refund it yourself from the booking's Payment section.
• Switching Approve Each Booking off later doesn't accept the requests already waiting. Answer them in Requests.

Let guests book and ask for a phone number#

Guest Bookings (on by default) lets customers book on your TeleportHQ site without an account. Switch it off to take bookings from signed-in customers only: anyone else reads "Please sign in to book."

If your site has no customer accounts, the switch stays on and greyed out, with the note "Your site has no accounts, so everyone books as a guest." To add accounts, see How to add sign-up and login to your site.

Phone Number Required (off by default): "Customers must give a phone number to book." A customer who leaves the phone number empty reads "Please enter a phone number we can reach you on."

Let customers cancel online#

Online Cancellation (on by default) lets customers cancel their own booking from their booking page (the link in their emails) or from their account. You can always cancel a booking yourself in Growth → Bookings, whatever this switch says.

To set the deadline:

1. Make sure Online Cancellation is switched on. Its link Cancellation Settings shows only then.
2. Click Cancellation Settings. The Cancellation Settings panel opens.
3. In Until (hours before the start), type the number of hours, for example 48. Type 0 to let customers cancel until the booking starts. The most is 1440 hours (60 days).
4. Click Save Cancellation Settings. The message "Saved. Your site uses it from now on." appears.

What customers see on the item's page, under Good to know:

• Cancellation: "Free up to 48 hours before", or "Free until it starts" with 0.
• With Online Cancellation off: "Contact us to change or cancel".

After the deadline, a customer who tries to cancel reads "It is too late to cancel this booking online. Please contact us instead."

When your changes take effect#

• Switches save as soon as you flip them. Every switch waits while another setting is saving.
• Panels show a save button at the bottom once you change something, for example Save Booking Times. After saving, the message says "Saved. Your site uses it from now on."
• Your published site reads these rules on every booking, so approval, guests, phone, cancellation, payment, times, opening hours and closed days apply without publishing again.
• Payment providers, invoice settings and the email service belong to the project itself. They reach your live site when you publish.

Troubleshooting#

"Could not read the settings: …" TeleportHQ couldn't read your bookings' database. Click Retry.

A switch flips back, with the message "The setting was not saved." The save failed. Flip the switch again. If it keeps failing, reload the editor.

There's no Cancellation Settings, Invoice Settings, Alert Settings or Reminder Settings link These links only show while their row's switch is on. Switch the row on first.

Guest Bookings is greyed out Your site has no customer accounts, so everyone books as a guest. Add sign-up and login to choose.

The Reminders row shows a PRO label Your trial or subscription has ended. Reminders work on Trial, Pro and Premium. See Which emails does Bookings send, and how do I set them up?.

Good to know#

• The same rules on your live site. Your site's admin panel has, under BOOKINGS, the pages Booking settings, Opening hours and Closed dates, which change the same rules. See How to manage bookings from your site's admin panel.
• One set of rules per project. The rules apply to every item. Only opening hours and closed days can differ for one item.
• The booking page has its own settings: see How to design your booking pages.