Booking clients in another time zone, with both clocks labelled

Say you run a skin clinic with short video consults. A new client finds you from overseas and books one for Tuesday at nine. If nothing on the page says whose Tuesday, or whose nine, they will read it on their own clock. That is a reasonable thing to do. It is also how people log on hours early, or a day late.

The same question catches a visitor booking ahead of a trip: a massage, a cut and colour, or a table for the week they land. Bookatu now answers it for them.

One rule for which clock comes first

When a client books on your booking page or Website widget, Bookatu notes the time zone their phone or computer is set to. It keeps that with the booking, so later emails and reminders can use it. Then one rule decides which clock comes first.

• Video calls show the client's clock first, because that is where they will be sitting. That covers any service with the Online / video call switch on, and any booking that carries a video link.
• Visits in person show your clock first, because that is where they will be standing. Theirs comes second, to help them plan the trip.
• When the two clocks read the same, or Bookatu does not know where they are, they see your clock alone, still labelled.

That last case covers bookings you add yourself in the admin. Bookatu only learns a client's time zone when they book on your booking page or Website widget.

What the client sees while booking

On your booking page, take a service marked Online / video call. When the client's clock differs from yours, the whole date and time step moves onto theirs. The days start from their today and the times are their times. A note above them reads "Times shown in your time", with their city and zone. The review screen shows their day and time first, then the same moment in your city.

For a visit in person, the times stay on your clock, because that is the clock on your wall when they walk in. The note above them names your city. If their phone or computer is on another clock, two things change. The note asks them to double-check the time. And once they pick a time, a line under it does the sum: your time, and what that is on their clock.

What lands in their inbox

The confirmation email follows the same rule. The main time carries its zone label. Where the two clocks differ, a quieter line underneath gives the same moment on the other clock, with its city. The reminder does the same, with the time in large type. A text reminder carries one labelled clock, to stay short.

The confirmation also carries a calendar file, which their calendar shows on whatever clock their phone is set to. The Manage my booking button in that email opens their booking. If they open it on yet another clock, say on a stopover, the page adds a line starting "On your clock". It gives the time where they are.

What you see

Your Calendar and the rest of your admin show your own clock. When a client booked from a clock that differs, you get one extra line.

Open the booking and look under Booking details. Below the Date and Start time you will see Client's time, with their day, time, zone and city. The New booking email you get when a client books online has a Client's time row too. So when they message to check a time, you can answer in theirs without working it out.

Phone numbers typed from abroad

Clients abroad type their number the way they would at home, usually without a country code. Bookatu now also reads it with the country their time zone points to. A number written the way people write it there is saved with that country's code.

Your local clients are not affected. A number written the way people write it in your country reads the same as it always did. A regular who books while travelling keeps their usual number. A number typed with a plus and a country code keeps the code it was typed with.

Numbers you type yourself, in a client's Phone field, are read with your own country first. So start an overseas number with a plus and its country code.

When a booking moves

The client now hears when their booking moves. It does not matter who moved it: you on your Calendar, or the client from their booking. They get an email marked Booking moved. It shows the new time by the same rule as their confirmation, and the old time under Previously. A fresh calendar file is attached. It is for the same booking they saved, so their calendar can update that entry instead of adding a second one.

Reminders reset too, so if one already went out for the old time, a new one goes out for the new time. Only a real move sends the email. Change only who is doing it, or how long it takes, and the client gets no email.

When a client moves a video call themselves, the new times are on their own clock. Under Move your booking to, they see the new time on both clocks before anything changes. The move happens only when they tap Yes, move my booking.

You keep your clock. They get theirs. The label says which is which.

Two things worth checking

• Your Country code and Timezone in Settings, under Region & currency. Your clock and the reading of local phone numbers both start there.
• The Online / video call switch on each service you run by video. It is what puts the client's clock first.

Nothing else needs turning on. The next client who books from another time zone sees a time they can read at a glance. You see theirs next to yours.