Buffer time
Buffer time is a gap kept free after each booking so you are never scheduled back-to-back. It gives you time to reset, travel or write notes between clients. On Book A Sloth you set one buffer (none, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or 1 hour) and it applies after every booking automatically.
Why buffer time matters
Buffer time means a block of free minutes kept between two appointments, so one booking cannot start the moment the previous one ends. It is also called a gap, padding or cushion time. A 50-minute therapy session with a 10-minute buffer gives you time to write notes, drink water and read the next client's details. For a doctor or trainer it absorbs sessions that run over. For a home-visit professional it covers travel across town.
A buffer day is the same idea at the scale of a calendar. It is a whole day you leave unbooked, usually before or after something big: a wedding shoot, an outstation trip, a board exam, a launch or a festival week. Project managers use buffer days to absorb delays. Independent professionals use them to recover, catch up on admin or fit in a client who cannot wait. On a booking page, a buffer day is simply a date you block in advance.
Size the buffer to what really happens after a session. Track one week: if you often run 7 minutes over, a 5-minute buffer will not hold. On Book A Sloth you choose one buffer in your availability settings: none, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or 1 hour. It is kept after every booking, so clients only see slots that leave that gap. For buffer days, use the blocked-dates option.
Example
A Kolkata counsellor runs 50-minute online sessions with a 10-minute buffer so every session starts on the hour, and blocks the day after Durga Puja as a buffer day for notes and admin.
Related terms
Book A Sloth turns these into one link: a booking page with upfront payment over UPI, GST invoices and automatic reminders.