Service Duration and Buffer
By default a booking service uses fixed sessions: the customer picks one session (for example "Monday 09:00-10:00") from the booking calendar. For services whose length varies, such as a 45-minute haircut, a 90-minute colouring, or a 60-minute massage, you can switch to Duration mode: the customer picks a start time, and Etalasse works out which slots still fit.
Everything is optional per service. A shop that sets nothing up keeps using fixed sessions exactly as before.
Duration mode, buffer, staff, and deposits (DP) arrive with this release. The page layout may differ slightly from the description below, but the behavior is the same.
Two service modes
| Mode | The customer picks | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed sessions (default) | one session from the weekly schedule | classes, hourly courts, lodging, slots with fixed hours |
| Duration | a free start time, the length is set by the service | salons, clinics, studios, services with different job lengths |
You can use both in one shop, service by service.
Service settings
Open the service settings of your booking product. Duration mode offers:
| Setting | Meaning | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | how long the service lasts | 5-720 minutes |
| Buffer | preparation time after the service ends. Nobody else can book the buffer | 0-240 minutes |
| Slot interval | gap between the start times offered, for example every 30 minutes | 5-240 minutes |
| Minimum notice | customers cannot book less than this many minutes before the start | 0-86,400 minutes |
| Bookable up to | how far ahead customers may book | 1-730 days |
Example: a "Hair colouring" service with a 90-minute duration and a 15-minute buffer. A booking at 13:00 occupies 13:00-14:30, then 14:30-14:45 is used to clean the chair. The next customer can start at 14:45 at the earliest (or 15:00 with a 30-minute slot interval).
Where slots come from
For a Duration service, the calendar's weekly sessions are read as open hours. A "Monday 09:00-17:00" session means the service can start on Monday from 09:00 as long as it still fits before 17:00. You keep setting opening hours in the same editor, Products → Booking Calendars.
- Session capacity means how many appointments may run at the same time when the service does not use staff.
- Blocked dates and blocked sessions still apply.
- Slots appear every slot interval from the start of the open hours (09:00, 09:30, 10:00, ...) and must fit entirely inside the open hours.
A slot is available when all of this holds: it is inside the open hours, the staff member is working and not on time off (when staff are used), it does not overlap another booking (including its buffer), it is not already past by the shop time zone, it meets the minimum notice, it is within the days-ahead limit, and the date is not blocked.
Unavailable slots stay visible in grey with a reason: already past, too soon, full, or no staff free.
Important rules
- One order can hold only one timed service. A customer who wants two services places two orders.
- Timed services do not go in the cart like ordinary products: the customer picks a date and time and books directly.
- Changing the duration, buffer, or deposit applies to new bookings only. Existing bookings keep the values they were booked with.
- Give timed services their own calendar where you can. If a fixed-session service and a timed service share one calendar, they still count each other's capacity correctly, but the setup is harder to reason about.
- Duration, buffer, rescheduling, and no-show are available on every plan. See Booking Plans and Roles.
Steps to set up a timed service
- create a calendar and weekly sessions as open hours (Booking Calendars)
- link the product to that calendar
- in the service settings, choose Duration mode and fill in duration, buffer, and slot interval
- (optional) add staff and set a deposit
- make a test booking from Catalog or Link and check that the times shown make sense