When Instant Book is turned off for an Opportunity, a reservation becomes a request that you review before it is confirmed. This article explains what happens when you decline a shift request, what the user on the other end sees, and how you control whether they can request the shift again.

When does declining apply?

Declining applies only when Instant Book is off for the Opportunity. With Instant Book on, a reservation is confirmed the moment it is made, so there is no request to review or decline.

Because of this:

• The Declined shift requests setting is greyed out on Opportunities that use Instant Book.
• The Shift requests and Declined requests sections do not appear on those shifts.

What happens when a user requests a shift?

When approval is required, the reservation is recorded as a request with a Pending status rather than a confirmed booking.

A pending request does not hold a spot. It never counts against the shift capacity, so the shift stays open to everyone else while you decide.

Where do I see and action requests?

Open the shift and the request appears in the Shift requests section, with a count and shown oldest first. You can approve or decline it there, or handle several at once using the bulk request actions on the Opportunities page.

What are my options when I decline?

When you decline a request, you have three choices:

• Add a message (optional). Whatever you write is saved as the reason, and it is included in the notification if you choose to notify the user.
• Notify or not (on by default). Turn it off to decline quietly. The reason is still recorded for your team.
• Add to the waitlist instead. If the shift is full, this converts the request into a waitlist entry rather than a decline and sends the waitlist notification. Nothing is recorded as declined.

Will the user be notified?

Only if you choose to notify. If you do, the user receives a single notification by email, push, and in the app.

If you decline several of their shifts at the same time, they receive one message covering all of them, not one message per shift.

Two cases send nothing: shifts that have already ended, and users who are no longer active in your database.

Is the decline saved on the record?

Yes. The shift shows a Declined requests section listing who was declined, which administrator declined them, the date, and the reason. Each row includes a Re-invite action that assigns the user to the shift directly, in case circumstances change or the decline was a mistake.

Can a user request the same shift again?

That is your call. It is controlled by the Declined shift requests setting on the Opportunity, which you will find under Reservations in the create and edit flow, on the Opportunity dashboard, and in the bulk update tool. There are three options:

• Cannot request again (default). The shift stops appearing in the user's available shifts. If they reach it another way, the request is refused with an explanation. Best for screened or limited roles, where a decline is a decision rather than a scheduling accident.
• Can request again. The shift stays available and the user can submit a new request, which arrives as Pending for you to review. Best for high-volume shifts where declines are usually about timing.
• Can request again if spots remain. The user can request again while the shift still has room. Once it fills, a new request is refused as full. Best for popular shifts where you decline for capacity and want the door open only while there is space.

The setting takes effect immediately and applies to declines that already happened. Switching an Opportunity from Cannot request again to Can request again makes previously declined shifts visible to those users again, without you having to touch each one.

Does declining free up a spot?

There was never a spot to free. Pending requests do not count against capacity, so the shift availability is identical before and after you decline. Only approved and attending reservations consume spots.

I declined someone by mistake. Can I undo it?

Yes. Open the shift, find the user in Declined requests, and choose Re-invite. That assigns them to the shift directly rather than putting them back in the queue. It works no matter which re-request option is active, because the setting limits what users can do, never what administrators can do.

Does declining a shift request remove the user from the Opportunity?

No. A shift request and an Opportunity enrollment are separate things. Declining a shift request affects that one shift only. The user's approval for the Opportunity, their other shifts, and their place in your database are all unaffected.

What if I am declining only because the shift is full?

Use Add to the waitlist when you decline. On a full shift, this converts the request into a waitlist entry and sends the waitlist notification instead of a decline, so the user keeps their place in line if a spot opens. If the shift still has room, the waitlist option does not apply and the decline proceeds normally.

What does a user see if they try to request a shift they were declined for?

Under the default setting, the shift is not offered to them, so they normally never reach that point. If they arrive through an old page or a direct link, the request is refused with a message explaining that it was declined and cannot be submitted again. Under Can request again if spots remain, a request on a shift that has since filled is refused as full instead.