Booking Appointments Online for Clients

Modified on Thu, 8 Jan at 7:27 AM

This article explains the steps your clients go through when booking an appointment online and outlines important behaviors, requirements, and settings that affect the booking experience.

Things to know:

Online booking must be enabled for the business.
Each service must have a staff member assigned, and staff work hours must be set.
Clients must sign in using an existing MyTime account, Facebook, or Apple login—or create a new account during checkout.
The same service cannot be booked multiple times in a single booking. To book the same service more than once, the client must complete the booking and then start a new one.
If a client selects a specific staff member, only services that that staff member can perform will be shown.
No Preference Option:
- When a client selects No Preference, the system assigns a staff member using round-robin logic. Learn more here.
- If the “Can customers book a specific staff member?” setting is disabled, the “Who Would You Like to Book?” section is hidden. In this case, all bookings behave as if No Preference was selected.
Booking Appointments with Add-On Services
- Accounts with Multi-Staff Appointments Feature Enabled:
  - If a staff member is selected for the core service and "No Preference" is chosen for the add-on, the same staff member will be assigned to both.
  - If "No Preference" is selected for both the core service and add-on, the system will assign the same staff member to both services. However, if the assigned staff member is not eligible to perform the add-on service, a different staff member will be assigned to the add-on.
- Accounts with Multi-Staff Appointments Feature Disabled:
  - If "No Preference" is selected, the system will automatically assign the same staff member to both the core service and the add-on.
  - If the selected staff member cannot perform both the core service and the add-on, the option to select an add-on will not be visible.
An error message stating “Time is no longer available” may appear if:
- Another appointment has been booked at the same time.
- The staff member’s working hours have changed.
  The selected time slot is no longer available for the chosen staff member.
By default, selecting "Book Again" pre-fills appointment details from the client’s previous booking. This behavior can be disabled using a hidden setting managed by the MyTime team. To enable this setting, contact support@mytime.com.
If “Can customers book a specific staff member?” is enabled and prefill is not disabled:
- If the previous appointment was booked with a specific staff member, the Book With field shows that staff member.
- If the previous appointment used No Preference, the system applies round-robin logic and displays No Preference.
- Examples:
  - Last appointment with Staff B → Book With: Staff B
  - Last appointment with No Preference → Book With: No Preference
- Behavior When Prefill Is Disabled: The "Book With" field always displays "No Preference," regardless of the previous booking.
If a client reaches checkout without being signed in, they are prompted to log in or create an account before completing the booking.
If the setting "Accept online payments through MyTime?" is configured to either "Yes, require online payment to book online" or "Let clients choose whether to pay online or in person," and the client opts to pay online, the following will occur:
- When an appointment requiring a deposit is booked online, the client's card on file will be charged for the deposit, and a hold will be placed on the card for the remaining balance.
- If the hold amount cannot be charged successfully, the location manager will be notified that the pre-authorization attempt failed and will need to collect the remaining balance from the client at the time of the appointment. Learn more about payment authorization here.

When an appointment is booked online, a ticket is automatically created.'
Clients receive a booking notification listing all scheduled services:
- Booked in-store: Booked by Business notification
- Booked online: Booked by Client notification
For mobile businesses:
- Services unavailable at the selected location are hidden in the booking widget.
- Selecting In-Store hides services offered only at the client’s location.
- Selecting At Your Location (up to X miles) hides services available only in-store.
Clients can book both individual and multi-client services in a single transaction. During checkout, all selected services are grouped together for convenience. When a multi-client service is included, the Additional Guest Form must be completed for every participant before the booking can be completed.

Clients can book an appointment by following these steps:

Navigate to your booking page using the provided booking URL or the "Book" button on your website.
Select a Location (if your business has multiple locations, they should choose their preferred location)
Choose the desired service. To add additional services, click the "Add Another Service " link
Select a preferred date and time from the calendar
If the client wants a specific staff member, they can select one
Proceed to Checkout. At checkout, they can:
- Sign in to an existing account
- Use Facebook or Apple to log in
- Create a new account
Additional options at checkout include:
- Add notes and special requests
- Complete any required intake forms
- Provide payment details if necessary
Click on the "Complete Booking" button
The booking confirmation page will appear

For more information, contact us at support@mytime.com or (385) 233-6964.

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