Availability and slots

Overview

Availability settings decide which times customers can pick when they book online. They cover the hours you are open, how many appointments your branch can take at once, how much notice you need and how time slots are laid out. You set them per branch, so each location has its own hours and capacity. Go to Business settings → branches, select the branch, then scroll down to its scheduling settings.

The example on this page is a branch with these settings:

• Open 9am–7pm Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday.
• Slots set to 3.
• A 30-minute booking gap.
• Smart slots every 15 minutes.

Set your opening hours

Customers only see slots inside these hours, even if your calendar is free at other times. Your opening hours also appear on your booking website and mini program. If you close early on a particular day, update the hours. Otherwise customers can book times you cannot honour.

To close on a specific date, such as a public holiday, create a Branch blocker in your Calendar. It overrides your regular opening hours.

Set how many appointments you can take at once

Slots is your branch capacity. It is the most appointments that can overlap across the whole branch at the same moment. Think of it as how many treatment chairs you have, or how many stylists can work at once.

1. In the scheduling settings, find Slots.
2. Enter the number of appointments you can handle at the same time, for example 3.

In the example branch, Slots is 3. If there are already three overlapping appointments at 2pm, the 2pm slot disappears for customers. This happens even if some team members are free.

Set the number to match your real space:

• If you set Slots to 1, only one customer can book each time across the whole branch, even if five team members are free.
• If you set it too high, you may accept more appointments than you can physically fit.

Let one booking use more than one slot

Some services take up more room than a single appointment, such as a couples massage. Set how many of your branch slots one booking of that service uses.

1. Go to Catalogue and open the service.
2. Find Slots per booking and enter how many slots one booking uses. Most services use 1. A couples massage might use 2.

In the example branch, a couples massage at 2pm uses 2 of the 3 slots. That leaves 1 slot for anyone else at 2pm. A service that needs more slots per booking than your branch has in total never shows to customers. For example, a service needing 4 slots will not show in a branch with Slots set to 3.

Stop customers booking at the last minute

The next available booking gap stops customers booking too close to the current time, so you have time to prepare.

1. In the scheduling settings, find the next available booking gap.
2. Enter a duration, for example 30 minutes, 1 hour or 24 hours.

With the example branch's 30-minute gap, a customer looking at 1:40pm cannot pick 2:00pm. If you have not set a gap, it is usually 30 minutes.

Choose the length with care:

• A long gap such as 24 hours means customers cannot book for tomorrow, even when you have free slots. They see no availability.
• A very short gap such as 5 minutes can bring last-minute bookings you are not ready for.

The gap only applies to online bookings by customers. Appointments you create yourself in the dashboard ignore it.

Choose how time slots are laid out

You can let Bookit lay out slots automatically, or list each bookable time yourself.

Smart slot builds slots from your opening hours, service duration and slot resolution. This is the recommended option.

1. In the scheduling settings, select Smart slot.
2. Set the slot resolution, for example 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour.

With a 15-minute resolution, customers see 9:00am, 9:15am, 9:30am and so on. A 45-minute service then uses three slots in a row.

Keep these points in mind:

• Finer resolution gives customers more choice.
• Coarser resolution means fewer, less flexible slots.
• The resolution can be 5 hours at most.
• It applies to every service at the branch.

Custom slot lets you list exactly which times can be booked each day. Use it when you only want bookings at set times, such as 9am, 11am, 2pm and 4pm.

Custom slots must fall within your opening hours. Bookit warns you if one does not. Custom slots take more upkeep, but give you full control.

Find out why customers see no availability

The quickest check is the debug tool. It shows exactly what is blocking a slot.

If you prefer to check by hand, work through these common causes, most frequent first:

• Qualified team members are busy. The service may be limited to certain team members, such as senior stylists for balayage. The slot only shows if at least one of them is free. Open the service in Catalogue to see who is assigned. Then check their appointments in Calendar. Assign more team members to the service, or the customer needs another time.
• Branch capacity is full. Count the overlapping appointments at that time and compare them with Slots. Raise Slots if you really can take more.
• The service or branch is hidden online. Turn on Visible online for the service. If the branch shows Branch not visible online, turn on online booking for the branch in Business settings → branches.
• The time is outside opening hours. Check Opening hours for that day.
• The time is inside the booking gap. Shorten the gap if you want more last-minute bookings.
• The team member is not on the service team. Go to Team, open the team member and turn on their service team setting for that branch. Only team members on the service team can be booked online.
• A class or group service is full. Increase its capacity or add another session.
• The customer added several services. The slot only shows if one team member can do all of them.
• A team member has blocked out time. Lunch, leave and personal blockers hide those times. Check your Calendar for blocker events.

To let customers book further ahead, see Booking settings.

Assign a team member to a booking that arrived without one

When a customer books online, Bookit assigns a qualified team member automatically. This includes when the customer picks All. Occasionally it cannot find anyone, even though the slot showed as available. When that happens:

• You get a push notification and an email asking you to assign someone.
• The booking appears in your Calendar with a warning and no team member.

The customer gets an updated confirmation with the team member's name.

To prevent unassigned bookings, check for these causes:

• No team members are on the service team for the branch. Turn the setting on for each team member in Team.
• The service is limited to team members who were not free. This also happens when those team members are not on the service team. Check who is assigned to the service in Catalogue.
• The service needs two team members at once, but only one was free. Add more qualified team members, or lower Slots per booking on the service.
• Two customers booked at exactly the same moment. Both passed the check, but only one could take the last free team member. This is rare. Assign someone by hand when you are notified.

When you create appointments yourself, pick from the suggested slots in the calendar. These are checked against the same rules, so they do not leave an appointment unassigned.

FAQs

Can I set different opening hours for different days?

Yes. Each day of the week has its own hours, and you can add more than one time range per day.

What happens to existing appointments if I change my opening hours?

Nothing. They stay on your calendar. Only new bookings follow the new hours, so customers cannot book into a window you have removed. The same applies when you change which team members can do a service.

I set Slots to 3 but customers still see no availability. Why?

Branch capacity is only one factor. The usual culprits are:

• Team member restrictions on the service.
• A booking gap that is too long.
• Times outside your opening hours.

Run Debug slot availability to see the exact reason.

What is the difference between branch slots and service slots?

Branch Slots is the total number of appointments the whole branch can take at once. Service slots is the capacity for one specific service. Both limits apply, and whichever is stricter wins.

Can different services have different slot resolutions?

No. Slot resolution is set per branch and applies to all its services. Service duration still decides how many slots in a row each booking uses.

Does the booking gap stop me adding a last-minute appointment myself?

No. The gap only affects customers booking online.

Will the customer know their booking has no team member yet?

No. They get a normal confirmation straight away. Once you assign someone and save, they get an updated confirmation with the team member's name.

What if I do not assign anyone?

The booking stays on your calendar with a warning, and the customer's time is held. Assign someone before the appointment day so your team knows who is handling it.

Can I turn off automatic assignment?

No. Automatic assignment helps balance your team's workload. You can still change the team member on any booking yourself.

Why did the slot show if nobody could be assigned?

The availability check confirms there is capacity and at least one qualified team member free. Automatic assignment is stricter and checks exact team settings and service restrictions. Bookit does it this way so customers do not see fully booked when you do have room.