Core Concepts
Understand how bookings flow, how schedule changes affect your calendar, and what the booking credit covers.
The Booking Lifecycle Flow
When a client visits your hosted booking website, Kinibook coordinates availability and notifications in real-time. Here is what happens step-by-step:
graph TD A["1. Booking Client (Selects service, staff & time)"] --> B["2. Payment Hold (Holds slot for 10m)"] B --> C["3. Record Saved (Locks calendar & deducts credit)"] C --> D["4. WhatsApp Alerts (Dispatches client & owner alerts)"] C -.-> E["System Check (Queues day-before reminder)"]
Payment Holds & First-Pay-Wins Flow
When online payments or deposits are enabled, Kinibook manages slot reservations using a temporary hold queue to prevent scheduling conflicts:
graph TD A["1. Slot Held (Locked for 10m during checkout)"] --> B["2. Complete Pay (Transaction succeeds: Confirmed)"] A --> C["3. Timer Expiry (Timer expires: Releases slot)"]
If two clients attempt checkout for the same slot simultaneously, the client who completes their gateway transaction first secures the appointment. The system automatically cancels the conflicting hold and triggers a full refund for the slower client.
Rescheduling & Changing Times
When you change an appointment time in your Bookings:
- The system verifies that the target staff member does not have conflicting appointments.
- The calendar slot updates, releasing the old time back to the public pool immediately.
- An automated WhatsApp rescheduled notification is sent to the client showing the new date and time.
- The scheduled day-before reminder automatically adjusts to match the new date.
Rescheduling does not consume another booking credit. Since the booking ID remains the same, the system updates the slot locks and queues the new reminder without deducting additional credits. Note: A booking can only be rescheduled once. Once rescheduled, the slot parameters are finalized.
Cancellations & Released Slots
When a booking is cancelled (either by you in Bookings or by the client via their confirmation link):
- The appointment status changes to Cancelled in your logs.
- The calendar time slot is released instantly for other clients to book.
- An automated cancellation confirmation alert is sent via WhatsApp to the client.
- The scheduled day-before reminder is cancelled from the sending queue.
When a booking is cancelled, its scheduled WhatsApp reminders are automatically evicted from the background queue, preventing spam. Note that the RM 0.60 fee consumed at creation is non-refundable because hosting resources and initial alerts were dispatched instantly. See details in the WhatsApp Reminders Guide.
Once a booking is marked as Cancelled or Completed, it enters a terminal state. Terminal bookings cannot be edited, rescheduled, or reverted to any other status to preserve historical accuracy and log integrity.
What the RM 0.60 Booking Charge Includes
On the Free tier, each booking created deducts RM 0.60 from your prepaid balance. On Paid plans, this applies only to overage bookings (beyond your tier limit).
Important: Your booking page will only accept customer appointments if your account has an active prepaid credit balance (minimum RM 0.60). If your balance falls to zero, your booking link will automatically show a paused status until you top up.
The RM 0.60 fee is consumed at the moment of booking creation. It covers the following resource allocations:
- Cloud Processing & Hosting: Locking slots and managing status lifecycles.
- 1x WhatsApp Confirmation: Instantly sent to the customer with booking details.
- 1x WhatsApp Owner Alert: Instantly sent to your phone with a direct chat link.
- 1x WhatsApp Auto-Reminder: Dispatched automatically to the client on the day before their appointment.
- Updates/Cancellations: Rescheduled (limited to exactly 1 reschedule per booking) or cancellation alerts sent if the booking is modified.
Note: Because these network resources are deployed immediately upon booking, the RM 0.60 fee is non-refundable if the client cancels or reschedules.
Timezone Locks & Device Clock Drift
Kinibook operates strictly under Malaysian Standard Time (MST/UTC+8) to coordinate staff shifts and booking capacity.
If a client logs in from another country or has their phone set to a different clock, the calendar interface maps their selection back to Malaysia time. If the client's device clock drifts manually, they might experience scheduling conflicts or incorrect slot renderings. Ensure automatic network-provided time is active in your device settings. See our Device Clock Synchronization steps.
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