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Opening Hours

Opening hours are the core of your online booking system. They define on which days and at what times clients can book appointments with you. For each weekday, you determine the time windows, the length of appointment slots, and how much buffer time should be between two appointments – TheraTap automatically calculates the available booking times from these settings.

At a Glance

Section titled “At a Glance”

Flexible Weekly Schedules

Activate individual weekdays and set up as many time blocks per day as you need – perfect for lunch breaks or split working days.

Individual Slot Duration

Choose a slot duration of 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes per time block. Short follow-up checks in the morning, longer treatments in the afternoon? No problem.

Buffers & Booking Deadlines

Set buffer times between appointments and define how last-minute or how far in advance bookings are allowed.

Instantly Active

Every change takes effect immediately on your online booking calendar. Clients see the updated availability right away.

Working Hours vs. Opening Hours

Section titled “Working Hours vs. Opening Hours”

TheraTap deliberately distinguishes between two settings:

Working Hours Opening Hours
Purpose Controls the bookable appointment slots Displayed on your public profile page
Setting Settings → Working Hours Settings → Public Profile
Affects Online booking calendar Profile page and practice directory

Setup

Section titled “Setup”

  1. Open Working Hours

    Navigate to Settings → Working Hours. You will see a weekly overview from Monday to Sunday.

  2. Activate Weekdays

    Use the checkboxes to activate the days you want to be available for bookings. Deactivated days appear as unavailable in the booking calendar.

  3. Create Time Blocks

    For each active day, create one or more time blocks:

    • Start time – when the block begins (e.g., 09:00)
    • End time – when the block ends (e.g., 12:00)
    • Slot duration – the interval at which appointments are offered (15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes)

    TheraTap automatically generates the bookable appointment slots from these settings. For a block from 09:00–12:00 with 30-minute slots, the slots 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, and 11:30 are created.

  4. Save

    Click Save. The changes take effect immediately on your online booking calendar.

Booking Deadlines & Buffer Times

Section titled “Booking Deadlines & Buffer Times”

In addition to the time blocks, under Settings → Online booking you can configure further parameters that directly affect which starts clients see:

Online slot pattern

Section titled “Online slot pattern”

Under Online slot pattern you choose how start times are generated:

  • Working hours grid – as before, via each block’s slot duration (default)
  • Fixed practice rhythm – every treatment + buffer from the block start
  • Fill gaps – re-anchor after appointment end + buffer when the gap is large enough

Details and examples: Online slot pattern.

Buffer Time Between Appointments

Section titled “Buffer Time Between Appointments”
Setting Buffer between appointments
Range 0–180 minutes (in 5-minute increments)
Default 0 minutes

The buffer automatically blocks time before and after each booked appointment. This gives you room for travel, room changes, or follow-up work – without clients being able to book into that time. With Fixed practice rhythm and Fill gaps, together with treatment duration it also drives the spacing of offered starts.

Maximum Advance Booking

Section titled “Maximum Advance Booking”
Setting Advance booking
Range 1–365 days
Default 60 days

Determines how far into the future appointments can be booked. With 60 days, clients only see slots within the next two months.

Minimum Lead Time

Section titled “Minimum Lead Time”
Setting Minimum booking notice
Range 0–120 hours
Default 1 hour

Defines how last-minute an appointment can be booked. With 24 hours, clients can book at the earliest for the next day. With 0, spontaneous bookings are also possible.

How Slots Are Calculated

Section titled “How Slots Are Calculated”

TheraTap combines multiple factors to determine the available booking times:

  1. Opening hours – Base framework: Which days and time blocks are active?
  2. Online slot pattern – How are start times generated? (grid, fixed practice rhythm, or fill gaps)
  3. Treatment duration – Does the selected treatment fit into the free window?
  4. Buffer time – Kept free before and after each existing appointment (and, with practice rhythm / gap fill, drives spacing).
  5. Booking deadlines – Is the slot within the allowed advance booking period?
  6. Absences & closures – Vacations, holidays, or continuing education block bookings.
  7. Resources – Are the required therapists, rooms, and equipment available?
  8. Existing appointments – Already booked or requested appointments are taken into account.

The result: Clients see only the time slots in the booking calendar that are actually available – without you having to intervene manually.

Interaction with Availability Exceptions

Section titled “Interaction with Availability Exceptions”

Working hours form the base framework. Availability exceptions override them for individual days or periods.

Example:

  • Working hours Monday: 08:00–16:00
  • Exception: “Monday, March 10 – Continuing education”
  • Result: March 10 is completely blocked; all other Mondays remain bookable as usual.

Interaction with Resources

Section titled “Interaction with Resources”

If you work with resources (team members, rooms, equipment), these can have their own availability. TheraTap automatically checks with every booking:

  • Does the required therapist have capacity at this time?
  • Is the required room available?
  • Is the required equipment available?

The team working hours form the outer framework – no slot can be booked outside of the team working hours, even if an individual resource would theoretically be available at that time.

Section titled “Related Topics”