Set how far ahead clients can book, cleanup time and the rooms a service needs

These settings decide when a booking is allowed, whoever makes it. A location's own timezone and opening hours always apply. On top of that you can set four online booking rules for each location, a cleanup time for each service, and the rooms or equipment a service needs.

Online booking rules apply to clients who book or change a visit themselves, on your booking page or by replying to a message. Your own appointment book is never held to them.

• Minimum notice (minutes). Clients cannot book a start sooner than this from now. Leave it blank for no limit.
• Furthest ahead (days). Clients cannot book further ahead than this many days from today, counted in the location's own time. Leave it blank for no limit.
• Online cancellation closes (hours before). After this point a client has to contact you to cancel. Blank means they can always cancel online.
• Online rescheduling closes (hours before). After this point a client has to contact you to move the visit. Blank means they can always move it online.

A service can have its own rules. A rule set on the service replaces the location's, and a rule left blank follows the location.

Cleanup time is the minutes after a visit that still block the staff member and the rooms or equipment, from 0 to 240. Nobody can be booked into that time.

Rooms and equipment a service needs are picked for each location, up to three per location. A start is only offered while all of them are free.

Timezone. Hours, closures and booking rules are all read in the location's own time, so every location needs a timezone.

1. You need permission to edit the location. Without it you cannot see or save these settings.
2. Set up the location's opening hours first, from Locations under My business.
3. To use rooms or equipment, add them to the location first.

Choose a timezone

1. Open Branches and pick the location.
2. If you see This location needs a timezone, the location was created before timezones were required. Press Choose timezone.
3. In Details, pick the timezone in Timezone and save. A location with no timezone cannot be saved until you choose one.
4. A new location asks for its timezone when you create it and suggests the one your browser uses.

Set the online booking rules

1. Open Branches, pick the location and find Online booking rules.
2. Fill in the rules you want. Each one is a whole number inside its range, or blank for no limit.
3. Press Save booking rules. You see Booking rules saved. If a field is outside its range it is marked and nothing is saved.

Set cleanup time and rooms for a service

1. Open My business, find the Services card in Catalog and press Edit next to the service.
2. Enter Cleanup time after the visit (minutes).
3. Under Rooms and equipment this service needs, tick what the service needs at each location. After three at one location the rest are unavailable.
4. Under Booking rules for this service, fill in any rule that should replace the location's. Leave the others blank.
5. Save the service.

Book a client past a closed time or a missing deposit

1. In the appointment book, try to book as usual. If the location or the staff member is not open then, or a deposit is needed, the screen says why and offers Book anyway.
2. Write why you are booking it anyway, between 3 and 500 characters, and press Book anyway, then Confirm again.
3. The appointment is marked Booked by override with the reason, so you can see later which bookings were made this way.
4. Only opening hours, staff hours and a missing deposit can be overridden. A closure, time off, another visit at the same time, a start that has passed and a room that is already taken cannot be.

• A time that breaks a rule is not offered, or is refused with a plain reason such as that it is too soon to book online or too far ahead.
• On their manage page they see until when they can cancel or move the visit online. After that they see the location's phone number, if you have one, and are asked to call.
• A visit a recurring booking is holding for a deposit shows the amount to pay and when the hold ends.

• Leaving a legacy location without a timezone. Hours and closures are then read in a default timezone, so they can be off by hours until you choose one.
• Expecting the rules to limit your own bookings. They only apply to clients. Your appointment book follows opening hours and the checks in the availability article.
• Choosing more than three rooms at one location. The extra ones stay unavailable.
• Forgetting that a cleanup time blocks the room as well as the person. Long cleanups reduce how many visits fit in a day.

Articles about availability, services, closures, locations and deposits are linked here.