Short answers. Each links to the manual section with the full story.
Getting started
How long does setup take? Signing up takes about five minutes, and your business type seeds a starter catalogue so you are not staring at an empty screen. A careful first-run pass (hours, services or menu, staff, notifications) is an hour or two. → Getting started
Do I have to use the business type I picked? No. It only decides where you start. Everything it creates can be edited or deleted.
Can I bring my clients across from Fresha or another system? Yes. Import takes a CSV or XLSX export, including Fresha's. Map the columns, run a dry check, read the flags, then apply. Do not apply twice. There is no de-duplication pass. → Importing
Can I run a restaurant and a day spa on one account? Yes. A venue can be in both appointments and hospitality modes. Changing modes after signup is done by us: email hello@bookmyvenue.com.au.
Bookings
What is the difference between pending and confirmed? Pending means the booking is waiting on you. That happens when "New bookings need my confirmation" is switched on, or when a deposit has not been paid yet. → Booking statuses
A service isn't showing on my booking page. Check three things, in this order: is it bookable online, does it have at least one practitioner assigned, and is that practitioner rostered? A service with no practitioner cannot be booked by anyone.
Can guests cancel or reschedule themselves? They can, if Settings → Cancelling online is on. The confirmation email carries the link to the self-service page. → Rescheduling and cancelling
If I change a price, does it change past bookings? No. Bookings keep the price they were sold at, and so do your reports.
Notifications
I switched on "text me when a booking comes in" and I'm not getting texts. Two possible causes, and both are silent:
- The venue phone number is a landline. A landline cannot receive a text. Put a mobile (04xx) in Settings.
- The venue SMS templates are inactive. The toggle is only one of two switches.
A guest says they never got their confirmation. Spam folder first, then check the address on the booking for a typo, then check the template is active for email. If none of those, send us the booking reference.
Reminders are going out at the wrong time. Check Settings → Regional → Timezone. A wrong timezone sends everything at the wrong time, consistently.
Money
What does the guest see on their bank statement? Your venue's name. Not "BookMyVenue".
Can I take deposits? Yes, once an Owner has connected Stripe on the Payments screen. A deposit is a fixed amount or a percentage, set per service. An unpaid deposit does not hold the time indefinitely: if the guest abandons the payment page, the slot is released. → Connecting Stripe
If I reject a paid order, does the customer get their money back? Yes. The refund is automatic and recorded against the order. → Refunds
Why can't my staff see the takings? Money is Owner and Manager only, enforced on the server. That is by design. → What each role can see
My tax invoice doesn't look right. Fill in your ABN (11 digits) and legal / registered business name in Settings. Leave them blank and the printout is a receipt only; a valid tax invoice needs both.
Your website
How do I put booking on my own site? Get the code gives you a one-line snippet for a floating Book now button that works on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Google Sites or plain HTML. Paste it once, before the closing </body> tag, on all pages. → Put booking on your website
The button isn't appearing. Check in a private/incognito window first: your browser is probably showing you a cached page. → Troubleshooting
Why is the booking form in an iframe? Because venue websites carry years of accumulated CSS, and an inline form gets destroyed by one stray global style rule. The iframe protects your site from us and us from your site.
Hardware
Do I need special hardware? No. Any tablet or computer with a browser runs the staff app. Kitchen displays and registers are ordinary tablets; docket printers are Star CloudPRNT models.
Someone walked off with our kitchen tablet. Unpair it. It stops working immediately. A paired device carries no login, so it cannot take money on its own, but revoke it anyway. → Devices
Reports
Which report do I run at close? The Z-report. Close the drawer first: "Day still open" means the numbers are not final. → Z-report
The drawer is short. Can I fix the count? Don't. The variance is recorded deliberately. Over time it is the only way a venue finds a till problem.
Where do I find hours for payroll? Under Team → Timesheets and Team → Payouts. See Team, roster & pay.
Account & data
How do I change who owns the account? Email hello@bookmyvenue.com.au. An Owner cannot be removed from within the app.
Can I get my data out? Yes. Clients export to CSV, and every report exports to CSV. It is your data.
Someone left. What do I do with their login? Deactivate rather than delete, so their history stays attached to the work they did.
I've forgotten my password. Use the reset link on the sign-in page. Support cannot read your password back, only reset it.
Still stuck? Troubleshooting, or email hello@bookmyvenue.com.au with your venue name and what you were doing when it went wrong.
Still stuck? Email hello@bookmyvenue.com.au with your venue name, what you were doing and what happened instead. Please don't send passwords. We will never ask for one.