Help Center
    Help Center
  1. Managing your business
  2. Business solutions & apps
  3. Wix Bookings
  4. Setting up Wix Bookings
    5. Wix Bookings: Setting Up Your Booking Policies

Wix Bookings: Setting Up Your Booking Policies

9 min read
With booking policies, you can control when clients can book, cancel, or reschedule their sessions. You can set rules for how far in advance bookings must be made and how close to the session clients can make changes. For some services, you can allow group bookings and late bookings. You can also ask clients to add payment details and charge fees for cancellations and no-shows. Customize different policies for different services to give flexibility to both clients and staff.
Screenshot showing the Booking Policies section under Booking Settings in the dashboard.
Important:
Daylight saving time impacts your booking policies. For example, this may mean that when the time changes, clients will have a shorter or longer window to book, cancel or reschedule a session.
In this article, learn more about:

Adding new policies

You can add new policies at any time and customize them to suit your needs. Offer different booking policies for each of your services or connect several services to the same policy. This is a great way to ensure you stay as fully booked as possible and that your staff have enough time to prepare everything. 
Notes:
  • Certain policy rules and options only apply to specific service types, such as classes or courses. 
  • When you add a new policy, the policy's rules take effect for all connected services for both current and future bookings. 
  • You can also add checkout policies to your site, in addition to your booking policies. 

To add a new policy:

  1. Go to Booking Settings in your site's dashboard.
  2. Scroll down and click Booking policies. 
  3. Click + Add a New Policy.
  4. Add your Policy details:
    • Policy name: Enter a name for the policy. This is only visible to you.
    • Policy description: Briefly describe your cancellation and rescheduling policies or any other information clients need to know. Clients see this when they book a service.
      Note: A policy description is optional unless you have enabled cancellation and no-show fees, then it is required. 
  5. Select the checkboxes and choose the timeframe next to the relevant Booking Rules below:
    • Allow clients to cancel their own bookings online: Select the checkbox to allow clients to cancel their booked sessions. Define how much time before a session clients can cancel their booking by choosing one of the existing options from the drop-down or create your own custom timeframe.
      Note: Only site members can cancel their upcoming bookings on your site. 
    • Allow clients to reschedule their own bookings online: Select the checkbox to allow clients to reschedule their booked sessions. Define how much time before a session clients can reschedule their booking by choosing one of the existing options from the drop-down or create your own custom rescheduling timeframe.
    • Limit early bookings: Select how long before a session a client is able to book from the Limit early bookings drop-down. You can also select Custom to choose a specific timeframe (e.g., 1 week) before which clients can't make a booking.
    • Limit late bookings: Set how close to a session clients can book, for example, "24 hours before start time". Choose an existing option from the Limit late bookings drop-down. You can also click Custom to choose a specific timeframe after which clients can no longer book a session.
Screenshot showing how to set your new policy rules for booking in the Booking Policies section of the dashboard.
  1. Select the Charge cancellation and no-show fees checkbox to enable cancellation and no-show fees.
    Note: If you add cancellation and no-show fees, payment details are automatically required.
  2. Select the Always require clients to provide their payment info checkbox to request payment information for each booking, even if there's nothing to pay online.
A screenshot showing where you check to charge cancellation fees plus the require payment details for booking is marked.
  1. Select the Allow clients to join a waitlist for fully booked classes checkbox to enable waitlists for classes linked to the policy you are creating. Then, set up the waitlist options:
    Note: Waitlists only apply to classes. 
    1. Set the Maximum waitlist capacity. 
    2. Choose how long An open spot will be held for from the drop-down. This is the amount of time a client has to join the class from the waitlist before the available spot goes to someone else on the waitlist.
  2. Set the Maximum number of participants allowed per booking under Group bookings.
    Note: Group bookings apply to classes and courses.
  3. Select the Book a course after start date checkbox to allow clients to join a course after it has started. Clients who join a course after it has started still pay the full amount for the course.
    Tip: If you want to allow clients to book after the course has started, make sure you don't limit late bookings (see step 5 above).
  4. Click Save.
Screenshot showing how to add waitlists, group bookings and book after start date to your new booking policy.
Tip:
You can also add new policies while creating new services. In the service creation form, scroll down to Booking preferences, then click the drop-down under Booking policy. Click + Add New policy, then follow the steps above to finish creating the new policy.
 

Managing connected services

You can move or connect services to different policies at any time. This is great for when you notice a spike in demand for particular services and need a more restrictive policy to manage the number of bookings.

To manage connected services:

  1. Go to Booking Settings in your site's dashboard.
  2. Click Booking Policies.
  3. Click the More Actions icon  next to the relevant policy. 
  4. Click Manage connected services. 
  5. Select the checkbox next to each service you want to connect to the policy. 
  6. Click Save. 
Screenshot showing how to manage which services are connected to a policy.

Setting your default policy

Choose which of your policies you want to automatically apply to all your services. This is useful when you are adding new services as your business grows. You can then link services to more customized policies whenever you need. 
Important:
  • You can't delete your default policy. However, you can make another policy the default, then delete the original default policy. 
  • When you change which of your policies is the default, and delete the original policy, all services automatically link with the new default policy. 

To set your default policy:

  1. Go to Booking Settings in your site's dashboard.
  2. Click Booking Policies.
  3. Click the More Actions icon next to the relevant policy.
  4. Click Set as default. 
Screenshot showing how to make a policy the default booking policy on your site.

Deleting policies

As your business grows, and your needs change, you may want to delete some of your old booking policies.
You can delete policies at any time, but make sure you choose your default policy before deleting any irrelevant policies. When you delete a policy, all connected services move to your default policy. You must have at least one booking policy at all times.

To delete a booking policy:

  1. Go to Booking Settings in your site's dashboard.
  2. Click Booking Policies.
  3. Click the More Actions icon next to the relevant policy.
  4. Click Delete. 
  5. Click Delete to confirm. 
Screenshot showing how to delete a booking policy.

FAQs

Click a question below to learn more.

Did this help?

|
In this article
  • Adding new policies
  • Managing connected services
  • Setting your default policy
  • Deleting policies
  • FAQs

Related content

Wix Bookings: Editing Your Staff Members' Working Hours
Wix Bookings: Adding Staff Permissions
Wix Bookings: About Booking Integrations

Hire a Professional

Get matched with a Wix Partner who can help you reach your site goals.
Get Matched