Change or cancel a booking
How staff change the time, party size or table of a booking, confirm it, or cancel it, and what to tell guests who want to change their booking.
On this page
Plans change: a party grows, a guest is running late, someone has to cancel. Staff handle all of this in Verimly. Guests cannot change or cancel a booking themselves; they contact you, and you make the change.
Before you start
- Changing, confirming and cancelling bookings needs the Manage reservations permission. View reservations only lets you look.
- Make sure the right location is selected. Bookings belong to one location.
Find the booking
- Back office: go to Reservations, move to the right day with the day arrows or Pick a date, and use Search guest or phone. Switch between Timeline and List.
- POS: open the Bookings tab and search by guest name or phone. The search covers bookings from the last 90 days and every coming day.
Change the details
Changes to time, date, party size, duration, tables and notes are made in the back office.
- In Reservations, open the booking.
- Change what you need: Guests, Date, Time (pick one of the Free times), Duration, Tables, Notes, or the guest's Phone and Email.
- Select Save.
If you choose a table that is already booked at the new time, you see "Table 4 is already reserved at that time." Pick another table or another time.
Bookings that are Completed, Cancelled or No-show can no longer be changed ("This reservation is already finished, cancelled or a no-show."). Make a new booking instead.
Confirm or unconfirm
When Auto-confirm online bookings is off, online bookings arrive as Booked. Confirm them:
- Back office: open the booking and select Confirm.
- POS: open the booking and tap Confirm booking.
The guest gets a confirmation email, or a notification in the Knownbee app when the booking is linked to their Knownbee card. A guest with only a phone number and no Knownbee card gets no message. To take a confirmation back, select Mark unconfirmed in the back office.
Cancel a booking
- Back office: open the booking, select Cancel booking and confirm. The table is freed.
- POS: open the booking, tap Cancel booking and confirm. The table is released.
A cancelled booking moves to Done on the POS and stays in the guest's history. It cannot be reopened; if the guest changes their mind, make a new booking.
A booking that is already Seated cannot be cancelled. Complete it instead; see Seat a booking.
What to tell guests who want to change their booking
There is no link for guests to change or cancel online. The confirmation page tells them: "Questions or changes? Contact" followed by your business name. Make sure your phone number and email are filled in for the location, so guests can reach you. The booking page shows them too.
When a guest calls:
- Find the booking by name or phone.
- Make the change and read the new time back to them.
- If they cancel, cancel it so the table is freed for others.
You can put your cancellation rules in the Booking policy under Settings › Reservations. It is shown on the booking page.
Common questions
The guest is running late. Do I need to change the booking?
No. On the POS the booking shows "Late · 10 min" after its time. Seat them when they arrive. If they don't come, mark a no-show; see Seat a booking.
Is the reminder moved when I change the time?
Yes. The reminder 24 hours before the booking follows the new time.
Who changed a booking?
Every change is recorded in the activity log with the staff member and the time.
If something goes wrong
- "This reservation cannot be changed that way.": the status change isn't allowed, for example cancelling a seated booking.
- The fields can't be edited: the booking is finished, or your role lacks Manage reservations.
- The guest says they never got a confirmation: check the email address on the booking; messages never go to a phone number. See Guest messages.