Booking mode decides how customers pick a time. You set it on each location you create, so before you build your schedule it helps to know which of the three modes fits.
Where to Find This
You choose a booking mode when you add or edit a location, in Services → Bookings → Booking Management → Locations & Hours sub-tab. This article explains the concepts; Creating Locations walks through the actual setup.
The Three Modes
Every location uses exactly one of these. The choice is a set of three buttons at the top of the location's Location tab:
- Fixed Slots Only — Pre-set times for classes or groups. You create specific slots (for example "Monday 9:00 AM, 60 minutes, up to 10 people") and customers book one of those exact times. Several customers can book the same slot, up to its capacity.
- Dynamic Only — Flexible 1:1 appointments. You set your working hours and the system offers open times inside them for one customer at a time. Best for consultations, haircuts, tutoring and other appointment-style services.
- Both — Classes + appointments. Combines fixed slots for group sessions with dynamic availability for one-to-one appointments at the same location. The system automatically blocks your fixed-slot times out of the dynamic availability so nothing double-books.
The three on-screen buttons read Fixed Slots Only, Dynamic Only and Both. You may see the word "hybrid" used to describe the Both mode, but the button itself is labelled Both.
How Dynamic Availability Is Worked Out
In Dynamic Only or Both mode, the open appointment times a customer sees aren't simply "whenever your Google Calendar is empty". They're worked out in this order:
- Start from the location's working hours by day (the default is 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday).
- Apply the buffer you set between bookings.
- Subtract any busy times already on that location's Google Calendar — existing bookings and, in Both mode, your fixed slots.
So your working hours set the outer limit, and Google Calendar trims it down from there.
Choosing a Mode
- Run classes, groups or scheduled events with set times and capacity? Use Fixed Slots Only.
- Offer one-to-one appointments where customers pick a time that suits them? Use Dynamic Only.
- Do both at the same location? Use Both, and let the system keep your classes and appointments from clashing.
Each location can use a different mode, so you might have "Main Studio" on Both and "Mobile Service" on Dynamic Only.
You can change a location's mode later by editing it. Switching to Dynamic Only clears that location's fixed slots (you'll be asked to confirm first, and told how many slots will be removed). Switching to Fixed Slots Only or Both keeps any slots you've already created.
What Booking Mode Is Not
Booking mode is only about how times are generated. It is not how customers pay or how a class season is sold:
- Session packs, seasons and camps — where a customer is booked into a whole run of sessions in one go — are set per price on the service's Pricing & access section (open the service from the Overview), not by booking mode. Your fixed slots are simply the supply those packs enrol into. See Plans & Booking Quotas.
- Booking on behalf of a child, pet or student is handled by Account Profiles, independent of the mode you choose.
Related Articles
- Creating Locations - Build a location and set its booking mode, working hours and slots
- Plans & Booking Quotas - Who can book each service, session allowances, and how to sell season packs
- Using Calendar Preview - Check your schedule before going live