> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cura.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# No-shows and booking limits

> Cura watches your calendar for appointments that came and went, and quietly caps how many open bookings any one customer can hold — so your team isn't left chasing or double-booked.

Two things happen behind the scenes to keep your calendar honest: Cura notices when a confirmed appointment passes without happening, and it stops a single customer from piling up open bookings. You don't have to set either up — they just work.

This article explains both, so you know what to expect.

***

## No-shows are marked for you, automatically

When a customer books and then doesn't turn up, you want that recorded — not left as "confirmed" forever. Cura handles this on its own.

A short while after a **confirmed** appointment's end time passes, Cura checks whether it was ever closed out. If it's still sitting as confirmed, Cura marks it **No-show**. There's a one-hour grace period after the end time first, so a clinic or customer running late isn't flagged early.

<Note>
  Only **confirmed** bookings can become no-shows. A request that was never confirmed — still **unconfirmed**, or one you **cancelled** or **rejected** — is never treated as a no-show, because the appointment was never locked in.
</Note>

Once a booking is marked No-show, it shows that status on the calendar and in your bookings list, and it can kick off any follow-up you've set up (for example, a win-back message). See [How bookings work in Cura](/bookings/how-bookings-work) for the full list of booking statuses.

<Check>
  You don't need to log in and mark no-shows by hand. Cura watches for overdue confirmed appointments around the clock and updates them for you.
</Check>

<Tip>
  The best defence against no-shows is still a prompt confirmation and a reminder. Only confirmed bookings get reminders — and reminded customers are far more likely to show. See [Automatic booking reminders](/bookings/automatic-reminders).
</Tip>

## A customer can hold up to 3 open bookings

To stop one person from quietly tying up your whole calendar, Cura limits how many **active** bookings a single contact can have at once.

* The cap is **3 active bookings per contact**.
* "Active" means a booking that's **confirmed or unconfirmed** and whose time is **still in the future**.
* Past appointments, and anything **cancelled** or **rejected**, don't count toward the limit.

This applies everywhere a booking is created — whether your **AI** takes it inside a conversation or you **create one manually**. If a contact already has 3 active bookings, the next attempt is blocked until one of the existing ones clears.

<Note>
  Your AI respects the same limit. If a customer who already holds 3 open bookings tries to book again, the AI won't be able to create a fourth — so it'll gather details and let your team take it from there rather than pushing past the cap.
</Note>

<Warning>
  The limit counts a contact's **future** bookings. The simplest way to free up room for a customer who's at the cap is to confirm and complete the appointments they already have, or cancel the ones they no longer need.
</Warning>

***

### Related articles

* [How bookings work in Cura](/bookings/how-bookings-work)
* [Confirming, rescheduling, and cancelling a booking](/bookings/confirm-reschedule-cancel)
* [Automatic booking reminders](/bookings/automatic-reminders)
* [Create a booking manually](/bookings/create-a-booking-manually)