App

Block time and work the waitlist

Keep time off the grid for breaks and training, and turn cancellations into filled slots.

Updated Sep 1, 2026

Block time

Blocked time is time that exists on the calendar but can't be booked — lunch, a break, training, a supplier visit, admin catch-up.

Open it from Add → Block time in the calendar toolbar, or from the menu that appears when you click an empty slot. Set the team member, the date and time range, and a short label so the rest of the desk knows what it is.

Blocked time renders as a hatched band rather than a coloured block, so it never reads as a booking at a glance. Online booking will not offer a blocked slot.

Use blocked time for one-off, same-week interruptions. For a pattern that repeats every week — a standing Wednesday afternoon off — change the person's working hours under Team → Scheduling instead. Blocking the same two hours fifty-two times is not the tool.

For whole days away, use Operations → Time off so the absence goes through approval and lands on the roster properly. Approved time off appears on the calendar automatically.

The waitlist

The waitlist is your list of clients who want in but couldn't get the slot they wanted. Open it from Waitlist in the calendar toolbar.

Adding someone

Capture:

  • The client
  • The service (or several)
  • A preferred provider, or leave it open to anyone
  • A date range they'd accept
  • A time preference — any, morning, afternoon, or evening
  • Notes and an optional expiry

Entry states

StateMeaning
WaitingLive, and eligible to be offered a slot
BookedConverted into a real appointment
ExpiredPassed its expiry date without being placed
CancelledWithdrawn

The panel shows a count against each state, so you can tell at a glance whether your list is working or just accumulating.

How the list is ordered

Your business chooses the priority strategy in settings:

  • Highest value — the entry worth the most money first (the default)
  • Longest waiting — first in, first out
  • Manual — no ranking; you decide

Filling a slot

When an appointment is cancelled or marked as a no-show, Owneli looks for a waitlist entry matching the freed service, provider and time, and offers to promote it. Accept and the entry becomes a real appointment.

If your business has enabled automatic offers, matching clients receive a one-tap claim link instead — the first to claim gets the slot, and the entry converts itself.

Automatic offers are off unless someone turns them on. Until then the waitlist is a prompt for the front desk, not an autopilot.

Reporting on it

Growth → Reports → Waitlist shows how many entries you take, how many convert, and how long people wait — which is the honest measure of whether the list is earning its keep.

Keep reading

Related

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Find your way around the calendarThe five views, what the colours mean, and how to filter the grid down to what you actually need to see.Reschedule, cancel, and mark a no-showMove a booking, cancel it cleanly, handle the deposit, and decide whether a fee is charged.