Understanding Booking Statuses

Every booking in your dashboard carries a status that tells you where it is in the booking lifecycle. This article explains each status, how a booking ends up there, and whether you need to do anything about it.

Confirmed

The booking is active and settled. For a free class this means the parent has filled out the booking form. For a paid class, payment has been received in full and we've emailed the parent their confirmation. Confirmed bookings count toward your class capacity and appear in the attendance register.

Pending

The parent has started the booking process for a paid class but hasn't finished paying yet — they're typically still on the Stripe checkout page. The spot is held for them for 30 minutes. During that window the spot counts toward capacity, so nobody else can book it. If they don't complete payment within 30 minutes, the booking moves to Incomplete automatically.

Incomplete

The parent started a booking but didn't complete payment — they closed the checkout, walked away, or the 30-minute hold elapsed before they finished. The spot has been released, so capacity is no longer being held. The parent receives a friendly "Complete your booking" email with a link they can use to finish paying any time before the class fills up.

Declined

The parent attempted to pay but their card was rejected — by their bank, by Stripe's fraud rules, or because of insufficient funds. Unlike Incomplete, there's evidence that they actually tried to pay and the bank refused. The spot has been released. Both the parent and your team get an email; the parent's email includes a "Retry payment" link they can use immediately.

Cancelled

The booking has been cancelled — either by the parent (if you've enabled self-cancellation on the class) or by you from the booking detail page. The spot is released. Cancelled bookings don't appear in attendance registers but stay in your records for reference.

Which statuses count toward class capacity?

• Confirmed — yes, always.
• Pending — yes, but only for 30 minutes after the booking was started.
• Incomplete, Declined, Cancelled — no, the spot is available for someone else to book.

Which statuses trigger emails?

• Confirmed (paid) — booking confirmation to the parent and a notification to your admins.
• Pending — no email; the parent is mid-checkout.
• Incomplete — a friendly "Complete your booking" email to the parent. No admin email (these are too common to be worth notifying about every time).
• Declined — a "Payment declined" email to the parent and a notification to your admins.
• Cancelled — a cancellation email to the parent.

When to take action

• Confirmed: nothing to do — the booking is settled.
• Pending: usually wait. The parent will either complete payment or it'll roll to Incomplete after 30 minutes.
• Incomplete: no action required — the parent has been emailed. If a class is filling up and you want to nudge a specific parent, you can contact them directly using the email and phone on the booking record.
• Declined: no action required — both you and the parent have been emailed. You may want to reach out personally if it's a high-value or repeat customer.
• Cancelled: informational only. If the parent paid for the booking and you want to refund them, you can do so directly from the booking detail page — see the Refunds article.

Why we distinguish Incomplete from Declined

They look similar but mean very different things. "Declined" means a real payment was attempted and the bank or Stripe refused it — that's a problem the parent might need to solve (different card, contact bank, etc.). "Incomplete" means the parent never actually attempted payment — they just closed the page or got distracted. Treating those the same in customer messaging would be misleading, so we use different language and different emails for each.