Create walk-ins and appointments from the desk, then change, cancel and check out

This article covers everything you do at the desk with a single booking: creating it, giving it a client, moving it, cancelling it and checking it out with a tip.

There are two kinds of desk booking, and you choose between them on the same sheet:

• Walk-in. Someone is standing in front of you. You can attach an existing client, create a new one, or leave the client blank. A walk-in with no client still takes the slot and shows on the diary as a walk-in, not as an empty hole.
• Appointment. A booking for someone who is not there yet. It always needs a client, either an existing one or a new one you create on the spot.

Both are marked as booked at the desk. You cannot change that later, and you cannot turn a walk-in into an appointment or the other way round. Each booking has one service and one team member. For several people arriving together, see the group booking article.

1. A team member with working hours and a service they perform. Without them the diary has no column to book into. See the appointment book article.
2. For an appointment, the client's name, and ideally a phone number. Clients are searched by name or phone. A phone number is optional, but it lets you find the person again quickly.
3. The phone with its country code if it is not a number from the United States. A number typed without a country code is read as a number from the United States (+1). For a Mexican number, type it starting with +52.
4. Permission to change the diary. Staff without permission to delete cannot remove an appointment. They cancel it instead, as described below.

Create a booking

1. Open the diary for the location. Click a free cell in the column of the person you want, or press Add in the toolbar. The create sheet opens. Pressing Add opens on Walk-in, with a team member and a start time already chosen.
2. At the top of the sheet choose Walk-in or Appointment. The title of the sheet matches your choice.
3. Under Client, type a name or a phone number to search. Pick the person from the list. Each match shows the phone, how many visits they have had ("no visits yet" or "6 visits") and the date of the last one. Cancelled appointments do not count as visits.
4. If the person is new, type the name and press Create “name” as new client. You can fill in Phone (optional). The sheet then says the client will be added when you book. Tick WhatsApp appointment messages only if the client has agreed to receive them. Without a phone number the client is created with just the name.
5. If the phone number belongs to another client in your company, the sheet refuses it. Search for that person instead, because two clients cannot share a number.
6. Under Staff, choose the team member. Under Service, choose the service. Only services that person performs are listed, and each shows its length and price. When this client has been booked before for that service, their usual team member is suggested with the note Usual for this service. It is only a suggestion and you can choose anyone else.
7. Set Start with the time control. It moves in five-minute steps in the location's time, so 7:15 is possible. A value that is not on a five-minute mark is rounded to the nearest one. A few nearby free start times appear as buttons of the same size, and only times inside working hours with nobody else booked are offered.
8. Optionally enter a Promo code (optional), or a Line discount as a Percent or Amount (cents) with its Discount value. A code that is not valid stops the booking. The sheet shows Due at checkout.
9. Press Check if you want to know before booking. It says either that the slot fits (naming the person and the time window, with no conflicts) or why it does not, and gives the next free time when there is one. Checking creates nothing.
10. Press Confirm. The booking appears on the diary at once.

If you pick Walk-in and type a name but neither choose an existing client nor press Create “name” as new client, the sheet asks you to select or create a client and books nothing. To book a walk-in with no client, leave the name empty. In Appointment mode the client is always required.

Give an open booking a client, or change it

1. Click the block on the diary. The appointment opens.
2. In the Client section, search or type a name, choose the person or press Create “name” as new client, and press Save.
3. The booking now carries that client's name, on the block and on the record. Its staff, time and the fact that it was a walk-in or an appointment stay the same.
4. You can change to another client of the same company later in the same way. You cannot take the client off a booking that already has one.
5. The name saved on the booking is a copy taken when you save. If you rename the client afterwards, old bookings keep the name they had.

Move a booking to another time or person

1. Open the booking from the diary.
2. Change Start or Staff, then press Save. The Start field in this sheet is plain text showing the date and time in a technical format, so edit only the digits you need.
3. The new time is checked the same way as a new booking. If it overlaps another booking for that person, or falls outside working hours or time off, it is refused, the message tells you why, and the original booking stays exactly as it was.

Cancel a booking

1. Open the booking and, if you want, write a reason in Cancel reason.
2. Press Cancel visit. The appointment is not deleted. It stays in your records as cancelled, so you keep the history, and the slot becomes free again.
3. If waiting clients match the freed slot, the sheet lists them so you can offer it from the Fill panel below the diary.
4. If the client did not turn up, press Mark as no-show instead (offered only for a booking that is still booked). It records the no-show and applies the no-show fee configured for the location. If a fee is owed and could not be collected, the sheet shows Retry fee capture.

Check in, check out and add a tip

1. When the client arrives, open the booking and press Check in. The block then shows In chair.
2. At the end, enter the tip in Tip (cents). This field is in cents, so 50 pesos is 5000.
3. Press Checkout. The tip is saved with the checkout itself; there is no separate step afterwards. You can also add a retail product, a package or other items on the same sheet, and print a Receipt.

• A client you attach or create becomes a normal client record. It carries a phone number if you entered one, and clients you create from the desk can be found again by name or phone.
• If the booking has a client with the right messaging consent, they receive the usual confirmation and reminder messages. WhatsApp appointment messages is off unless you tick it.
• A client who books on your booking page uses their phone number, and if it matches a client you already have, the booking goes to that same record.
• A cancelled booking frees the slot, so it can be booked again from the desk or from the booking page.
• Tips and discounts you enter at the desk are part of the visit's checkout. If your business issues CFDI invoices, tips are not part of the invoice.

• Typing a name in Walk-in and pressing Confirm. The sheet will not book a free-text name. Pick or create the client, or clear the name.
• Choosing Appointment without a client. An appointment always needs one. Create the client right in the sheet.
• Typing a Mexican number without +52. It is read as a number from the United States, so the client will not be found by their real phone later.
• Expecting to delete a booking. Cancelling keeps the record. This is intentional, so the history and any fees stay on file.
• Entering the tip in pesos. Tip (cents) expects cents.
• Expecting a failed move to change something. A refused reschedule leaves the original exactly as it was.
• Trying to remove a client from a booking. You can attach or change a client, not remove one.
• Pressing Cancel visit for a no-show. Use Mark as no-show so the no-show fee rules apply.

The appointment book, clients and group booking articles go with this one.