How do appointment bookings work in Amelia

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Appointment bookings are created whenever a customer schedules a service that is configured as an appointment. Each booking is based on the service settings, capacity, and employee schedule. Amelia supports both single and group appointments, with flexible rules for capacity, pricing, and status handling.

What is the difference between single and group appointments?

As explained in Pricing and duration, appointment type depends on the maximum capacity of the service. If the maximum capacity is 1, the appointment is treated as a single appointment and is always booked for one person only. If the maximum capacity is higher than 1, the appointment becomes a group appointment and can hold multiple customers in the same time slot.

There are two types of group appointments:

Open group where multiple customers book the same time slot until the maximum capacity is reached.
Closed group where a single customer selects a number of people between the minimum and maximum capacity and, once booked, the time slot is closed even if there are remaining spots.

Whether a group appointment behaves as open or closed depends on your settings for booking below minimum capacity in the Appointment settings.

Where do I see appointment bookings in Amelia?

All appointment bookings are listed in Amelia → Bookings, where the Appointments tab is loaded by default. This view shows each appointment in a table and lets Administrators and Managers see upcoming and past bookings. From here, you can edit appointments, change statuses, and create new bookings in the back end.

What information is shown in the Appointments table?

The Appointments list can be customized using the Edit table button in the top right corner of the page, next to the export and + Book appointment buttons. You can show or hide most columns and reorder them, except for required ones. Available columns include:

ID
Date (cannot be hidden)
Time (cannot be hidden)
Customer (cannot be hidden)
Service (cannot be hidden)
Employee
Total price
Type (single or group)
Status
Location
Duration
Customer email
Customer phone
Booked (capacity indicator, for example 1/3)
Note
Paid (amount paid)
Payment (payment method used)
Host link and Join link for Zoom, available only when Zoom is enabled and configured
Booking source (front end or back end)

You can adjust the table to focus on financial information, customer details, or capacity usage depending on your workflow.

How are appointment statuses used?

Appointment statuses indicate the current state of each booking and help you track confirmations and changes over time. Statuses include:

Approved – In General settings, you can choose whether new appointments are Approved or Pending by default. If Approved is selected, appointments are confirmed immediately after booking. For group appointments where the minimum capacity is greater than 1, the overall booking stays Pending until the minimum capacity is reached, even if Approved is set as the default status.
Pending – If you choose Pending as default, appointments require manual approval by an Administrator, Employee or Amelia Manager. When approval notifications are enabled, both employee and customer receive an email when the status changes.
Canceled – Customers can cancel their future appointments if allowed by the Roles and booking rules. Canceled appointments remain visible in the list with the Canceled status. If cancellation notifications are enabled, the employee is also informed.
Rejected – Admin, Manager, and employees with permissions can set an appointment as Rejected. This status is used when you need to decline a booking. If configured, both customer and employee receive notifications about the rejection.
No-show – When an appointment is marked as No-show, Amelia tracks how many times a customer fails to attend booked appointments. Customers with one, two, or three (or more) no-shows receive different colored tags in their profile and in the Appointments list. You can learn more about this behavior on the No-show tag page.

If Allow booking above maximum capacity is enabled and Pending is the default status, customers can still book into a full time slot with Pending status when going over the defined maximum capacity.

You can change the status directly in the Appointments list or by opening the appointment details popup and selecting a new status there.

How is appointment duration calculated?

Appointment duration is determined by the service duration, plus any buffer times and extras that add time. The base duration is defined in the service’s Pricing and duration tab and depends on the Default time slot step from Pricing and duration.

If extras add additional duration, or if you have buffer times before or after the appointment, the final time slot may be longer than the visible service duration. This total occupied time is what appears in the Duration column in the Appointments list.

How is appointment price calculated?

The appointment price is based on the service price, any selected extras, and the number of customers in the booking. First, Amelia adds the service price and the total extras price.

For group appointments where the price is multiplied by the number of people, this combined value is multiplied for each additional participant. The result appears in the Total price column, while the Paid and Payment columns show how much has already been paid and by which payment method.

How can appointments be created?

Appointments can be created in two ways:

By customers through the front end, using the step-by-step or catalog booking forms.
By Administrators or Amelia Managers from the back end using the + Book appointment option in the Bookings page.

A separate article explains the full workflow for creating appointments from the back end.

What should I keep in mind when managing appointment bookings?

Appointment type is determined by the service capacity and group booking settings.
The Appointments tab is the central place for reviewing all booked services.
Table columns can be customized to show only the information you need.
Status changes can trigger notifications for both employees and customers.
Duration may be longer than the visible service length because of buffers and extras.
Price is calculated from service price, extras, and the number of participants.
Settings like booking above capacity or minimum capacity thresholds affect how group bookings behave.