Buffer time keeps a gap around each booking. Use it for cleaning up, getting ready, or travelling to the next customer. Customers still see the normal length of the service. A 60-minute massage still shows as 60 minutes.
Set buffer time
Buffer time belongs to one service.
- On the Dashboard, open the service.
- Click the Availability tab.
- Scroll to Timeslot Settings.
- In Buffer Time, type the number of minutes in After each booking, add a buffer time of...
- Click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
Use whole minutes. Type 0 to turn buffer time off.
How buffer time changes your calendar
Buffer time only matters once someone books. Before that, your slots do not change.
Example: a 60-minute service, open 9:00–12:00, with a 15-minute buffer.
- With no bookings, customers see 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00.
- A customer books 9:00. That booking and its buffer last until 10:15.
- The 10:00 slot is now closed, because it starts inside the buffer. 11:00 is still open.
The buffer also works before a booking. A slot cannot end less than 15 minutes before another booking starts.
Buffer time or slot spacing?
Next to Buffer Time is Timeslot Spacing. It is a different setting:
- Timeslot Spacing sets how often start times appear, such as every 15, 30, or 60 minutes. It changes the calendar for everyone, all the time.
- Buffer Time adds a gap only around real bookings.
If you want appointments to always start on the hour with a 15-minute gap, set spacing to 60 and buffer to 15. If you want slots to move to fit around bookings, use a smaller spacing, such as 15.
Buffer time or lead time?
- Buffer time is a gap between two appointments.
- Lead time is how much notice a customer must give before booking. See Control when customers can book.
You can use both on the same service.