Consultations: phone, video and in person

A consultation can happen in person at the studio, by phone call, or by video call. Each artist chooses which of these to offer. Clients pick from those choices when they book, and every place the appointment shows up — your calendar, the booking emails, the calendar invite — says how the meeting happens instead of printing a street address for a call.

Turning on phone and video consultations

1. Open Booking → Settings → Booking Preferences.
2. Switch on Allow Remote Consultations.
3. Under Which remote options do you offer?, tick Phone Call, Video Call, or both.
4. Save.

While this switch is off, consultations are in-person only and clients are not asked how they want to meet.

In-person consultations stay available alongside phone and video. Turning remote options on adds choices for the client; it does not remove the in-person option.

What clients see when they book

On your booking page, a consultation booking asks How would you like to meet? and lists the options you offer: In-Person, Phone Call, Video Call. Under a phone or video choice the page tells the client what to expect — that the artist will call them at the appointment time, or send a video meeting link before the appointment.

The booking is only accepted for a method you offer. If someone tries to book a phone or video consultation with an artist who does not offer it, the booking is refused with a message naming the options that artist does offer.

How the choice shows up for you

• Calendar. A phone consultation carries a 📞 mark on its calendar entry and a video consultation carries a 🎥 mark, next to the existing photo mark. Hover the mark to read "Phone consultation" or "Video consultation".
• Opening the appointment. The appointment card and the appointment page show the meeting method up front — for a phone consultation, that you call the client at their number; for a video consultation, that you send the client a meeting link. The studio's street address is not shown on a phone or video consultation, because nobody needs to travel to it.
• Your booking email. The new-consultation email you receive says whom to call and at what number (phone), or reminds you to send a meeting link (video), where an in-person booking shows the location.
• Google Calendar. A synced phone or video consultation shows "Phone call" or "Video call" as its location.

Booking a consultation yourself

When you create or edit a consultation from the admin calendar, the form asks How will this consult happen? with the choices In person, Phone and Video. In person is the default. Saving with Phone or Video is accepted only for an artist who offers that option under Booking Preferences; otherwise the save is refused with a message naming what the artist does offer.

What the client receives

For a phone consultation, the confirmation email and the calendar invite say that the artist will call them at their appointment time. For a video consultation, they say the artist will send a meeting link before the appointment. Reminder messages that include the appointment location say the same thing. An in-person consultation shows the studio location as usual.

The appointment time is always shown with its time zone, whichever way the consultation happens.