# Set up appointments

Updated 2026-10-14 by the TicketPa team. Source: https://ticketpa.com/help/set-up-appointments

Some things aren't booked at set times. A massage, a private lesson or a photo shoot happens whenever a guest and one of your staff are both free. For these, guests pick any free time, and TicketPa books one person who runs it.

## Create an activity booked by appointment

1. Go to **Activities** in the sidebar and select **Create activity**.
2. Under **How do guests book?**, choose **At a free time with your staff**.
3. Fill in the **Name**, **How long it lasts** (up to 24 hours) and the **Location**. The location is needed, because its opening hours say when guests can book.
4. Select **Create activity**.

You can't change how guests book an activity later. Instead of a **Schedule** tab, it has a **Times** tab.

## Set when appointments start

1. Open the activity and select the **Times** tab.
2. Under **Start times**, choose how often an appointment can start, from every 5 minutes to every hour. With every 30 minutes, guests can start at 09:00, 09:30, 10:00 and so on.
3. Under **Time kept free**, enter the minutes to keep free **Before each appointment** and **After each appointment**, for setting up, cleaning up or travelling. Nobody can book the staff member then, and guests don't see it.
4. Select **Save**.

The whole appointment has to fit inside someone's hours. The time kept free before and after can run past them.

## Choose who guests book with

Each appointment books one person who runs the activity and is free at that time.

- Who runs it is set on the **Staff** page. See [Set up your staff](https://ticketpa.com/help/set-up-staff).
- On the activity's **Staff** tab, switch on **Guests choose who they book with** to let guests pick a person by name, or **Anyone available**. Leave it off, and guests only pick a time while TicketPa books someone who is free then. The switch shows once two or more people run it.

## When guests can book

Guests can book a time when someone who runs the activity:

- works then, during their own hours or the opening hours of the location. See [Set opening hours, staff hours and time off](https://ticketpa.com/help/opening-hours-and-time-off).
- isn't on time off, and the dates aren't closed.
- isn't running a time slot or another appointment then, including the time kept free around it.

The **Policies** tab still sets how close to the start and how far ahead guests can book, and how many guests one booking can have. If the activity uses equipment or a room, add it on the **Equipment and spaces** tab, per guest or per booking.

## How guests book it

On your booking page, guests pick a date and then a free start time. When **Guests choose who they book with** is on, they first pick a person or **Anyone available** under **Who would you like?**, and the dates and times follow that person's hours.

With **Anyone available**, TicketPa books the free person with the least booked that day, so the work is shared. Their ticket and emails say **With** and the person's name only when the guest chose who.

Two guests can never book the same person at the same time: if someone books a time first, the other is asked to pick another time. If a guest's payment arrives after their hold ran out, TicketPa books the same person again, or anyone free when they chose **Anyone available**, and refunds the payment when nobody is.

## On the day

Appointments show in the **Calendar** next to your time slots, and in the **By staff** view in each person's column. Today's appointments are on the **Dashboard**, and your staff see their own under **Mine**. Check guests in by scanning their ticket. To move an appointment or give it to someone else, open its booking. See [Move a booking](https://ticketpa.com/help/move-a-booking).

## Publish it

Like any activity, it needs a price guests can choose. It also needs at least one person who runs it, and hours: the opening hours of its location, or someone's own hours. Until then, the activity lists what is missing under **Before you can publish**. See [Publish an activity](https://ticketpa.com/help/publish-an-activity).