# Why your booking page shows no available times

> A day with no bookable times is almost always one of four causes. How to tell which, in the order worth checking, and the settings that empty a day without looking like they would.

_Last verified: 2026-09-05. Source: https://bookodile.com/docs/no-available-times_

An empty day on your booking page is rarely a bug. It is almost always one of
four things, and they are worth checking in this order because the first is by
far the most common.

Bookodile itself diagnoses this on the customer's side: when a day comes back
empty, it works out *which* choice is responsible and says so, rather than
showing a blank week and letting the customer give up.

## The four causes

| Cause | What the customer sees | Where to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| The business is closed that day | The day is marked closed | Settings → Working hours |
| The team member does not work that day | "Chiara does not work Sundays" | That person's working hours |
| They work, but nothing is free | "Chiara has no free times that day" | Calendar, time off, booking settings |
| "Anyone" was chosen and nobody can take it | No times, with alternatives offered | Service assignment |

### 1. The business is closed

If the shop is shut, nothing else matters and nothing else is shown. Check
Settings → Working hours before anything else — a day accidentally toggled off
looks identical to a deeper problem.

### 2. That person does not work that day

Each team member has their own hours, and a bookable time needs the business
**and** that person to be open. Someone who does not work Sundays produces an
empty Sunday no matter how open the shop is.

This is a habitual fact rather than a fault, and the booking page says so
plainly — it names the person and the day, so the customer can pick someone else
rather than assuming you are fully booked.

### 3. They work, but nothing is free

This is the ambiguous one, and deliberately so. Bookodile will say "no free
times" but will **never** say "fully booked", because from the outside these are
indistinguishable:

- every slot is genuinely taken
- time off covers the day
- a calendar block covers the day
- your minimum notice has pushed today's remaining times out of reach

Claiming "fully booked" when the real cause is a calendar block would be a lie
to your customer, so the wording stays honest about the uncertainty.

### 4. "Anyone" was chosen and nobody is eligible

If the customer did not pick a person, Bookodile tries everyone who can do that
service. If none of them can take it, the day is empty — and where a different
choice *would* work, the page offers that alternative rather than a dead end.
It only suggests an alternative it has actually verified will unblock the day.

## Settings that empty a day without looking like they would

These are the ones worth checking when working hours look correct:

- **Minimum notice.** Set to 24 hours, today and much of tomorrow are gone. This
  is the single most common cause of "today shows nothing".
- **Maximum advance days.** Set to 30, the customer simply cannot reach week six.
  The far weeks look broken; they are just out of range.
- **Service duration versus closing time.** A 90-minute service will not be
  offered at 16:30 if you close at 17:00. The whole appointment has to fit.
- **Slot interval.** A long interval offers fewer starting times than you might
  expect on a short working day.

## The check that catches most cases

Open your own booking page as a customer would — `bookodile.com/book/your-shop`
in a private window — and work down this list:

1. Is the day marked closed? → Working hours.
2. Pick a specific person instead of "anyone". Do times appear? → That person's
   hours, or their calendar.
3. Look at *tomorrow* rather than today. Times there but not today? → Minimum
   notice.
4. Try a shorter service. Times appear? → The long service does not fit before
   closing.
5. Still nothing, and the calendar looks empty? → Check time off and calendar
   blocks for that person.

## A note on time zones

Every booking time is shown in the **business's** time zone, including on your
own dashboard. If you are travelling, or you run a branch in another country,
the times you see are the shop's local times, not yours. This is deliberate —
you read those times aloud to customers.

## Limits

- Bookodile does not tell the customer *which* of the ambiguous causes applies
  in case 3, on purpose. It is not a bug report.
- An alternative person is only suggested when it has been verified to actually
  unblock the day. Silence means no verified alternative existed, not that none
  was looked for.