Learn how to use minimum notice periods and booking buffers to prevent last-minute appointments and ensure you always have time between bookings.
You can control when clients are allowed to book appointments using Minimum Notice and Meeting Buffer settings.
These settings help you:
The Minimum Notice setting lets you define how much time must pass before a new appointment can be booked.
For example:
If you set a 1-day minimum notice, clients will only see available time slots starting one day into the future, even if your calendar shows availability sooner.
This prevents unexpected same-day bookings and gives you time to prepare.
You can set the minimum notice in:
Meeting Buffers ensure you always have time between appointments.
You can add a buffer before or after appointments, which blocks off extra time around each booking.
This helps prevent situations where:
The system will automatically hide any available time slots that overlap with your buffer period, ensuring those times cannot be booked.
If you set:
A 30-minute appointment scheduled from 10:00–10:30 will block availability until 10:40.
Clients will not see booking slots that overlap with the buffer time.
Using these settings helps you:
These small adjustments can make your booking schedule much easier to manage.
Most businesses see the best results with one reminder 24 hours before the appointment and a second reminder on the same day.
Yes. SMS reminders are one of the most effective ways to reduce no-shows because text messages are seen quickly and are harder to overlook than email.
A common best practice is to send one reminder 24 hours before the appointment and another 2 to 3 hours before the scheduled time.
SMS is generally more effective for appointment reminders because it is immediate, visible, and more likely to be opened quickly.
A good appointment reminder should include the client’s name, appointment date, appointment time, location or meeting link, and a simple way to confirm or reschedule.