01 Appointments
Appointment booking, one line at a time
Write your hours into the book once. Guests are shown the lines that are still empty, in their own timezone, and pick one.
It is the same book your events are already written in, which is why a session synced in from Google Calendar quietly takes a line off the page.
Second range today, 14:00 to 16:00, not drawn. Three empty lines this morning, four this afternoon.
02 Two readings
One book, two readings
The left page is yours: the hours you keep, and the handful of rules that turn them into slots. The right page is your booking page, the only thing a guest ever sees, worked out from the left one and converted to their clock. Both pages here are rendered from the same figures.
What you write in
Appointments tab. Tick the days, set the hours, and a day can hold up to four ranges so the middle of the afternoon can stay yours.
The rules on this type
Hours are wall clock in your schedule's timezone, anchored per date, so the clocks changing does not shift your morning. An override replaces a single date's hours rather than adding to them, which is what a public holiday or one late evening actually is.
What a guest is offered
Thursday 6 August, in America/New_York, because that is the clock on their laptop. Your own timezone is named underneath so nobody does the arithmetic in their head, and they can switch to any other one. The filled chip is the earliest line still open.
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Morning, afternoon and evening are split on the guest's own hour, which is why one 09:00 line in your book turns up in their morning and the rest do not. Behind each chip is an instant, not a wall-clock string, so the booking lands on the same minute in your book as it does in their calendar. Pick a month with nothing left in it and the page offers a jump to the next date that has something.
The same times, in your book
Nothing else on this page leaks. Guests see a type, a duration and a price, never who has taken the other lines.
03 The lines
You rule the lines, not the day
A duration says how long an appointment runs. The start-time interval says how often a line is offered, and it is the one setting that changes the shape of the page. All three columns below rule the same two hours for the same 30 minute appointment. Only the count of lines actually on offer changes.
A 30 minute call offered every 30 minutes. Four lines on two hours of page, and every one of them is free.
The same 30 minute call, offered twice as often: seven starts, not four. The last quarter hour is ruled and left blank, because half an hour from 10:45 would run past eleven.
A single booking and the ten minutes of padding behind it cost three of the four lines: 09:00 because its own padding would reach into the entry, 10:00 because it starts inside the padding.
A line can be taken by anything
Open times are worked out against everything already on the schedule: your own events, bookings on your other appointment types, and events synced in from Google Calendar, Outlook or CalDAV. A request still waiting on you holds its line too. An entry with no length on it blocks two hours rather than nothing, and an all-day entry with no time at all takes no line.
Notice and window
Minimum notice keeps guests off the next few hours. The booking window stops them wandering into next spring. Both are guest-side rules: when you move a booking yourself, your picker ignores them.
Set your timezone first
Slot maths runs in your schedule's timezone. Leave it unset and the application default is used instead, which is why the Appointments tab nags you until you fix it under Details.
04 How it works
Four things to write down
Setting a type up is one form and one link. After that the book keeps itself.
01
Write the hours in
Open the Appointments tab, add a type, and set its duration, its start-time interval, and the hours you keep on each day. Buffers, minimum notice and how far ahead guests may book live on the same form.
02
Say where, and what it costs
In person with an address, online with a meeting link, or by phone with a number. Leave the price at zero, or set a price and take it by Stripe, a payment link, or cash.
03
Share one link
Your booking page sits at /book on your schedule, and every type has its own address under it. A Book a Time button appears on your public page as well.
04
They pick a line
A guest books an open time in their own timezone. You are emailed, the time is held, and the booking joins your calendar without joining your public page.
05 The register
Every line, and what it is doing
The Bookings view filters by Upcoming, Pending, Past and Cancelled. What matters in a book is not the name, it is whether the time is spoken for.
| Guest | Appointment type | When | State | What the line is doing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie R. | Intro call, 30 min, free | Thu 6 Aug, 09:30 | Confirmed | Held, and pushed to your connected calendar |
| Dana W. | Consult, 60 min, $120 | Thu 6 Aug, 12:00 | Waiting on you | Held while you decide, so you cannot be booked over it |
| Priya S. | Consult, 60 min, $120 | Fri 7 Aug, 10:00 | Awaiting payment | Held while they pay, released if the hold lapses |
| Marc T. | Intro call, 30 min, free | Mon 10 Aug, 14:00 | Confirmed, moved | Same booking, new time. The old one went back on sale |
| Ana L. | Consult, 60 min, $120 | Tue 11 Aug, 11:00 | Cancelled | Released. Refunding is a step you take yourself |
Approve, or do not
With approval on, bookings arrive on your Requests tab next to submitted events. Accept and the guest gets their confirmation and invite; decline and they are told they are welcome to pick another time. On a card or link type, accepting does not confirm on its own: the payment does that.
