What's the difference?
With automatic booking, the system offers the free slots in your calendar, and the guest's choice becomes final immediately — with no human approval. With approval-based requests, the guest signals when they'd like to come, but the time only becomes final once you accept it. The difference isn't the technology — it's who makes the final decision, and when.
Automatic booking
The guest books a free slot on their own, and it becomes final at once. Fast and self-service — in exchange, your calendar and capacity must always be accurate.
Automatic booking works better when:
- appointments are standardised, in predefined slots
- service durations are stable and predictable
- no case-by-case judgement is needed per booking
- instant confirmation matters to the guest
- your calendar and capacity are always fully up to date
Approval-based requests
The guest signals when they'd like to come, and you confirm what's feasible. One extra step — in exchange, you stay in control of what you take on and when.
Approval-based requests work better when:
- service durations vary from one appointment to the next
- travel, preparation or sourcing materials is required
- guests often have individual needs
- several factors have to be coordinated for one appointment
- you don't want to commit automatically without a look first
Not every service can be booked automatically
For some services it's hard for the guest to judge in advance whether the chosen service or duration really fits their actual need.
Example
A guest books an appointment for a full bleach, but their hair has been dyed dark several times before. The service may actually take longer, or call for a consultation first. The approval model gives a chance for this to come to light before the appointment is confirmed.
A similar situation can arise when:
- a mobile service where the given location is too far for a realistic call-out
- a specialised treatment that calls for a consultation beforehand
- a service for which the necessary tool, material or condition happens not to be available
- a chosen service that doesn't actually match what the guest really needs
Here the approval model gives a moment where the provider can look at the request before finalising it. This isn't about filtering guests out — it's about getting the right service into the right slot, and a short exchange can clear things up if something doesn't quite fit. This can reduce the number of appointments that would later need to be changed or cancelled for professional reasons, and ease the risk of the empty slots and lost revenue that come with them.
The guest chooses a service based on their own need; the provider decides, on professional grounds, whether that service, duration and time are actually right.
A good appointment isn't good because it got booked — it's good because it can actually be carried out.
In short
✔Automatic booking → for predictable, standard services.
✔Approval-based requests → for services that need individual judgement.
Which one is for you?
If your work is predictable and made of standard slots, automatic booking is faster and lighter on admin. If every guest is a little different and you'd rather look at a request before committing, the approval model gives you more control. Many providers use a mix: automatic for simple services, approval for complex ones.
How does Bokko do it?
Bokko is built on the approval model: the guest requests a time, and you confirm what's feasible. The decision stays with you, while the guest can reach you through a single link, with no phone tag. If you're curious how this looks in practice: