Why isn't Bookings working? (no free times, no emails, payment or calendar errors)
When TeleportHQ Bookings doesn't work as expected, a message usually says why. The most common causes: booking emails have no email provider or sender yet ("Booking emails cannot go out"), customers see "No free times on this day" because of opening hours, notice, how far ahead, closed or blocked days, full capacity or a hidden item, no payment provider takes bookings, or a linked calendar's address can't be read. Find your message below, with its fix. The limits are at the end.
Where TeleportHQ shows booking problems
In the editor, a booking problem shows as a warning icon on the Bookings button of the left sidebar and on the Bookings row of the Plugins panel. To see it:
- In the left sidebar, click Plugins.
- Click the Bookings row. Its settings drawer opens beside the list.
- Under Needs attention, read each problem and click its button (Set up) to go where it's fixed.
Emails
"Booking emails cannot go out" The full message reads "Booking emails cannot go out yet: your customers get no confirmations, and alerts and reminders are not sent. Open Customer Emails to set up a provider and a sender." Your bookings have no email provider or no sender address. Click Set up (or, in the Bookings panel, click the Booking Settings gear, then Customer Emails). Under Email Delivery, choose your Email Provider, fill in From Email (a sender address your email service has verified), then click Save Customer Emails. See Which emails does Bookings send, and how do I set them up?.
"Stripe is not set up" (or another provider's name) "Stripe is switched on, but its credentials are missing, so no payment can go through it. Add them in its settings." Click Set up and add the provider's keys. See How to choose how customers pay for bookings.
After you accept, decline or cancel, the line ends with "The customer was not emailed: …" The booking changed, but no email went out. The rest of the line says why: "no email provider is set up for this site. Set one up under Customer Emails → Email Delivery." or "the email provider has no sender address. Add one under Customer Emails → Email Delivery." (the fix is the same as for "Booking emails cannot go out" above: Booking Settings → Customer Emails → Email Delivery); "the email template for this update is missing. Rebuild the booking pages to get it back."; "the site is not published yet."; "the booking has no email address.", which means the booking was added without an email; or "the email service refused it", followed by the service's own reason.
Reminders aren't sent Booking reminders are sent by the Booking Reminders workflow of your published site, once an hour. Check that:
- your site is published, and was published again after you turned reminders on;
- your workspace is on a Trial, Pro or Premium plan. After a trial or subscription ends, the Reminders row shows PRO and nothing is sent;
- Reminders is on in Booking Settings, and emails can go out (see above).
Customers can't book
"No free times on this day. Please choose another date." Nothing can be booked on that day. In Booking Settings (the gear in the Bookings panel), check:
- Opening Hours: items booked by time can only be booked inside them. Is the day switched on? See How to set opening hours, start times and closed days.
- Booking Times → Notice (hours): the times too close to now are hidden.
- Booking Times → Up To (days ahead): days further ahead can't be booked yet.
- Closed Days: the day may be closed for every item, or for this one.
- Blocked days: a calendar linked to the item (Airbnb, Booking.com…) may hold the day. See How to sync an item's calendar.
- Capacity: the item may be fully booked. Look at Growth → Bookings → Calendar.
"That is too soon to book online. Please choose a later date." The time is inside your Notice (hours). Lower it in Booking Settings → Booking Times, or book the customer in yourself from the admin panel.
"That is too far ahead to book yet." The date is past Up To (days ahead). Raise it in Booking Settings → Booking Times.
"This cannot be booked at the moment." The item is set to Hidden, or it was deleted. Open it in the Bookings panel and set Status to Bookable. See How to add a bookable item.
"That stay is too short or too long. Please choose other dates." The stay is outside the item's fewest and most nights (or days). Change them in the item's form.
"That number of guests cannot be booked here." The guests are outside the item's Fewest Guests and Most Guests, or more than its places.
"Please sign in to book." Guest Bookings is off in Booking Settings, so only signed-in customers can book. Switch it on to let anyone book. See What can I change in Booking Settings?.
"Sorry, that was just booked by someone else. Please choose again." Another customer took the last place a moment earlier. TeleportHQ never books the same time twice.
"It is too late to cancel this booking online. Please contact us instead." The customer tried to cancel after the limit set in Online Cancellation (24 hours before the start by default). You can still cancel the booking in Growth → Bookings.