Move it, do not redo it
Rescheduling moves the booking in place, so the payment, the guest's private link and the row in your sales all survive. Whoever did not start the move is emailed, and the guest's updated invite shifts the entry already in their calendar instead of adding a second one.
Cancel releases the line
Cancel a booking and the guest is emailed and the time goes back on offer, but no money moves. To send a card payment back, refund it on the Sales page instead: a full refund cancels the booking for you. Cancel first and the email to you carries the amount and the reference, so you can return it in Stripe.
06 Their copy
The guest walks off with the card
You keep the book. They get one line copied out: a confirmation with a calendar invite, a reminder, and a private link to reschedule or cancel without emailing you about it.
A private link, not a login. Moving and cancelling stay open to them right up until the appointment starts.
A calendar invite, in the email
The confirmation carries an invite, so one tap puts the appointment in their calendar with the address, the meeting link or the phone number already on it.
A reminder about a day out
Confirmed bookings get a reminder roughly 24 hours before they start. A request still waiting on you does not get one, and neither does a card booking that has not been paid.
They can move it themselves
The same link offers the times anyone else would see. Their old line is released the moment they take a new one, and they are told that before they commit. On a type that needs approval, a guest move comes back to you. A card booking they have not paid for yet has to be paid before it can be moved, because the hold it is sitting on runs out on its own clock.
You hear about all of it
New bookings, new requests, moves and guest cancellations all email you, and the whole booking sits in your admin with the guest's notes attached.
07 Charging
A line can have a price on it
A free intro call and a paid session can sit side by side with their own hours, prices and rules. What you charge is yours: Getvnt takes no cut of it.
Free
Leave the price at zero. The line is written in the moment a guest books, or lands as a request if the type asks for your approval.
Card or payment link
Stripe Checkout, or your own payment link. The line is held while they pay and lets go if they never do: an hour for Stripe, a day for a payment link.
Cash
The line is held straight away and you mark the sale paid when you have actually been paid. Paid bookings sit with the rest of your sales.
A paid type hides itself until it can be paid
Priced types stay off your booking page until a working payment method is connected, and the Appointments tab tells you which one is being held back. Connect Stripe or add a payment link under Account Settings and it appears. PayPal, Payfast and Invoice Ninja do not count here, even when connected.
Refunds are a decision, not a side effect
Cancelling a paid booking never moves money. Refunding it on the Sales page does: a Stripe booking goes back through Stripe, in full or in part, and only a full refund cancels it. A payment-link or cash booking is marked refunded instead, which cancels it without moving any money. Either way, it happens because you said so.
08 Marginalia
Notes in the margin
The small print that saves an email later.
Bookings stay out of the shop window
Every booking is created as a private event, so it never shows on your public schedule, the calendar feed guests can subscribe to, your RSS feed or your event graphics. It still holds the time.
Email has to be working
On the hosted platform appointment mail goes out through your own email settings, so confirmations come from your address. Until those are set up nothing is sent, and the Appointments tab says so.
Not the same as Availability
Availability is a separate tab, on Enterprise talent schedules, where members cross out whole dates they cannot be booked for events. Appointments hand out one specific slot at a time, free with one type on any schedule type, with more types, payment and advanced scheduling on Pro.
Turn a type off, do not delete it
Untick Active and the type leaves your booking page. Bookings already on it keep their time, their emails and their reminders, though nothing can be moved onto a type that is switched off.
One guest, one time
The same email address cannot hold two bookings at the same moment on your schedule.
Reminders chase confirmed bookings only
A request still waiting on you, or a card booking still waiting on payment, does not get one.
Booking is on the free plan, with one appointment type, and that type has weekly hours, a booking page and every guest email. Pro adds more types, a price, and the scheduling rules: overrides, buffers, notice and approvals. A selfhosted deployment has no cap and no gate. Everything the book leans on is free too: your public schedule, two-way Google, Outlook and CalDAV calendar sync, and the calendar you can embed on your own site.
