# Add a booking for a guest

Updated 2026-10-15 by the TicketPa team. Source: https://ticketpa.com/help/add-a-booking

Add a booking yourself when a guest phones, emails or asks in person. It is confirmed straight away, the guest pays on arrival, and they can get their ticket by email.

## Steps to add a booking

1. Select **New booking** at the top of the sidebar. It is also at the top of the **Bookings** page.
2. Under **When**, choose the **Activity** and the **Date**. Draft activities are in the list too, marked "(draft)".
3. Select a **Time slot**. Each one shows how many places are left, and a full one can't be picked.
4. Under **Tickets**, choose how many of each ticket and any add-ons. If the activity has a private group price, you can tick **Book as a private group** and enter the **People in the group** instead. With more than one private group price, pick the one you want first.
5. Under **Guest**, enter the **Name** and at least a **Phone** or an **Email**. A phone number without a country code is read as one from your business's country. When your booking page has more than one language, pick the **Language for their emails**, or leave **Their usual**. See [Booking page languages](https://ticketpa.com/help/booking-page-languages).
6. Add **Notes for the team** if you like. Only your team sees them, on the booking.
7. Leave **Email the ticket to the guest** ticked to send them their ticket with its QR code, or untick it.
8. Select **Add booking**.

The booking opens with the status **Confirmed**, and **Payment** says **Pay on arrival**. If something stops it, like a time slot that just filled up, the page says why under "The booking wasn't added".

## Book an appointment

For an activity booked at a free time with your staff, pick the activity and the date, then who it is **With**: a person, or **Anyone available**. TicketPa shows the start times when someone works and is free. Pick one and fill in the guest as usual. Your team can book a time after online booking has closed for it, as long as it is still to come. See [Set up appointments](https://ticketpa.com/help/set-up-appointments).

## What your team can book

Bookings your team adds skip some of the rules guests follow on the booking page:

- You can book any open time slot that hasn't started, even after the online cut-off and further ahead than guests can book.
- The activity's smallest and largest booking don't apply.
- The places still do: you can't book more places than a time slot has left.
- A private group needs a time slot nobody has booked yet, as it takes every place.
- Every price is offered, including team-only ones (with **Guests can choose it** turned off), which show **Team only**.

If a date shows "No open time slots", pick another date or [add a one-off time slot](https://ticketpa.com/help/add-a-one-off-time-slot) in the calendar.

## Good to know

- A guest who booked before is matched by phone number, then by email. The booking then uses the details on file, like their name, and only fills in what was missing.
- The ticket goes to the email you enter, or to the one on file for a guest who booked before.
- You can't change the tickets, the guest's details or the notes after the booking is added.

> **Note:** A booking you add is always paid on arrival, even when your booking page takes card payments. To have the guest pay by card before the day, open the booking and [email a payment link](https://ticketpa.com/help/email-a-payment-link).

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I add a booking for a time slot that has already started?

No. For a guest who turns up on the day, [add them as a walk-in](https://ticketpa.com/help/add-a-walk-in) from the time slot's guest list instead.

### Can I add a booking without the guest's email?

Yes. A phone number is enough. Without an email address, typed in or on file from an earlier booking, the guest gets no emails from TicketPa, so no ticket and no reminder.