Free time selection and availability profiles
With free time selection, you don't create fixed sessions. Customers choose a free time within your availability themselves, for example for 1:1 training, a consultation or a treatment. When you are available is defined in an availability profile.
What is an availability profile?
An availability profile determines when customers can book with free time selection. It contains:
- Weekdays & times: one or more time windows for each weekday, for example 9 to 12 and 2 to 6 pm. A gap such as a lunch break means no booking is possible during that time. A day without times is closed.
- Single opening days: days when you are open in addition or with different hours. If such a day falls on a weekday with times, only the opening day's times apply on that day.
- Closed: periods from one date to another, such as holidays or public holidays. Closed always applies, even on an opening day.
A profile can be used in several offerings. Times are calculated in your studio's time zone.
A profile only takes effect once you assign it to an offering with free time selection or to a room or resource. It does not affect sessions with fixed times, and it cannot be assigned to a trainer.
Create an availability profile
You manage availability profiles under Manager → Offerings → Availability profiles (app.bookicorn.net/verfuegbarkeiten). The page is called Availability.
- Tap New profile.
- Enter a Profile name.
- Enter your times under Weekdays & times. Add interval adds another time window on a day. Copy times to all days applies one day's times to all seven days.
- If needed, add Single opening days with Add opening day and Closed with Add period.
- Tap Save.
If you don't have a profile yet, the Create Studio default hours button creates a profile with Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.
If you delete a profile, all offerings that use it lose their availability. No times can then be booked there.
Create an offering with free time selection
- Open Manager → Offerings and tap New Offering.
- Choose the Appointments type of offering.
- In the General section, enter the title and the payment types.
- Open the Availability section and choose the Availability profile under When are you open?. You can also create a new profile directly there.
- Below that, set the duration, spots and start times (see the next sections).
- In the Location & Trainer section, enter the trainer and, if you use rooms, the location and room.
- Tap Create Offering.
In the finished offering, the Availability section shows the next free times under "What your customer sees: next times", just as customers see them.
Price by time and Also occupies
- With Price by time you set surcharges or discounts on certain weekdays or times for free time selection too, see Price by time.
- With Also occupies in the Location & Trainer section, a booked time also protects resources, for example a device the treatment needs. During this time customers can't book these resources. This requires the "Resources" addon.
If customers should book a resource themselves, for example a cabin or a rental item, use the type Appointments: resources, see Resources.
Free time selection without an availability profile?
An offering with free time selection can't be created without an availability profile. The Manager then shows "Please select or create an availability profile."
You can also add individual fixed times: with New Appointment, an offering with free time selection and without resources gets an open extra session that customers can also book until someone is booked in. A series isn't possible there. If you want to offer fixed, recurring sessions, the Fixed sessions type of offering is the right choice, see Types of offering at a glance.
Duration of a booking with free time selection
Under How long is one booking? there are two options:
- Always the same: you enter a Duration in minutes.
- Customer picks: under Duration options you create several durations, each with minutes, price and optionally credits and a label. The price is then set per duration, and the offering's base price doesn't apply. Each option needs minutes and a price, and each duration may only appear once.
Spots per time slot with free time selection
Under How many at the same time? you set how many people can book the same time:
- One after another: each time can be booked exactly once.
- Several at once: under Seats per time slot you enter how many people can book at the same time. The time stays bookable until all spots are taken.
If a room is selected, the number of spots can't exceed the room's capacity.
Start times and buffers with free time selection
Under When can it start? you decide at which times customers can start:
- Full blocks: one time slot follows the next, each being duration plus buffer.
- Every … minutes: customers can start in the chosen Start time interval, for example every 15 minutes.
Start times begin at the start of each time window in the profile. A booking must end before the end of the time window.
Buffer before and Buffer after keep time free around existing bookings. Bookicorn keeps the larger of the two values free on both sides of every existing booking. The buffer therefore works as a minimum gap between two bookings.
How early and how late customers can book is set in the Booking rules section with Limit booking window and Enable booking cutoff.
When a booked time is blocked
A booked time is blocked in this offering as soon as all spots are taken. Whether it is also blocked in other offerings doesn't depend on the availability profile, but on the trainer, room and resources:
- Same trainer: if another offering has the same trainer, the time is blocked there. This works without an addon.
- Same room: booked times in the same room only block with the "Occupancy Management" addon. Sessions that have the room entered count. For offerings with fixed sessions, this is only the case if you have set the room on the individual session.
- Same resource: if a booking occupies a resource ("Resources" addon), this resource is occupied for all offerings.
Only real occupancy blocks. A session of another offering without a booking blocks nothing.
If an offering with free time selection has neither a trainer nor a room, the Manager shows the note: "Without a trainer and without a room, this time is not blocked in any other offering."
Sessions from an external calendar (calendar synchronization) don't block any times. The synchronization only transfers your Bookicorn sessions outwards.
One availability profile in several offerings: why the booked time stays free in the second offering
If two offerings use the same availability profile, a booking in the first offering does not automatically block the time in the second offering. The profile only describes opening hours, not a person or a room.
To make sure the same time isn't booked twice:
- Enter the same Trainer in both offerings in the Location & Trainer section. A booking then blocks the time in the other offering.
- Or use the same room together with the "Occupancy Management" addon.
- Or link both offerings to the same resource ("Resources" addon).
Choose a room with free time selection
You choose the room for an offering with free time selection like this:
- Without the "Resources" addon, there is a separate Room section with the Room field.
- With the "Resources" addon, this section is called Resources. The Room field is then in the Location & Trainer section below the location.
The room field is locked and shows "Select location first" as long as no location is chosen. You choose the location in the Location & Trainer section. If Online offering is switched on there, there is no location and no room. The list only contains active rooms at the chosen location. If you change the location, the room is cleared.
With free time selection, customers don't choose a room themselves. If customers should choose between several identical spots, for example between cabins, this is possible with the "Resources" addon, see Resources.
Where customers book free time selection
Customers book offerings with free time selection on your booking page, in the customer app and via embedded widgets on your website. The same free times apply everywhere. In the Manager, you book someone in yourself via Book someone in, see Book in participants. With Another time, you can also assign a time outside your profile there. Anything already occupied stays blocked.
Frequently asked questions
Can I work with fixed sessions for free time selection without an availability profile? No, a profile is required. Individual extra sessions are also possible via New Appointment. For fixed, recurring sessions, choose the Fixed sessions type of offering.
I use one profile in two offerings. A booked time is still offered in the second offering. Why? The profile doesn't block anything across offerings. Enter the same trainer in both offerings, and the time is then blocked in the other offering.
I can't choose a room for free time selection. What's missing? First choose a location in the Location & Trainer section. Only then can you choose the room. If Online offering is switched on, there is no room.
How do I enter a holiday for free time selection? In the availability profile under Closed with Add period. No times can be booked during this period.
Can customers choose how long an appointment lasts? Yes. Under How long is one booking?, choose the Customer picks option and create the durations with their prices.
What is the buffer for? It keeps time free between two bookings, for example for tidying up. Bookicorn keeps the larger of the two buffer values as a gap to every existing booking.