How to offer only the hours you really have free

An hour that shows as free and turns out to be taken costs your client more than having no opening at all. The same goes for an appointment that starts at 9:30 when you only arrive at 10:00. Most of the time the schedule promises more than you can deliver: it ignores your break, the services run longer than you think, or the page offers hours that are already busy in your calendar.

This guide is for anyone who works by appointment, alone or with a small team. By the end you will have five settings you can review in an afternoon, and you will know which one fixes which problem.

The idea behind it is simple: your booking page should only offer what fits. Everything else gets solved before someone books.

One · Hours and breaks for each person

Start by making the hours true. Think about the last two weeks: what time did you really start on Tuesday, and how long was your lunch? A schedule from 9:00 to 20:00 with no break offers openings at 14:00, even if that is when you eat. Set the hours you actually keep, with the break included, and the days you really close.

Holidays and days away go in as time off, not as a schedule someone has to remember. The page stops offering those dates as soon as you add them.

If you work with other people, each one has their own hours. One shared schedule for the whole team is the fastest way to offer hours nobody can cover.

In Reserrva: each professional has a weekly schedule, breaks and time off, and the booking page respects them as soon as you change them. You set the general hours when you create your page; each person's hours are under Team. If you have not set them yet, the guide to creating your booking page walks you through it step by step.

Two · Real duration and buffer time

A 30-minute service that really takes 40 makes every opening overlap the next one. For a week, measure how long each appointment really takes, from the moment the client sits down until they leave, and use that number. If travel is part of the service, add it to the duration.

Then add buffer time: the minutes you need after each appointment to clean up, disinfect or get ready for the next one. It runs after the appointment and the page does not offer it as an opening. It does not calculate travel: if you go to the client's home, add that time to the duration yourself.

Where you work (at your venue, at the client's place or online) is set for the business, not for each service. A good test: book one of your own services from another device and check whether the opening it offers matches how long it really takes you.

In Reserrva: each service has its name, its duration in minutes, its price or the Free label, and its buffer time. Catalog edits never rewrite appointments already booked. Name, duration and price are set in step 5 of the creation guide; buffer time later, in Services, inside each service's options.

Three · Minimum notice

If someone books at 10:05 for 10:15, you have no time to prepare. You also have no room to change the plan for the day. Set a minimum notice that lets you arrive ready: what you need to get to each appointment and set up is a reasonable minimum.

The number is yours. What matters is that there is a number, not a "we'll see" that each person interprets their own way. Review it every couple of months: if you always arrive late to prepare the first appointment, raise it; if nobody books that far ahead, lower it.

In Reserrva: the booking page works out real openings from your hours, your time off, the appointments already booked and your minimum notice. Times that start inside the minimum notice you configured cannot be booked.

Four · Your Google calendar

Many busy hours are not in Reserrva: a meeting with a supplier, the school pickup, a dentist appointment. If they are not in any calendar the page can read, it offers that slot and you end up apologizing.

Connect your Google account and availability subtracts the busy hours in your primary calendar. Each professional connects their own account and only blocks their own hours. Note that only the primary calendar counts. If something important sits in another calendar, move it to the primary one or block it there.

Connecting Google is optional. Without it, the page uses your hours, your time off and your booked appointments. It is explained in the features list.

In Reserrva: if the professional connected their Google account, the booking page subtracts the busy hours in that person's primary calendar. Each professional connects it from their own panel; connecting the owner's account does not connect invited team members.

Five · An alert when a slot frees up

When the day is full there is nothing to offer, and the temptation is to squeeze someone in where they do not fit. Do not. Some people would rather wait for a gap than look for another date, and a last-minute cancellation is a slot that is lost if nobody knows about it.

Let people ask for the alert. They leave their contact on the page and get the notice if an hour frees up. You do not have to keep a waiting list on paper or remember who wanted what.

In Reserrva: when the day is full, your client can tap "Tell me if a slot frees up". They leave their contact and get the notice if an hour opens.

• ✓Your general hours include the break and the days you really close.
• ✓Each person on the team has their time off and holidays set.
• ✓Each service has the duration you measured, not the one you would like to have.
• ✓Each service has its buffer time, and your minimum notice is set.
• ✓Your primary Google calendar is connected, so what is already busy is never offered.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours should I offer each day?

The ones you can keep without rushing. Start from your real hours, remove the margin you never use, and after two weeks check how many openings filled and how many changes you had to make.

If I add an appointment by hand, does it also block the page?

Yes. Manual appointments take the slot just like an online booking, so the page does not offer it again.

Can a client book the buffer time?

No. Buffer time runs after the appointment and the page does not offer it as an opening. Travel to a client's home is not included: add it to the service duration.

Do I need to connect Google to use the agenda?

No. Connecting Google is optional. Without it, the page still uses your hours, your time off and your booked appointments.