Slot hold: what it means
DefinitionA slot hold is a temporary reservation placed on a time while a customer completes a booking form or payment. The time is blocked from other visitors for a short period, then released automatically if the customer does not finish, which prevents two people from taking the same opening.
How it works in a service business
Without a hold, two visitors can look at the same open time and both try to take it. The second one finds out at the end of the form, which feels bad. A hold fixes that by blocking the time the moment someone picks it. The tradeoff is the length of the hold. A very short hold frustrates a slow typist, while a long one lets abandoned forms block real customers. Ten minutes is a common middle ground. A common mistake is holding a time and never releasing it when the customer closes the tab, so the calendar slowly fills with ghosts. Check that expired holds drop off on their own.
Example
A customer picks Friday at nine on a booking page and starts typing an address. The time shows as taken to others for ten minutes, then reopens when the form is abandoned.
Where Apex touches this
Built, rolling out
Built. A real server path exists; only setup steps remain before customers can use it. Status as of 2026-10-07; the badge shows the least-built feature involved.
- BK04Show real availability to visitors(Built, rolling out)
Apex Flow Scheduler is in early access. See how we label status.