Taking your first booking

Once your services, hours, and (optionally) staff are set up, you're ready to take a booking. This page walks through the first one — both how to test it yourself and what to expect when a real customer books.

Test it yourself first

1. Open your booking page in an incognito window: corebookin.com/your-business-slug
2. Pick a service, date, and time.
3. Use a personal email so you actually receive the confirmation.
4. Submit. You should land on a confirmation screen.
5. Check your inbox — the confirmation email should arrive within a minute. Check your dashboard's Schedule — the booking should show up instantly.

If something looks off

• No times available — see Common errors for the diagnostic checklist.
• Wrong service duration — edit the service in Services; future bookings pick up the change immediately.
• Confirmation email never arrived — check spam, then email notifications for delivery details.

When a real customer books

• The booking lands in your schedule with status Pending or Confirmed depending on your settings.
• The customer gets a confirmation email automatically.
• If you've enabled it, you also get an email or push notification.
• The slot is held — nobody else can book that time with that staff member.

Confirming the booking

If your settings require manual confirmation, open the booking from the schedule and click Confirm. The customer gets a follow-up email letting them know it's locked in. See Confirming bookings for when manual confirmation makes sense.

After the appointment

Mark the booking as Completed or No-show from the schedule. This keeps your history accurate and (if you use the timesheets feature) feeds your staff hours report.

Where to go next

• The customer's booking flow — see exactly what they see.
• Schedule views — day, week, month, and per-staff layouts.
• Email notifications — what gets sent, to whom, and when.