Booking for a client (external booking)
What is an external booking?
An external booking is a lesson that you schedule yourself for a client, instead of the client booking via your site. Handy when someone calls or messages you. Your notice period and your availability do not apply here: you know yourself that you have the time. Golfly only checks that the time does not clash with another lesson.
There are two places to do this. The calendar is the most complete: there you can also create a new client and send a payment link straight away.
From the calendar
- Go to Admin → Calendar. Click a free moment in the week, or use the plus button (on mobile) or the key N for the selected day.
- At the top you see the chosen day and start time. With the minus and plus buttons you move in steps of 5 minutes; the end time follows the duration of the lesson type.
- Under Client, choose Existing client (search by name, email or phone) or New client. For a new client, name and phone number are required; an email address is optional. Without an email the client only gets a WhatsApp message from you.
- Choose the Location (only if you have more than one) and the Lesson type.
- Choose the Payment method. If the client has a package with credits for this lesson type, Use credits is already preselected; with Another package? you choose another package. You also see iDEAL via payment link (only if Mollie is connected) and Cash or card at the lesson (only if you have that option switched on).
- If you like, add a note for yourself via Add note.
- Click Book + email payment link or Book + email confirmation.
Then you see "Booking created". With a payment link it says that it has been emailed and that you do not need to send it separately; with credits it says how many credits the client has left. If the client has no email address, it says "No email address known, use WhatsApp.". With Send via WhatsApp you open a ready-made message.
From Bookings
- Go to Admin → Bookings and click External booking at the top right.
- Choose the Client from your list. You cannot create a new client here; do that via the calendar or via Admin → Clients.
- If you like, choose the Location, then the Lesson type, the Date and the Start time. Golfly works out the end time. If you have more than one location, the location then also appears in the Location column of the list; an older booking without a location belongs to your primary location.
- If the client has an active package with credits for this lesson type, Use the client's package appears. Choose a package or leave it on No package (pay separately).
- If you like, add Notes and click Add.
Without a package, this form sets the booking to cash or card at the lesson. That only works if you have that option switched on under Site settings; otherwise you get an error message and you use the calendar instead. If you still want the client to pay online, open the booking and click Send payment link.
Arranging the payment
- Credits: Golfly deducts one credit straight away. Nothing more needs to be paid; the confirmation email says the lesson has been deducted from the package.
- iDEAL via payment link: the client receives an email with a Mollie payment link. The link can be reused (if an iDEAL session was interrupted, they can simply try again), stays valid for at least 30 days and never expires before the lesson itself. Once they pay, the booking is marked as paid and Golfly closes the link.
- Cash or card: the booking is confirmed with the message that the client pays at the lesson. After the lesson you mark it as paid. See Collecting cash or card payments at the lesson.
Everything you then do with the booking happens via the detail panel. See Managing a booking from the detail panel.
What does the client see?
If the client has an email address, they receive a confirmation email with a calendar file. With a payment link, the pay button is in that email; with cash or card, the email says they pay at the lesson. If you book during quiet hours, your quiet-hours rate applies here too. If this is their first lesson with you, the email is a welcome email.
Frequently asked questions
Can I schedule a free lesson?
If the client has credits, book with a credit. If you want to give a lesson away entirely, book with cash or card and do not send a payment link. Note: the booking then stays as unpaid and counts towards Outstanding on your dashboard. If you do not want that, mark it as paid after the lesson.
Does this also work within my notice period?
Yes. The public booking page keeps to your notice period and your availability; your own bookings do not. Golfly only refuses a time that is already taken.
What if Mollie cannot create a payment link?
If you see "Reconnect Mollie under Integrations.", your Mollie connection has expired. Go to Admin → Integrations, card Payments via Mollie, and connect again. See Setting up Mollie Connect. For any other fault the booking is not created; then try again.
Can I use this for group lessons?
No. An external booking is for one-to-one lessons. For a group lesson or course, enrol a participant from the course page. See Organising group lessons and courses.
Related
Setting your availability
How to set your weekly lesson hours, exceptions per day and blocks, and how to draw hours into the calendar.
Managing a booking from the detail panel
The booking detail panel: reading the payment status, sending a payment link, marking as paid, changing, no-show, cancelling and refunding. Plus what happens to the money when you cancel.