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How to Configure Appointment Availability in Endear

Learn how to customize your appointment availability based on the store hours, service type, or booking link.

Updated this week

Applies to: Admins, Managers

This guide will help you understand how Endear's appointment availability system works and how the different availability settings interact with each other.

Overview

Endear allows you to set up multiple availability hours to give you highly customizable control over when appointments can be booked. This ensures that customers are only presented with appointments during acceptable time slots.

With Endear Appointments, you can set availability at 3 different layers:

  • Booking Link Hours - Availability for individual booking pages (most specific)

  • Service Hours - Availability for specific appointment types

  • Calendar Hours - Broadest availability for the entire calendar

When customers are presented with appointment availability, Endear looks at each layer and only provides appointment options during acceptable time slots.

Calendar Hours

Calendar hours set the overall availability for your entire calendar. You can either set specific hours or allow services and booking links to determine availability.

To configure calendar hours:

  1. Navigate to Settings, then select Appointments

  2. Select Calendars, then select your desired calendar

  3. Set calendar specific available hours or use the service and/or booking link defaults

Best practices for calendar hours:

  • Match your store's operating hours for simplicity

  • Add time off to block appointments when you/your staff are unavailable

You can find and set the hours for a store calendar by navigating to Appointments > More Actions > Settings > Calendars.

Service Hours

Service hours allow you to control when specific types of appointments can be scheduled.

To configure service hours:

  1. Navigate to Settings, then select Appointments

  2. Select Services, then select your desired service

  3. Set service specific hours

Best practices for service hours:

  • Consider if you would like each service appointment limited to a specific time frame or on a specific date. For example, perhaps you want to schedule styling appointments on Mondays when in-store foot traffic tends to be low.

  • You can also opt to set broad service hours and instead utilize calendar hours & booking links hours for further customization.

  • Service availability hours can be changed for specific booking links.

You can find and set the hours for a service by navigating to Appointments > More Actions > Settings > Booking Links. Services.

Booking Link Hours

Booking link hours provide the most granular control and can override both calendar and service hours.

To configure booking link hours:

  1. Navigate to Settings, then select Appointments

  2. Select Booking links, then select the applicable booking link

  3. Set service booking link hours or use the defaults from the service.

Best practices for booking link hours:

  • Use when you need highly customized availability

  • Perfect if you need booking links for individual staff members

  • Alternatively, booking link hours can be left to inherit availability from the service.

You can find and set the hours for a booking link by navigating to Appointments > More Actions > Settings > Booking Links.

Recommended Configuration Strategies

Calendar Hours Driven Approach

Best for when: You want a store's calendar to control all appointment availability

Example Scenario: Let's say you want stores to accept all appointment types during specific, consistent hours that differ from one another. For example, your LA store wants appointments Mon & Wed, while your SF store wants appointments Tue & Thu. They both are okay with any appointment type during those days.

Set Up Recommendation:

  • Calendar Hours: Configure specific days/hours for each store location matching their appointment availability

  • Service Hours: Set broad availability windows for all services

  • Booking Link Hours: Leave as default to inherit from service hours

Service Hours Driven Approach

Best for when: You want service types to control availability

Example Scenario: Let's say you want to offer personal styling appointments only on Tuesdays and Thursdays at every store location. Set your calendar hours to use defaults, configure your personal styling service for Tuesday and Thursday, and then set your booking links to automatically inherit these service-specific hours.

Set Up Recommendation:

  • Calendar Hours: Set to "Use service and booking link defaults" or match general operating hours

  • Service Hours: Configure specific hours for each service type

  • Booking Link Hours: Leave as default to inherit service hours

Booking Link Hours Driven Approach

Best for when: You need custom booking links with varied availability for a shared service type.

Example Scenario: Let's say you have a seamstress who provides tailoring at a different store each weekday. Set your calendar hours to use defaults, set the tailoring service hours for Mon - Fri, then customize the booking links so each store only shows tailoring appointments on the correct day.

Set Up Recommendation:

  • Calendar Hours: Set to "Use service and booking link defaults" or match general operating hours

  • Service Hours: Set broad availability windows

  • Booking Link Hours: Configure specific hours for each booking link that matches when the selected service is are available at the linked store.

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