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Two things every busy booking business needs: somewhere to put customers when a slot is full, and a policy for late cancellations. BillBasket’s Appointments module handles both — a waitlist you can promote from when a space opens, and a cancellation policy with an optional fee.

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Understanding the fields

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Waitlist

When a slot is full, the booking form offers Join waiting list instead of booking. A waitlist entry records the customer, the service, and the desired time. From the Waitlist screen you can then:
  • Book (promote) — turn a waiting entry into a real appointment when a space opens. BillBasket re-checks capacity at that moment, so it won’t let you promote into a slot that’s since filled again.
  • Remove — take someone off the list (they found another time, etc.).
The queue is shown oldest-first, so the customer who waited longest is at the top.

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Cancellation policy

Set once for the business, from the Bookable services screen’s policy editor:
  • Cancellation window (hours) — how far ahead a customer must cancel to avoid a fee. A cancellation inside this window counts as late.
  • Cancellation fee (%) — the fee for a late cancellation, as a percentage of the booking’s price. The two settings work together: the window decides whether a fee applies, and the percentage decides how much.
When you cancel a single booking inside the window, BillBasket shows the computed fee (price × fee %) for you to confirm and records it on the booking. Cancelling a whole repeating series at once skips the fee.

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See it on your device

The Waiting list panel — empty here, but this is exactly where a customer lands when a slot is full, ready to be promoted (Book) or removed once you check back.
The Cancellation policy editor, set once for the whole business — the cancellation window in hours, the fee as a percentage of the booking price, and how far ahead upcoming bookings surface in the Reminders queue.

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Try it: James Spa

1

Add a customer to the waitlist

A client wants 5:00 PM but both massage rooms are booked. James Fernandes taps Join waiting list on the booking form so the client is queued for that time.
2

Promote them when a slot frees

An earlier client cancels, so James opens the Waitlist, taps Book on the waiting client — BillBasket re-checks the room is genuinely free and turns the entry into a real appointment.
3

Set a cancellation policy

To cut down on last-minute drop-offs, James opens the policy editor and sets a 24-hour window with a 50% fee.
4

A late cancellation applies the fee

When a client cancels two hours before their slot — inside the window — BillBasket shows the 50% fee for James to confirm and records it on the booking.