When a service requires approval, member bookings arrive as requests that the practitioner, owner, or manager confirms or declines.
Prerequisites
• Role: Owner or Manager or Instructor
Each appointment type has a "Requires approval" setting (on by default). When it's on, a member booking is created as a request with status "Pending approval" instead of being confirmed immediately. No credit or payment is taken at request time. Multiple members can request the same slot — the first approval wins it.
Practitioners see requests in the instructor portal under "My Appointments" — pending requests appear in the Upcoming list with Approve and Decline buttons. Owners and managers see them on the dashboard Appointments page, Bookings tab, by selecting the "Requests" status filter.
Click "Approve". The system re-checks the slot is still free, then confirms the booking and emails the member. On credit-based studios with a paid service, one credit is deducted at this point. If the slot was taken by another confirmed booking in the meantime, you'll see "This time slot is no longer available" and the request stays pending.
Click "Decline". You can enter an optional reason, which is included in the email sent to the member. The request moves to Declined and the slot is freed for others.
A request that sits unanswered is followed up automatically. After about a day the practitioner gets a reminder email and push. After about two days, owners and booking managers get an email so someone can step in. If it is still unanswered shortly before the appointment's start time (24 hours by default), the request expires on its own: the member receives an apology explaining it couldn't be confirmed, with a link to book another time or practitioner, and the practitioner is told it expired. Nothing is ever charged for an expired request, and an expired request counts separately from a declined one.
On the dashboard Appointments page, Bookings tab, the "Unanswered request follow-up" card controls the expiry step: turn it off entirely, or change how many hours before the start time an unanswered request expires. The practitioner reminder and the staff escalation email are always on — they only nudge people inside your studio. The card appears for every studio using appointments, not just travel visits.