If you want your clients' bookings to run smoothly, without confusion or vague pauses, it all starts with good time planning. In SalonLife, you decide exactly which settings suit you — for example, in what intervals clients can book appointments, when you’re actually available to provide beauty services, and how to avoid awkward gaps forming in your schedule.

In this article, we’ll look at the time-planning tools available in SalonLife and how to put them to smart use for yourself.

Why Does Time Display Matter?

  • It helps you avoid awkward gaps where the next client wouldn’t really fit.
  • It keeps your workday running smoothly, since you can control whether a client can book right next to a time already in the calendar, or at the start or end of the day instead.
  • It gives the client a clear overview when booking, since only the exact open times you’re willing to offer are shown.
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Good to know:
If you let clients book times without setting more precise time rules, awkward 15- or 30-minute “gaps” can form in your day plan — which, in the end, means lost revenue for you.

Where Do You Change These Settings?

  1. Go to the Apps page.
  2. Then select Staff.
  3. Click the name of the staff member whose time display settings you want to change.
  4. Select Settings.
  5. Find the Available Time Display subcategory. From there, you can manage the various time display and booking features.

Basic Time Display Options

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1) Also Offer Times Right Before and After Bookings

- In addition to the usual time-cycle interval, clients are also offered times that start exactly at the end time of the previous booking.
- Example: if the time cycle is 30 minutes but a booking ends at 14:15, clients will also see 14:15 available as a booking time.
- Helps avoid “gaps” forming between bookings in your work schedule.

2) Show Available Times Based on the Time Cycle Only

- If you want times to be offered to clients based only on the time cycle, turn off the “Also Offer Times Right Before and After Bookings” setting.
- The system will then show clients available times according to the time cycle you’ve set (e.g. 30 min, 1 hour, etc.).
- If a booking ends at a time “outside” the cycle (for example at 14:15, with a 30-minute step), the client will still see 14:30 as the next available time.
- This setting suits you if you want the simplest solution, where booking times always line up with the time cycle regardless of how long a booking runs.


Extra Option: The “Avoid Gaps in Your Schedule” Feature

This is the most thorough setting for offering online booking times, letting you fine-tune your preferences for exactly when gaps have formed between bookings in your schedule.

You’ll find this feature under the Advanced Options category. Turn on the Avoid Gaps in Your Schedule setting, and four extra options appear that you can turn on or off as you like:

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1. Avoid Gaps in Your Schedule

The system shows the time available right before and after an existing booking in the calendar, to minimize awkward gaps forming. In effect, the system pushes all bookings in your schedule together.

2. Also: Offer the Day’s First Available Time

  • The client can always book the first available time possible.
  • A good choice if you’d prefer clients to pick morning times.

3. Also: Offer the Day’s Last Available Time

  • The client can choose a booking time at the end of your schedule.
  • For example, turn this on if you want to make sure clients always see an end-of-day option too.

4. Also: Offer Available Times Right Before and After Breaks

  • If you use breaks in your calendar, the system can also show clients the times right before or after a break as available for booking.

5. No Restrictions on the Day’s First Booking

  • Use this setting if you’d rather give the client complete freedom to choose the day’s first time.
  • If this setting is on and no booking has been made for that day yet, the first client is offered a choice of every available time.
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TIP:
The “Avoid Gaps in Your Schedule” setting helps you steer clients toward back-to-back times as much as possible, reducing the gaps that form between bookings.

How Do You Find the Settings That Work for You?

  1. Open your calendar view and your online booking at the same time.
  2. Turn one option or another on or off.
  3. Refresh the online booking page and see which times the client can now choose.
  4. Keep experimenting until you find the exact display that suits your working style and daily schedule.

Need Help?

If you have a question you can’t find the answer to, open the purple chat button in the bottom-right corner, select “Send us a message,” and ask away. We’ll be happy to help you figure out which feature fits your salon’s needs.