How do I allow back to back bookings?

Hi @Jocelyn33462!

Hmm. I can think of a few things that might be causing this.

1. You might have buffer time setup in between events which you’d want to remove for this event type since you don’t need the buffer time. More info on that here.
2. You might have something setup natively in your calendar that’s auto-creating buffers. Or a third party tool? For example, I use Reclaim to create travel buffers around any event on my Google Calendar with a physical location.
3. You might have the start time increments set to 60 minutes, which would show events at the top of the hour. Example of where to find that here.

Can you check those and let us know what you find?

Hello, @Jocelyn33462!

To jump in and add onto what Jillian said, above (in order of her points) -

1. If you had buffers applied to the event, originally, and then removed them - they will still be locked in on bookings that were created when they were in place. This is because event type settings in place at the time of a booking being made are not able to be changed. You would need to cancel/reschedule the bookings made while buffers were in place (the before/after prep time you referenced) to open the time slot up.
2. You can use our Troubleshooting availability tool on your scheduling page in order to understand what's causing the conflict. I find it to be super helpful and it resolves most availability issues. 🎉  This tool will help you see exactly why that time slot is not available, which could be due to your calendar, the duration of the booking not fitting in the time you have open and more.
3. Start time increments are a great place to check, like Jillian mentioned. They default to 30 minutes. You can play around with them by changing them, checking your booking page to see what opens up and using the troubleshooting tool and back and forth and back and forth and… you get it!

You might benefit from these topics (with video explanations) as well: 

I hope this helps!

I’ve taken the buffer off, and have meetings set to 50mins in length with slots being 1 hr. so when there are no bookings you can see 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 which is what i want. but i did a test and if i book the 5:30, then the 6:30 slot disappears.

I used the trouble shooting and is says it’s because of buffer. but i’ve removed the buffer and saved it and tried to book a fresh session and its still applying the buffer. i get the clients that book while their was a buffer are impacted until i saved the changes moving forward but i just did a booking and it still holds the buffer logic

Hey! Was there already a test booking made before you removed the buffers? I ask because those settings lock into place once a booking is made - so the buffers are removed from the event type, but not the actual bookings. You’d need to cancel any bookings made with buffers in place to free that time up.

Also - You can use our Troubleshooting availability tool on your scheduling page in order to understand what's causing the conflict. I find it to be super helpful and it resolves most availability issues. 🎉 I know I mentioned this before, but, can you please use this tool to find out what is blocking off those times? Then you can come back with a screenshot if need be and I’ll help you break it down! =) 

So Kelsi, 

are you saying i have to cancel all my current client bookings under this event to make the change apply?

It wont just apply moving forward?

Hey again! Unfortunately that is what I am saying. All settings in place at the time of a booking lock into place. The buffers themselves aren’t attached to the event, but rather to each booking made on the event. This means that though you have removed the buffers from the event they are still attached to the bookings made on that event while the buffers were in place. There is a lot more detail in the link I shared! The change (no buffers) will apply to all bookings made after you removed them.

You will need to either cancel the bookings made while buffers were in place in order to free up those time slots, or, move forward without those time slots being open. You might be able to open up more time slots by changing your start time increments, though! For example, if your start time increments are currently set to one hour and buffers are blocking them off, changing your start time increments to 30 minutes or even 15 minutes might open some times up - this will not alter the duration of the event or your actual available hours. Give it a try! 

Edit: 

In regards to the edit on your previous comment

I used the trouble shooting and is says it’s because of buffer. but i’ve removed the buffer and saved it and tried to book a fresh session and its still applying the buffer. i get the clients that book while their was a buffer are impacted until i saved the changes moving forward but i just did a booking and it still holds the buffer logic

this would be because new bookings are showing buffers attached to previous bookings made when the buffers were in place! I hope this helps make sense of things!