Schedule, Slots and Availability

This page explains how grooming slots are generated, what removes a slot from availability, how double-booking is prevented, and how to read the schedule view. This page summarizes the Scheduling & Availability Policy (Scheduling and Availability Policy), which governs.

Salon hours and slot structure

The salon runs on 30-minute slots from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and it is closed on Mondays. These rules are applied by the booking system and decide what every customer sees.

For any date, the day's slots are generated from 7:00 AM through 5:30 PM, every 30 minutes: 22 slots: and then slots that do not fit are removed.

What makes a slot unavailable

• Mondays. The system reports the salon as closed with the reason "Closed Mondays." No slots are offered and no exception is made through the booking flow.
• Existing bookings. Each booking blocks its start time plus its duration. Where a booking carries no duration, 120 minutes applies. For example, a 10:00 AM groom with a 2-hour duration occupies 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. A 90-minute service starting at 11:00 AM would run to 12:30 PM and overlaps, so it is not offered.
• Blocked times. A blocked-time entry removes a range of time or a whole day. A whole-day block with a reason such as staff training or deep cleaning closes the date in the same way as a Monday.
• Closing time. A slot remains available only if the whole service finishes before 6:00 PM. A 2-hour service cannot start at 5:00 PM; its last bookable start is 4:00 PM.

A cancelled booking blocks nothing. Any booking with a cancelled status is excluded, so a cancelled 10:00 AM appointment frees the slot immediately. Cancellation handling is covered in Cancellations, No-Shows and Fees and governed by the Booking, Cancellation & No-Show Policy (Booking, Cancellation and No-Show), which governs.

How double-booking is prevented

Availability is checked twice

1. When the customer picks the slot.
2. Again at the moment the booking is written during checkout. This second check decides.

If two customers seek the same slot, the first completed booking takes it. The second customer is told the slot was just taken, with a reason they can read, and picks another time. No partial booking is created.

Manual bookings created through the portal use the same availability check. You cannot double-book a customer by creating an appointment in the portal while that customer is completing checkout for the same slot.

Reading the schedule view

The employee schedule view shows the day's appointments with the customer, dog, and groomer together: name, breed, service, time, duration, price, deposit state, and notes. You can narrow the view by date, by status, and by groomer.

Statuses you will see include Scheduled, Confirmed, Pending Payment, Deposit Paid, Unpaid, Canceled, No Show, and Completed.

Pending Payment needs judgment

Pending Payment means the customer started checkout but the payment did not complete. The slot is held but the appointment is not yet confirmed.

1. Do not turn away a walk-in solely for a Pending Payment slot if the customer never completes payment.
2. Do not delete the booking yourself, because the customer may still be completing payment.
3. When in doubt, call the phone number on the booking.

Booking horizon and availability problems

Do not promise customers a booking cutoff that the system does not apply. If you are unsure how far ahead bookings are accepted at your location, check with your manager before stating a limit to a customer.

Two failure cases to recognize

• No slots load at all. If the availability check fails, the booking flow cannot show slots. That is a system problem, not a full book. Tell the customer so, rather than saying the salon is fully booked.
• Slot shows as available, then fails at checkout. The slot was taken by another booking seconds earlier. Apologize, offer the nearest alternatives, and help the customer rebook.