When pet parents submit a cancel or reschedule request through the client portal, your staff will receive a notification to review it. This article explains how to find incoming requests, review the details, and approve or dismiss them.
You only receive requests for review when your policy is set to Allowed by rules and the pet parent submits inside the late window. Requests submitted outside the free window go through automatically and do not require staff action.
See Set Up Your Cancel & Reschedule Policy 👈 to review your settings.
See How pet parents cancel & reschedule booking 👈 to understand details.
How It Works
When a pet parent submits a request inside your late window:
Staff with cancel/reschedule notification permissions receive a notification.
Clicking the notification opens the appointment drawer, where the full request details are shown.
Staff review the request and choose to Approve or Dismiss.
📝 Note: Notifications for incoming requests are controlled by staff notification settings. Go to Settings > Staff > Staff profile > Notifications to check which staff members are set up to receive these alerts.
How to review a request
Open the notification in your notification panel. You will see a new cancel or reschedule request from a pet parent.
Click through to the appointment drawer. The request details are shown, including:
The type of request — cancel or reschedule
For reschedule requests: the pet parent's requested new dates
Any notes the pet parent added when submitting
Current availability status for the requested new dates
Cancel Request
Reschedule Request
How to approve a request
Approving a cancellation
Review the request details in the appointment drawer.
Click Cancel.
The booking is cancelled immediately.
If your business has automated appointment update messages configured, a notification will be sent to the pet parent. See your message settings to confirm what is set up.
Approving a reschedule
Review the requested new dates and the availability status shown in the drawer.
Click Approve.
The system checks availability for the target dates at the moment you approve.
If the dates are available: The booking is updated to the new dates. The original dates are released.
If the dates are no longer available: The approval fails. You will see a prompt with next steps — work with the pet parent directly to find alternative dates.
⚠️ Important: Availability is checked at the moment of approval, not when the pet parent submitted the request. A slot that was open when the request came in may no longer be available by the time you review it.
How to dismiss a request
Review the request details in the appointment drawer.
Click Dismiss.
The request is permanently removed from the review queue. The booking remains unchanged.
⚠️ Important: Dismissing a request does not send an automated notification to the pet parent. Their pending request status will silently disappear on their end, with no explanation.
You may follow up directly to let them know the outcome — especially for cancellation requests.
📝 Note: For cancel requests, a notification is only sent to the pet parent if the booking is actually cancelled (i.e., approved). Dismissing a canceled request does not trigger any message.
Viewing the cancel and reschedule history
All cancel and reschedule activity is recorded on the appointment. To view it:
Open the appointment drawer.
Click Update history in the left sidebar.
The update history shows a timestamped log of status changes — including when a booking was cancelled, rescheduled, or had a request submitted. Each entry shows the status update and the staff member who made the change.
📝 Note: This log is visible to staff only. It is useful for tracking when a request was actioned and by whom, especially for high-volume facilities.