How can I prevent last-minute bookings?

TidyCal lets you require minimum advance notice before clients can book, ensuring you always have time to prepare. This setting hides time slots that fall within the notice period. Available on all plans and configured per booking type.

Setting your minimum booking notice

1. Go to Booking types in the sidebar.
2. Click to edit the booking type you want to configure.
3. In the editor sidebar, click Restrictions.
4. Find the setting: Require at least [number] [minutes/hours/days] notice.
5. Enter your desired notice period and select the unit (minutes, hours, or days).
6. Click Save at the top of the editor.

How it works

If you set the minimum notice to 24 hours:

• A client viewing your page on Tuesday at 3:00 PM can only book from Wednesday at 3:00 PM onward.
• All earlier time slots are automatically hidden.

You can set this to anything from 0 minutes (no notice) to several days.

Troubleshooting

No time slots available for clients

• If the minimum notice is too high and combined with a narrow booking window (days ahead), no slots may be visible. Try reducing the notice or increasing the booking window.
• Verify your availability schedule has open time slots.

Clients still booking same day

• Ensure the minimum notice is set correctly. A value of 0 means no restriction.
• Check that you saved the booking type after making changes.
• Contact support@tidycal.com if the issue persists.

Tip: Use the Troubleshoot availability button on your booking page to see exactly which slots are blocked and why. Slots affected by this setting show the NOTICE PERIOD badge. See How to Fix Missing Availability for details.

Team booking types note: The troubleshooter checks only the plan owner's calendar events and existing bookings, not each host individually. For team booking types (Collective or Round Robin), the slots shown here may differ from what your public team booking page displays — each team member should also check their own Default Availability, connected calendar, and existing TidyCal bookings. See Simplify Team Scheduling for per-host availability details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set different notice periods for different booking types?

Yes. Minimum notice is configured per booking type.

What units can I use?

Minutes, hours, or days.