Allow your clients to cancel or schedule their own appointments, freeing your team from managing every cancel and reschedule request, reducing admin overhead and increasing time for other important activities, like caring for your clients.
Before You Begin
The cancel and reschedule link will need to be added to your appointment confirmation or appointment reminder templates for clients to be able to start the process themselves. Click here to learn how to turn on appointment reminders.
No automatic refunds
No automatic refunds
Clients cancelling paid appointments will not be issued a refund automatically. Cancellations that involve a payment will require the client to contact the practice to manually process the refund.
Rescheduling is only available for those using the updated Online Bookings system
Rescheduling is only available for those using the updated Online Bookings system
Clients can only reschedule appointments made via the new Online Bookings system. Cancellations will work across any appointment made across any version of Online Bookings.
If you're unsure whether you are on the legacy or the updated version, check out the following articles to determine which version you are currently using:
Online Bookings pages that were created prior to December 2025 and have not been updated since will be on the legacy version. Online Bookings pages that were created after December 2025 are likely to be on the new version.
How-to
Allow customers to cancel or reschedule their appointments
Navigate to the Workspace Settings.
Under Business, select Cancel/Reschedule.
Turn the following toggles on:
Enable Cancellations - You can prevent or allow cancellations when an invoice exists for that appointment.
Enable Rescheduling.
Add the cancel and reschedule link to your appointment notifications
The cancel/reschedule link must be added to your appointment confirmation SMS/email templates for the client to be able to cancel or reschedule an appointment themselves.
Navigate to the Workspace Settings.
Select Templates, select Appointments.
Edit your Appointment Confirmation template.
Select where you would like the modification link to appear.
Select the Appointment dropdown, then select Appointment Modification Link to insert your link placeholder.
Click Save.
Note: If you check the client's communication log (by going to Communications in the client's file), the reschedule link shared with them in any appointment confirmation or reminder email will show part of the URL as '[REDACTED]' as an enhanced security measure. The URL does not appear this way for client and will work as expected.
Configure your cancellation and rescheduling notifications
Navigate to Workspace Settings.
Under Business, select Cancel/Reschedule.
Under Email Notifications, select the toggles based on your preferences.
These will trigger when cancellations, cancellations with an attached invoice, cancellations and paid, or reschedules occur.The practitioner receives notifications
The location receives notifications
Configure cancellation reasons
Cancellation reasons allow clients to select why they are cancelling their appointment. Only reasons marked as visible to clients will appear in the cancellation flow.
To add and configure cancellation reasons:
Navigate to Workspace Settings.
Under Business, select Cancel & Reschedule.
Select the Cancellation Reasons tab.
Click Add to create a new cancellation reason (e.g. Feeling unwell, Personal reasons, Other)
Once created, select ••• under Actions, then select Edit.
Under Show to clients within self-service cancellation reasons, select Yes.
Click Save.
The reason will now appear in the cancellation flow for clients to select when cancelling their appointment.
Change the minimum notice period before the appointment can be cancelled or rescheduled
Navigate to the Workspace Settings.
Under Business, select Cancel/Reschedule.
Under Minimum Notice Period, enter in hours the required notice period before the appointment can be cancelled or rescheduled.
Click Save.
Paid appointments - invoice finalisation
When a client books and pays through Online Bookings, their payment is held as a credit linked to the appointment. The invoice is created in draft and will not be finalised until the appointment is marked as Arrived.
What you need to do:
When the client arrives for their appointment, open the Calendar and find the relevant appointment.
Update the appointment status to Arrived.
This automatically applies the held credit to the draft invoice and finalises it.
If the credit covers the full amount, the invoice is marked Paid.
If it only partially covers the amount, the invoice moves to Awaiting Payment.
Note: The invoice will not sync to your accounting software (e.g. Xero) until it has been finalised by marking the appointment as Arrived.
Why does it work this way?
This ensures revenue is only recognised once the service has been delivered, which is the correct accounting treatment. It also means the invoice stays flexible until the appointment is complete, enabling clients to reschedule paid appointments without needing to be refunded and recharged.
What does the process look like for clients?
A client will see a number of different options based on variables, such as your preferences and toggles selected when enabling this functionality for clients.
In the case of rescheduling or cancellations, if the notifications are configured, then the practitioner and/or the location will receive confirmation of the change.
For clients to self-manage their appointments, they can click the link in the SMS appointment reminder. They will be redirected to a page with the details of their appointment, and a Reschedule or Cancel Appointment button.
If they select Reschedule, they will be able to select a new appointment date.
If they select Cancel, they will need to enter a cancellation reason before they can confirm the cancellation. If cancelled, they will receive a confirmation that the appointment is cancelled, and an option to book a new appointment.
Clients may receive an error when cancelling or rescheduling when the following occurs:
splose is unable to verify the appointment.
The appointment is changed outside of the minimum notice period set.
The client clicks the link on a previous appointment, which has already been changed.
e.g. the client clicks the link in their 4 pm appointment text and changes the appointment to 5 pm. The link in the 4 pm message will send an error message, and they will need to click the link in the newly rescheduled appointment notification.Cancellations for paid appointments are turned off.
Cancellations and rescheduling are turned off.
The client attempts to change the type of appointment, which has a different cost.
In the case of an error, the notification will request that they contact the practice to action any changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to payments when a client cancels a paid appointment?
What happens to payments when a client cancels a paid appointment?
If cancellation of invoiced appointments has been enabled by the practice, the appointment is cancelled, and the slot becomes available.
splose cannot process automatic refunds. As such, the practice will receive an email notification highlighting the refund requirement and must manually process the refund and/or contact the patient.
Can patients change the practitioner when rescheduling?
Can patients change the practitioner when rescheduling?
No. The practitioner, service, and location are locked during rescheduling. Patients can only select a new date/time.
If they need a different practitioner, they must cancel and book a new appointment.
What if someone tries to access an already cancelled appointment?
What if someone tries to access an already cancelled appointment?
An error message will show, "This appointment has already been cancelled."
Can practices control which cancellation reasons patients see?
Can practices control which cancellation reasons patients see?
Yes. Each cancellation reason has a "Visible to client" setting. Only reasons marked as visible appear in the patient-facing dropdown.
What happens if someone tries to cancel within the minimum notice period?
What happens if someone tries to cancel within the minimum notice period?
They see an error message explaining they're outside the cancellation window, along with the practice's cancellation policy and contact details. The cancel/reschedule buttons are hidden.
I have paid appointments, but I don't want to allow paid cancellations.
I have paid appointments, but I don't want to allow paid cancellations.
There's a separate toggle labelled "Allow cancellation of paid appointments" that you can keep disabled. Patients with paid appointments will see a message to contact the practice.