Working hours and appointment times: how to plan a day where nobody waits

A customer who waits 20 minutes at the salon won’t be keen to come back. Usually it’s nobody’s fault: the appointments were simply booked too close together. With a few rules the day runs calmly, for you and for your customers.

1. Set your real hours, including the break

In the business dashboard, open Hours. For each day, switch it Open or Closed, choose the opening and closing time and, if you take one, tap + Add a break (e.g. 13:00–14:00). The “Quick fill” buttons fill in the whole week in one tap.

2. Give each service an honest duration

Under Services, enter how long the work really takes, not how long you’d like it to take. If you need time to clean up or prepare, add it as time before or after the service: GJENO keeps it free automatically.

3. Choose how customers see your times

Under Hours you have two options:

• Automatically, every X minutes: customers choose any free time within your hours. Good when services take different lengths of time, e.g. a 30-minute cut and a 2-hour colour.
• Only at the times I set: you set the appointment times yourself, e.g. 10:00, 11:30, 13:00. Good when every appointment takes about the same time, or when you want a calm pace with no rushing.

For fixed times, “Fill in times: from 10:00 every 1 h 30 min” is all it takes. You can then remove or add a time on any day.

4. Check “What customers see”

Below your hours, pick a day and a service: you see exactly the times customers will get. That way you spot straight away if something is off, before you save.

5. Public holidays, days off and absences

For a public holiday or a day with different hours, add a special date. When someone on your team is away, add time off. Customers can’t book during those hours.

6. When you’re running late

It happens. With the Running late button on the dashboard’s main page, your next customers instantly get a notification and an email.

Example: a day at the barber’s

Toni works 09:00–19:00, with a break from 13:00 to 14:00. A haircut takes him 30 minutes, plus 10 minutes to clean up. He can organise it in two ways:

• Automatically, every 15 minutes, with 10 minutes of cleanup after the service: GJENO won’t let the next appointment start until the cleanup time is over.
• Fixed times every 45 minutes: 09:00, 09:45, 10:30, 11:15, 12:00, then after the break 14:00, 14:45 and so on. Customers know exactly when to come and Toni works without rushing.

The most common mistakes

• Durations shorter than reality, “to fit in more customers”. The result: delays all day long.
• A lunch break that isn’t entered, so customers book right in the middle of it.
• Holiday hours announced only on Instagram and never added to the calendar.
• Long services placed at the end of the day that run past closing time.