How available times are calculated

Every time a client opens your booking site, Softalon builds the list of free times from scratch. It starts with who can do the service and where, adds their working hours, removes everything that's already taken, and then checks that the whole service fits. Only times that pass every check are shown.

This guide walks through each check in the order Softalon applies it. If a time you expect is missing, one of these steps removed it.

The short version

A time is offered for a service when all of these are true:

1. At least one active team member is assigned to the service, the service is offered at the location, and the member has working hours there.
2. The time is inside that member's working hours for that location on that date. A special day replaces the weekly hours for its date.
3. The time isn't covered by a closed period, the member's time off, a blocked time, an event from a connected Google or Outlook calendar, or another appointment.
4. The full service, including its buffers, fits before the next busy period or the end of the shift.
5. Any rooms or equipment the service needs are free for the whole time.
6. The start time falls on your time slot grid.
7. The time is inside your booking window: not too soon and not too far ahead.

1. Who can do the service, and where

Softalon only considers combinations that make sense:

• The team member must be active and assigned to the service.
• The location must be active and offer the service.
• The service must be active.
• The member must have working hours at that location. A member with no saved hours at a location is never bookable there.

Private services aren't listed on your booking site, but clients who open a private service through its direct link can still see and book its times. Team members always see private services in the dashboard.

2. Working hours, per member and per location

Your salon's opening hours in Settings › Company don't create any bookable time. Availability comes only from each team member's working hours, which you set separately for every location they work at. See Salon opening hours vs team working hours.

• Each day can be off, have one block of hours, or have several blocks (for example a lunch break between two blocks).
• A special day replaces the weekly hours for one date at one location. It can give different hours or mark the member as not working. A special day at a location where the member has no weekly hours makes them bookable there on that date only. See Set special hours for a specific date.
• Working hours are always read in your salon's time zone.

3. Time that gets taken away

Once Softalon knows when a member works, it removes every busy period:

A few details matter here:

• Appointments block their buffers too. An appointment holds the member from the start of its buffer before to the end of its buffer after.
• Which appointments block time. Appointments that are Awaiting Confirmation, Confirmed, Completed or No Show block time. Canceled and Declined appointments free it. An appointment that is Awaiting Payment holds its time for 15 minutes after it was created. If it's still unpaid after that, the time opens up again.
• One member, one diary. If a member works at two locations, an appointment at one location blocks the same time at the other.
• Calendar events. Events from calendars you turn on under Check for conflicts are copied in as blocked time. Google events marked as free are skipped. Events that Softalon itself added to your calendar are skipped too, so they never block twice. See Sync Google Calendar or Outlook.

Adding time off, a closed period or a blocked time never cancels or moves appointments that already exist. It only stops new bookings.

4. Fitting the whole service

A free gap isn't enough on its own. The service has to fit inside it from start to finish:

• Duration. The service must end by the end of the free gap.
• Buffer before must fit after the gap starts. If the shift starts at 9:00 AM and the service has a 15-minute buffer before, the first possible start is 9:15 AM.
• Buffer after must fit before the gap ends. A 45-minute service with a 15-minute buffer after needs a full hour before closing time or the next appointment.
• Durations and buffers can differ by member or location. Softalon uses the member's own setting first, then the location's, then the service default. See Set different prices or durations per location or member.
• No service runs past midnight. The service has to finish on the same day it starts.

5. Rooms and equipment (resources)

If a service needs resources, each one must have enough free units for the whole appointment, buffers included. Resources are shared across your salon, so a room used at one booking is counted for every booking that needs it.

A service is never bookable if a resource it needs is turned off, or if it needs more units than the resource has. See Require rooms or equipment for a service.

6. The time slot grid

Clients see start times on a fixed grid set by Step in Settings › Booking › Time Slots. You can choose 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes. With a 15-minute step, times are offered at :00, :15, :30 and :45.

A time that fits but doesn't land on the grid isn't offered. If a gap opens at 10:05 AM and your step is 15 minutes, the next offered time is 10:15 AM.

7. The booking window

Two settings in Settings › Booking › Policies & Restrictions limit how soon and how far ahead clients can book:

Clients never see times in the past. These limits apply only to clients. When a team member books from the dashboard, they aren't limited by them. To book outside working hours or over another appointment, see Double-book or book outside working hours.

Multi-service bookings

When a client books several services in one visit, Softalon chains them one after another:

• All services in the chain are at the same location as the first one.
• The first service starts at the exact time the client picked.
• Each following service starts on the time slot grid, after the previous service and the buffers in between.
• The idle gap between two services can't be longer than Maximum Wait Time for Multi-service Booking.
• The whole chain must finish on the same day.
• A chain can have up to 10 services.

If no chain fits those rules at a time, that time isn't offered. See Let clients book several services at once.

Suggested and unavailable times

Two options in Settings › Booking › Time Slots change how times are shown on your booking site. Both depend on your plan.

• Show Suggestions marks up to five times per day as suggested and shows only those at first. Clients can tap View All to see every time. Softalon ranks times higher when more team members are free, when they fall between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM, and when they're on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
• Show Unavailable Slots also shows times that are taken by appointments, blocked time or calendar events, as unavailable. Times outside working hours, time off and closed periods are still hidden.

Time zones

• Working hours, special days and the booking window all follow the Timezone in Settings › General. If that's wrong, every time shifts.
• Your booking site shows times in the salon's time zone.
• Day boundaries follow the salon's time zone, so late evening shifts stay on the right date.

Worked example

Emma Johnson works at Hair Haven in Austin on Tuesdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. A client wants a 45-minute Women's Haircut with a 15-minute buffer after. The step is 15 minutes.

• Emma has an appointment from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, buffers included.
• Her Google Calendar has a dentist visit from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
• So her free gaps are 9:00–11:00 AM, 12:00–2:00 PM and 3:00–5:00 PM.
• Each booking needs a full hour: 45 minutes plus the 15-minute buffer.

The client sees 9:00 to 10:00 AM, 12:00 to 1:00 PM and 3:00 to 4:00 PM, every 15 minutes. If Minimum Time Before Booking is 2 hours and the client looks at 10:30 AM that morning, the first time they see is 12:30 PM.