How to Configure Booking Confirmation Modes (Auto, Soft, Strict, Manual)

A customer fills out your booking page, hits Submit, and disappears. Two days later they don't show up. Sound familiar?

The fix isn't longer reminder sequences — it's an explicit confirm step. Botline makes the customer reply YES on WhatsApp before the booking is locked in. Replies happen in seconds (people answer WhatsApp messages faster than email). The ones who don't reply self-select out.

Different industries need different strictness. A barber can accept a 24-hour confirm window; an emergency dental clinic can't. The picker lives at Settings → Hours → Booking confirmation:

The booking is locked the moment the customer hits Submit. The AI sends a "See you Friday at 3pm 👋" message and the slot is yours.

Use when: low-stakes services where a no-show isn't a big loss (e.g. free demos, drop-in classes, discovery calls). Also good when bookings are paid up-front — payment IS the confirm signal.

Avoid when: the slot blocks revenue (you can't sell it twice). High-value appointments need a confirm step.

The customer submits. Botline sends a WhatsApp message: "Hi! Confirm your Friday 3pm hair cut by replying YES, or NO to cancel. We hold the slot for 24 hours."

If they reply YES (or 👍, or "haan", or "confirm" — Botline accepts a generous list including Roman Urdu) within 24 hours, the slot locks. If they reply NO, the slot frees and your AI offers it to other customers. If they don't reply at all, the slot auto-cancels at the 24-hour mark.

This is the right default for ~80% of appointment businesses. It cuts no-shows by half without losing genuine customers who simply hadn't seen the message yet.

Same flow as Soft, but the confirm window is 30 minutes. Past that, the slot frees. Use when:

• Appointment slots are scarce (e.g. one therapist, fully-booked weeks).
• Same-day bookings are common — you can't wait 24 hours for a confirm if the slot is at 5pm today.
• You've seen a pattern of customers hold-and-flake — locking in only those who reply quickly filters them out.

The trade-off: customers who book over-night and don't see the message until morning will lose their slot. Some businesses are fine with this; others aren't.

The customer's submission lands in your dashboard with status Pending. Nothing goes out on WhatsApp until you click Confirm now on the appointment row. You can also click Cancel with a reason (e.g. "double booking", "not a service we offer") which the customer sees on WhatsApp.

Use when:

• Your services need vetting before you can commit (e.g. legal consultations, medical assessments, custom orders).
• You're new to the booking page and want eyes on every booking for the first month while you tune the funnel.
• Capacity changes hour-to-hour and the AI's availability check isn't reliable enough.

Manual mode adds friction — you have to be reachable to confirm. Most tenants outgrow it within a few weeks once they trust the flow, then move to Soft 24h.

1. Open Settings → Hours.
2. Scroll to the Booking confirmation radio card.
3. Click the mode you want. The change applies to the very next booking — bookings already in flight keep their original mode.

If you switch out of Manual mode while you have pending bookings, those existing pendings stay manual until you act on them. New ones use the new mode.

Safety net: Soft and Strict modes auto-cancel after their window. Botline runs a cron every 5 minutes that flips expired pendings to cancelled and frees the slot for re-booking. You don't need to babysit anything.

• Start with Soft 24h. The default exists for a reason — it works for most industries. Tighten only if you see a no-show problem.
• Don't bounce around. Customers learn your confirm flow. Switching from Auto to Strict mid-week confuses repeat bookers. Pick a mode and let it run a month.
• Watch the cancellation reasons. The Pending Cancellations report tells you whether customers are saying NO, ignoring, or replying to the wrong message. Each tells you something different.
• Pair with reminders. A 2-hour-before reminder (default on) catches the cases where the customer confirmed but forgot. Layered safety net.
• Use Manual for high-ticket only. If your AVG booking is <$50, Manual costs more in your time than it saves in no-shows.