Fix missing booking times and time-zone mix-ups

Two problems account for most booking complaints: the page offers no times (or too few), or a time looks an hour or more out. Both have a short list of causes.

Before you start

• Open your published booking page in a private browser window, so you see exactly what visitors see.
• Open Calendars › Calendars in another tab to compare.

Steps

If the page shows no times at all

1. Check the calendar's Status is Live. If it reads Draft and Not shown to visitors, press Publish.
2. Open the page in the editor and press Change calendar on the booking section. If it says My only calendar and you have more than one calendar, choose the calendar by name and press Use this calendar. Publish the page again.
3. Press Hours on the calendar. Check at least one row has days pressed and an end time after its start time.
4. Check Bookable days ahead. A small number, such as 1, leaves almost nothing to offer.
5. Look at the Booked tab. If every time in the window is taken, there is nothing left to offer.

If some times are missing

1. Times already booked, or already past, are never shown.
2. Each time is followed by the appointment length and then the gap. A 45-minute appointment with a 15-minute gap gives one time an hour.
3. The last appointment of a block, gap included, has to fit before the block closes.

If a time looks wrong

1. Read the Time zone column on Calendars › Calendars. Every time on that calendar is in that zone: your hours, the booking page, the diary and bookings you take by hand.
2. On the booking page, the zone is shown beside the times. A visitor can choose their own under Time zone and press Apply; the times are converted, and their confirmation email uses that zone.
3. In the diary, each booking shows its calendar's zone. If you are travelling, the numbers are local to the calendar, not to you.

What happens next

Once the calendar is live, points at the right hours and is chosen on the page, times appear straight away; the page reads them fresh each time it is opened. Hours are local clock times, so 9:00 stays 9:00 after the clocks change.

Troubleshooting

"Online booking isn't available just now." The calendar is unpublished, the section isn't pointed at a calendar while you have several, or there are no open times in the booking window. Work through the first list above.

The calendar's time zone is wrong. A calendar takes its zone from the computer it was created on, and it can't be changed afterwards. Create a new calendar from a computer set to the right zone, copy the hours across, point the booking section at it, and unpublish the old one.

A guest's confirmation shows a different hour from my diary. They chose their own time zone on the page, and the email shows their local time with the zone named. It is the same appointment.

A time I blocked still shows as available. Only Booked and Confirmed appointments hold a time. Cancelled, completed and no-show ones don't.

"There is no 01:30 on that date in London — the clocks go forward." You typed a time that doesn't exist on the day the clocks change. Choose another.

Related

• Set your hours, appointment length and booking window
• Create a booking calendar
• Let people book from a page
• Booking confirmations, reminders and change emails