100% Free Access. No Subscriptions.
All premium features, custom branding, seating charts, and integrations are included free for everyone. We only earn a small percentage fee when you sell paid tickets.
Host unlimited free events and registrations without paying a single dime.
- Unlimited events, calendars, & sub-schedules
- Google, Outlook, & CalDAV 2-way sync
- All Pro & Enterprise features unlocked
Only pay when you earn money. Automatically deducted at ticket checkout.
- Direct payouts to your Stripe account
- Passes, gift cards, promo codes, & installments
- No monthly or hidden subscription fees
09 Questions
Frequently asked questions
How does appointment booking work?
Create an appointment type with a duration and the weekly hours you take bookings for. Guests open your booking page, pick an open time, and book it. You can confirm bookings automatically or approve each request yourself.
Can I use it instead of Calendly?
For one-to-one bookings it covers the core: weekly hours, date overrides, buffers, minimum notice, a booking window, approvals, payment, a calendar invite, a reminder, and a private link to reschedule or cancel. The difference is where the bookings live. They go into the same schedule as your events, so a gig or a synced Google Calendar entry takes its time off the booking page, and the same account runs your public event pages and ticket sales. Each time goes to one guest, so a class with several places belongs on an event with tickets or free RSVPs.
Can I be booked twice at the same time?
No. Open times respect your weekly hours, your buffers and your minimum notice, and any time already taken on your schedule is removed. That includes events synced in from Google Calendar, Outlook or CalDAV, bookings for your other appointment types, and requests still waiting on your approval.
Can I charge for appointments?
Yes, on the Pro plan. A type can be free or priced; every plan carries a free type, and putting a price on one is the Pro line, the same line that applies to tickets. Paid types take payment by Stripe, a payment link, or cash. PayPal, Payfast and Invoice Ninja are not offered for appointments, even when they are connected. Free bookings are confirmed at once, a paid type stays hidden from guests until a payment method it can use is connected, and Getvnt takes no cut of what you charge.
How do I refund a paid booking?
Refund it on the Sales page rather than cancelling it. A Stripe booking goes back through Stripe, in full or in part: a partial refund leaves the booking in place, and a full one cancels it, puts the time back on offer and tells the guest it is cancelled. A payment-link or cash booking is marked refunded instead, which cancels it the same way but moves no money. Refund only appears while the sale is paid, so if you cancel first, return the money in Stripe or your provider using the amount and reference in your cancellation email.
Can I approve bookings before they are confirmed?
Turn on approval for a type and new bookings arrive as requests. The booking page tells the guest that nothing is confirmed until you say so, the slot stays blocked while the request is open, and the guest is emailed either way when you accept or decline.
What do guests get after booking?
A confirmation email with a calendar invite, and a private link that lets them move the booking to another time or cancel it while the appointment is still ahead of them. A reminder email follows about a day before it starts.
Do guests need an account to book?
No. A guest picks a time and gives a name and an email address, a phone number if the type asks for one, and any notes for you. Everything after that runs from a private link in their email, not a login.
Can a booking be moved instead of cancelled?
Yes, from either side. The guest uses Reschedule on their private link; you use Reschedule on the booking row, and your picker ignores the minimum notice and the booking window so you can move something to later today. The booking keeps its payment, its private link and its place in your sales, and the invite in the guest's calendar moves rather than doubling up.
Do the emails send themselves?
On the hosted platform appointment mail goes out through your schedule's own email settings, so it arrives from your address rather than ours. Until those are configured guests get no confirmations or reminders, and the Appointments tab warns you about it. Selfhosted deployments use whatever mail transport you have set up.
Which plan includes appointment booking?
Booking is on the free plan, with one appointment type: weekly hours, a public booking page, a private link for the guest and every confirmation and reminder email. Pro is what adds more types, lets you put a price on one, and unlocks the scheduling rules - per-date overrides, buffers, minimum notice and an approval step. Nothing you build is thrown away if a Pro plan lapses: every type is kept exactly as you left it, the rules you set stay set, the oldest free one keeps taking bookings, every booking already made is honoured, and every guest's private link still opens. Selfhosted deployments have no cap and no gate at all.
10 Free to start
Open the book, write in the hours.
One link, your own hours, and no more asking people what time suits them.
Free booking on every plan, more types and paid bookings on Pro, and no cap at all when you host it yourself
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