Choose your booking settings

1. 01

   Check the time zone

   Open Bookings › Settings. “Workspace time zone” is the clock your hours, shifts and appointments are read on, and reminders and the cancellation window count against it. It is the same time zone as in your business details.

2. 02

   Choose the visit-code prefix

   Every booking gets a visit code, like LIRA-9A4B, which the client sees in their confirmation, on their booking and on the receipt, and can show or say at the desk. “Visit codes” sets the letters in front: two to five, suggested from your first place’s name. A new prefix applies to new visits; codes already sent stay as they are. APT, INV, SALE, QUO, CRN and STV are taken by documents.

3. 03

   Write your own message texts

   Under “Message templates”, you can replace the “Confirmation”, “Rescheduled”, “Reminder” and “Cancellation” messages; “Rescheduled” goes out when staff move a visit to another time or person. Placeholders fill in the details, and all six work in every template: {{place}}, {{when}}, {{code}}, {{client}}, {{staff}} and {{manage}}, the client's link to change or cancel. On a cancelled visit that link opens a page saying so, with a way to book again. Leave a field empty to send the built-in text in your workspace's language. A counter under each box shows how many SMS the text costs; a text may cost at most two.

4. 04

   Release unpaid deposits

   Under “Deposit & cancellation”, “Release unpaid deposits after” holds an online booking whose deposit is not paid yet for the minutes you set (30 unless you change it), then frees the time for others. It applies to online bookings whose deposit is paid by card through your payment gateway, and not to a visit that starts sooner than those minutes. It is off until you switch it on.

5. 05

   Choose how a deposit paid by transfer waits

   When clients can pay deposits by bank transfer (Integrations › Payments), “A deposit paid by bank transfer” decides what the booking does until you mark the money received. “Book at once — the deposit shows as awaiting payment”, the default, books the visit straight away. “Hold the time until the money arrives” holds it for the same minutes as above, then frees the time for other clients — even if the money has arrived and nobody has marked it yet, because Setvos does not see your account. The transfer is recorded with “Mark paid (bank transfer)” on the visit.

6. 06

   Set deposits and the cancellation window

   Under “Deposit & cancellation”, turn on “Require a deposit on new bookings”, choose “Fixed amount” or “Percent of total” and the value, and set the “Free-cancellation window (hours before start)”. A paid deposit is refunded for a cancellation before the window and kept inside it. The type and amount can be set with the switch on or off: they are also what a service whose “No-show protection” is “A deposit” takes. The booking emails state this window, add “After that, the deposit is kept” when there is a deposit, and tell the client when their deposit is paid.

7. 07

   Limit online bookings

   “Open guest bookings per phone number” asks a guest to cancel a booking before making another. Once “Online bookings per day” is reached, clients are asked to call you and you get one notification. Both stop a script from filling your diary and using up your messages.

8. 08

   Offer freed slots to the waitlist

   Turn on “Tell the waitlist when a slot frees” and set “Offer stands for (hours)”. A cancellation then messages the first matching person on your waitlist. The same hours decide how long an offer you mark by hand lasts, with the switch on or off.

   Under it, “Clients can join the waitlist online” lets clients add themselves from your booking page, for up to two weeks of days, and holds each freed time for the person it is offered to until the offer lapses: only they can book it. It can be turned on only while “Tell the waitlist when a slot frees” is on, and turning that off turns it off too.

9. 09

   Add off-peak discounts

   Under “Off-peak discounts”, press “Add a window”, pick the days and set “From”, “Until” and “Discount, %”. A visit that starts in a window gets the discount, whether the client books it online, you book it at the desk or it is part of a standing appointment. The discount is shown beside the time and comes off before any promo code.

10. 10

    Keep emergency windows

    Under “Emergency windows”, add the times you keep free for a walk-in or a regular who calls. “Open online (hours before the start)” is how close to the start they become bookable online; 0 switches the windows off. Staff always see and can book these times.

11. 11

    Save

    Under “Google Business Profile”, switch on “I have added the booking link” once your profile has it; it is the same mark as “I've added it” in the page studio. Then press “Save” at the bottom. Changing these settings needs a role that may change bookings settings; anyone else sees them read-only, with a note saying so, and no “Save” button. Each save is recorded on Settings › Audit log, naming the settings that changed but not their values.

Updated October 24, 2026