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Setting up direct booking

Direct booking lets clients book you without a single email. They pick a time you're actually free, sign anything you require, pay if you ask them to, and the session lands in your calendar. It suits portraits, headshots, newborn sessions and consultations.

How a direct booking works​

  1. Your client opens the service and sees your available times under Select a date and time.
  2. They pick one, and CoreHue offers to hold it for 30 minutes while they finish.
  3. They fill in Your details, then answer your questions and sign your contract if you've asked for them.
  4. If you take payment, they pay on the Review step. If not, they choose Confirm booking.
  5. They land on their booking page, and the session shows in your calendar.

The times come from your availability, your existing bookings and your connected Google Calendar. A time you're busy in never appears.

Setting it up​

  1. Go to Bookings → Services, choose Add service, name it and pick Direct booking.
  2. On Price & duration, set the Price per slot and Duration. Lengths run from 15 minutes to 2 hours.
  3. On Availability & location, choose where it happens and whether it uses your shared hours or its own schedule.
  4. On Booking flow, decide what the client must do before it's confirmed.
  5. Choose Publish.

What you can require before it's confirmed​

On the Booking flow tab you can ask for any of these:

  • Payment, in full or as a deposit, in step 4 Payment
  • A signed contract, in step 3 Contract
  • A completed questionnaire, in step 2 Questionnaire

Your client does it all inside the booking, so what arrives is finished. There's no separate approval step: if they complete everything, it's booked. If you want to vet clients first, use an inquiry service instead.

Contracts on a booking service are counter-signed automatically with your saved signature the moment your client signs. See Adding a contract and questionnaire to booking.

The 30-minute hold​

When your client picks a time and continues, they see We'll hold this time for you. Choosing Continue reserves that time for 30 minutes, with a Slot held timer in the corner. Nobody else can take it in the meantime.

If the timer runs out, Your hold has expired asks them to choose a new time. If they pick a different time, the first one is released straight away.

This hold is automatic. It's separate from the payment deadline you set for unpaid bookings, which is covered in Pricing, deposits and payment deadlines.

Protecting your time​

Three settings keep direct booking working around you. They live under availability:

  • Minimum notice stops last-minute bookings. It starts at 24 hours.
  • Booking gap keeps time free between sessions. It starts at No gap, which is the one most people want to change.
  • Booking window stops bookings too far ahead. It starts at 365 days.

A service can also run on its own hours, like headshots only on Tuesday mornings. See Giving a service its own schedule.

Longer bookings and extras​

Let clients book several slots of the same session in a row with Allow longer bookings, up to 12 slots per booking, and price each length. See Offering longer sessions. Add optional extras like prints or rush editing with add-ons.

What your client sees​

A calendar with your free times, any add-ons underneath, then a short series of steps with a progress bar: Schedule, Details, Questions, Contract, Review when you take payment, and finally Booking page. Steps you haven't turned on are skipped, so a service with no questionnaire, contract or payment is just a time and their details.

Afterwards they get a confirmation email and their own booking page with the date, location, documents and payments. See What your client sees when they book.

Frequently asked questions​

Can I approve direct bookings before they're confirmed?​

No. Direct booking confirms as soon as your client completes everything you require. For an approval step, use an inquiry service and create the booking yourself once you've agreed.

Can clients reschedule or cancel their own booking?​

No. Clients contact you, and you reschedule or cancel from the booking. See Rescheduling a booking.

What timezone do clients see?​

Yours. Times are shown in the timezone set on your availability, labelled with the offset so clients can tell. Mention it in your confirmation message if you take video calls from abroad.

Can a client book two sessions back to back?​

Each booking is one session. If you want clients to book longer, turn on Allow longer bookings so they can pick several slots in a row as one booking.

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