Booking page designer

The booking page is the hospital’s public front door for appointments. This tab designs it, chooses what it offers, decides whether money is taken at booking, and publishes it — with a live preview beside every change.

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What this tab controls

Above the tabs sit Preview, Save Changes and Publish / Unpublish, a Booking Page URL card with Copy and Open, and a Live or Draft badge.

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The Settings tab

With Require Upfront Payment on, patients pay the full fee when booking. There is no deposit setting here: to take a deposit instead, or to charge for late cancellations and missed visits, set it on each service — see Deposits and cancellation fees.

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Booking policy

The Booking policy card holds your cancellation and deposit policy in your own words. Patients read it, with each service’s rules, and tick I have read and agree to this booking policy before they book a service that takes a deposit, is paid in full when booking, or has a cancellation or missed appointment fee. Select Save policy to save it — separately from Save Changes — and each change starts a new version. Only the owner or a manager can change it.

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Set it up

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What changes once you save

Saving and publishing are two different actions, and both are needed.

• Save Changes stores the design and settings. Until you save, the amber banner reads “You have unsaved changes. Don’t forget to save your work!” and the public page still shows the old version.
• Publish puts the page online: “Your booking page is now live and accessible to patients.” Unpublish takes it offline again — “Your booking page has been taken offline.”

Two conditions must both hold before anyone can book online: Allow Online Booking is on, and at least one service is visible on the Services tab. A published page with neither renders and offers nothing, which reads to a visitor as a broken site. Opening hours are not on this tab. Times come from schedules in Booking settings, minus existing bookings and any blocking calendar events. That is precisely why a page can be published, correct and still show a patient no available times — the page is fine and the schedule is missing. Once payment is on, Require Upfront Payment changes the booking flow: the patient pays before the appointment is created — the full fee, or the deposit a service sets — and a booking that tries to skip the payment is refused, on the booking page and in the client portal. Money lands in the hospital’s own account connected in Online payments, chosen by your billing currency — never anywhere else. If it is not connected and ready, this tab shows “Stripe not connected” (or “Paystack not connected”) with a link back there rather than a provider picker, and patients book without paying until it is. Every booking is checked again when it is made: the page must be published, Allow Online Booking on, the service still added on Services, the time still free, and the date within Advance Booking Days. A patient who has already paid is not refused for a window that closed while they paid. A service with a deposit, Pay in full when booking or a cancellation or missed appointment fee changes what the patient sees before booking: what is paid now, the rules, your Booking policy, and I have read and agree to this booking policy, which they must tick — on the booking page and when booking from the patient portal alike. The deposit shows as paid on the appointment’s invoice. A patient who cancels in time is refunded automatically. A late cancellation or a no-show is never charged automatically: the appointment shows the fee to review, and an owner, manager or accountant chooses Charge (with the amount), which charges the patient’s card on file after a confirmation, or Waive fee. With Several services in one visit on, a patient can tick extra services under Add to this visit. The visit is one appointment with one provider who offers every chosen service; the times and prices are added together, and only start times long enough for the whole visit are offered. The diary, invoice, emails and portal show every service, for example Ultrasound + Consultation. Options and add-ons set on a service are offered on the page: the patient chooses an option before times appear, ticks add-ons, and sees the total time and price — for example Facial — Long + Add-on: Mask. Not bookable online and Add-on only services are not listed; New clients only services are refused for a patient who confirmed their email as an Existing client; Existing clients only services ask the patient to confirm with the email code first. Offered times respect each service’s Minimum notice, Book up to (days ahead) and Buffer after (minutes), and the same limits are checked again when the patient books. A booking made here creates a real appointment in the hospital diary, so the front desk sees it alongside everything booked by phone. Patients can also use a promo code, a gift card or a session from their package on the booking page and in the patient portal. The Promo code and Gift card fields appear only while you have an active promo code or gift card, and Use a session from your package only for a patient who confirmed their email with the code. See Used when a patient books online.

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Check it worked

Select Open on the URL card and view the page in a private browser window. You should see your branding, your services, and — critically — real times to choose from. Book one test appointment through to the end: it should appear on the hospital calendar with the answers the patient gave, and your Booking Confirmation Message should be what they saw.

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Common issues