Payment problems
"No payment provider takes bookings, so priced items cannot be booked. Add one in the Bookings panel, or let customers pay on arrival." Customers Pay is set to Online, when they book, but no provider can take the payment. Add a payment provider at the top of the Bookings panel, or choose When they arrive or Customers choose in Booking Settings → Payment. See How to choose how customers pay for bookings.
"No payment provider takes bookings yet, so customers pay on arrival. Add one in the Bookings panel to take payments online." Bookings work, but every customer pays on arrival until you add a provider.
"Paddle sells digital products only, so bookings are never paid through it." Paddle never takes bookings. Add another provider, such as Stripe or PayPal, for bookings.
"Square cannot charge in EUR, so bookings are not paid through it." (with your provider and currency) The provider can't charge in your bookings' currency. Use another provider, or change the currency.
"Your store keeps its orders in another database than your bookings, so bookings are not paid online." Bookings use the TeleportHQ database. A store on another database can't record booking payments, so customers pay on arrival.
"Bookings can no longer be paid online" You are removing your last payment provider that takes bookings. Once you publish, "customers pay on arrival, and items that must be paid online cannot be booked until you add another provider."
Calendar sync errors
These show in an item's Calendar Sync (in the Bookings panel, open the item, then More for this item → Calendar Sync), on the link or after Sync now:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "This is not a calendar address: it must start with https://, http:// or webcal://." | Copy the full calendar (iCal) address from the other platform. It usually ends in .ics. |
| "This calendar address is not allowed: it must be a public http(s) address." | Use the platform's public export address, not a private or local one. |
| "The calendar address could not be reached." | Check the address in a browser, then click Sync now. |
| "The calendar is larger than 5 MB." | Export a shorter period from the other platform, or use a smaller calendar. |
| "The address did not answer with a calendar (iCal)." | You pasted a page address, not the calendar export address. |
| "A calendar took too long to read and was not written. Press "Sync now" to read it again." | Click Sync now. |
| "Nothing to read now: no link reads its calendar, or a read is already under way. Try again in two minutes." | Wait two minutes, then click Sync now. |
| "An item can have at most 10 calendar links." | Remove a link you no longer need. |
A calendar that can't be read keeps the days it blocked before, so nothing gets double-booked. See How to sync an item's calendar with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or Google Calendar.
Switching Bookings on fails
"Bookings run on the TeleportHQ database, and the features of this project use another database. Connect the features to the TeleportHQ database to use bookings." Bookings only work with the TeleportHQ database. Connect your project's features (such as sign-in or the store) to the TeleportHQ database first.
The Enable Web App features? window opens instead ("Activating bookings requires a Web App.") Bookings make your project a web app. Read the window, then click Enable Web App features to go on, or Keep as a Presentation Website to stop. See How to add bookings to an existing project.
"You have reached the maximum number of bookings activations for this project." A project can switch Bookings on 10 times. Write to hello@teleporthq.io.
Your dashboard shows no Bookings badge on the project ("Could not mark the project as a booking site") Your bookings work. The Bookings badge and the Online bookings filter on your dashboard read a mark TeleportHQ saves on the project when Bookings is switched on, and saving that mark failed. The editor shows no message for it: the words "Could not mark the project as a booking site" appear only in your browser's developer console. TeleportHQ tries again the next time a feature is switched on or off and each time you open the project. Open it again; if the badge still doesn't show, write to hello@teleporthq.io.
Booking pages and imports
"The booking page has lost its list of items, so these settings cannot be applied. Rebuild the booking pages to get it back." The list of items was deleted from the booking page. Click Rebuild the booking pages. See How to design your booking pages.
"Your booking pages have an older design. Rebuild them to get the current one; your items, bookings and settings stay." Click Rebuild the booking pages in the Bookings panel when you're ready.
"This file is larger than 10 MB. Export a shorter date range, or split the file." Import files can be up to 10 MB. See How to import bookable items.
Good to know: Bookings limits
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Guests in one booking | 999 |
| Nights or days in one booking | 366 |
| Your private note on a booking | 2,000 characters |
| Reason for a closed day | 255 characters |
| A customer's cancellation reason | 500 characters |
| Calendar links per item | 10 |
| One linked calendar | 5 MB, up to 2,000 events read |
| Photos per variant | 10 |
| Booking alert addresses | 5 |
| PDF bookings reports | 20 a day, 500 kept in all |
| Bookings in one report or export | 20,000 |
| Import file | 10 MB |
| Items per page on the booking page | 1 to 100 |
| Times Bookings can be switched on in a project | 10 |