Block new customers from online booking

Use this setting to temporarily stop accepting new clients online while keeping the booking page open for your existing customers. Typical use case: when your calendar is fully booked weeks ahead and you don't want to over-commit, but still want returning clients to book seamlessly.

How it works

When a client tries to book:

1. Picks service, staff, date/time
2. Enters their email
3. The system checks: is this email already in your customer list?
   • Yes → they proceed to confirmation
   • No → they see a polite rejection message ("Sorry, we're not accepting new clients online right now...")

Setup

Settings → Online booking → Booking Settings → Block new customer bookings

1. Block new customers from booking — flip the master toggle on

2. Rejection message (Hungarian / English) — customize what the new client sees. Example:

   We're currently fully booked. Please call us at +36 30 123 4567 or try again in a couple of weeks.

3. Save

Exceptions

Once enabled, an Exceptions section appears. Mark services or categories where you DO still accept new customers.

Example: A hair salon's stylist is fully booked, but the nail technician still has slots. Then:

• Turn on the block-new-customers toggle
• Under "Exceptions", check the "Nails" category
• Result: new clients can ONLY book nail services; everything else rejects them

Two levels

• Service-level exception: a specific service (e.g. "Gel polish")
• Category-level exception: every service in the category (e.g. all nail services)

Category overrides — if the category is checked, all services within it become exceptions, even without being individually marked.

Group classes

Group classes (yoga, fitness, etc.) follow the same logic:

• If the service backing the class is exempted, the class is too
• If the group class category is exempted, the class is too

Example: A yoga instructor is full on private sessions but still has room in group classes — check the group yoga category as exception.

Who counts as an "existing customer"?

Customers already in your Bookinda customer database. This includes:

• People you or your receptionist manually added (even without an online booking yet)
• People who booked online previously and got linked to your salon
• People you imported via CSV

The check is based on email address. If they enter a new email, they're treated as new — even if they have visited your salon before with a different email.

Turning it back on

When you're ready to accept new clients again, just turn off the master toggle. Your exception checkboxes are preserved, so you can re-enable with the same configuration in one click.

Tips

• Include a phone number in the rejection message — gives them a way to contact you instead of giving up
• Seasonal use: holidays, peak season — great tool
• Combine with waitlist: if you have the waitlist feature on, blocked new clients can be invited to add themselves and get notified when a spot opens
• Promote a specific service: to attract more new clients to a particular offering, mark only that one as exception — funnels new bookings exactly where you want them