---
title: "Your availability"
description: "Set your weekly hours and date overrides, choose when each listing can be shown, and see how visitors pick an open time."
last_updated: "2026-10-21"
lang: "en"
canonical: "https://matchai.co/docs/guide/calendar/availability"
---
# Your availability
> Set your weekly hours and date overrides, choose when each listing can be shown, and see how visitors pick an open time.
Source: https://matchai.co/docs/guide/calendar/availability
Your availability decides which times people can book with you. It applies everywhere someone can ask you for an appointment: a listing's **Request tour** button, a request from a conversation, and the **Book a meeting** button on your [Matchai Page](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/online-presence/matchai-page).
## How open times are worked out [#how-open-times-are-worked-out]
When someone books, Matchai starts from your hours and takes away everything that is already spoken for. A time is offered only when all of this holds:
1. It is inside your **Weekly schedule**, after your **Date overrides** for that day.
2. For a listing, it is also inside that listing's showing hours.
3. It does not overlap an appointment already on your calendar, confirmed or still requested.
4. It does not overlap a time you are busy in Google Calendar, if you turned on **Block times I'm busy in Google Calendar**.
5. It has not already passed today.
Times start every five minutes, and a time is offered only when the whole appointment fits in the open time that follows it.
## Set your weekly hours [#set-your-weekly-hours]
Open **Settings**, then **Availability**.
Make sure **Available** is on. It means **Show as available for appointments**.
Choose your **Timezone**. Your hours, and the times people see, are in this time zone.
Under **Weekly schedule**, switch on each day you work and set its start and end times. To split a day, for example around lunch, choose **+ Add** and set a second period. Days you leave switched off say **Off**.
For a quick start, **Business hours** sets Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and **24/7** opens every day around the clock. You can adjust either afterwards.
Choose **Save changes**.
Until you save a weekly schedule, Matchai has no hours to go by, so anyone booking you can pick any time of day, including the middle of the night. **Availability** says **You haven't set your hours yet** while this is the case. **Settings → My page** shows a similar warning when you let visitors book you from your Page.
### Stop taking appointments [#stop-taking-appointments]
To stop all bookings, for a vacation or a busy month, turn off **Available** and choose **Save changes**. Nobody is offered a time until you turn it back on. Your existing appointments stay as they are.
Switching off every day of the week does not close your calendar. A week with no hours at all is read as "no hours set yet", which means no limits. So Matchai refuses to save a week with every day switched off while **Available** is on, and points you to **Available** instead. That switch is the one that means "not taking appointments".
## Change one day with a date override [#change-one-day-with-a-date-override]
A date override changes your hours for a single date, without touching your weekly schedule.
In **Settings → Availability**, under **Date overrides**, choose **+ Add override**.
Pick the **Date**.
Choose **Unavailable** to block the whole day, or **Available** to add hours to it. With **Available**, set the start and end times.
Add a **Reason (optional)**, such as a holiday, then choose **Add**.
Choose **Save changes**.
Hours you add with **Available** come on top of that day's usual hours. They do not replace them, so an override cannot shorten a day. Use **Unavailable** to take a day off, and **Available** to work longer or on a day you are usually off. Each date can have one override.
## Choose when a listing can be shown [#choose-when-a-listing-can-be-shown]
Each listing has its own showing hours. Visitors are offered the times when both the listing and you are available.
Open the listing and go to **Showings**. On a computer it is in the list of the listing's parts. On a phone, it is under **More**.
Turn on **Allow showings**. The listing's page now shows a **Request tour** button.
Under **Weekly schedule**, switch on the days the property can be visited and set the hours. Choose **Add** for a second period in a day.
Under **Allowed durations**, choose how long a visit can be, from 5 minutes to 2 hours. You can allow several lengths, and visitors choose one. At least one stays selected.
Your changes save as you make them, and a visitor who has the booking window open sees the new times straight away.
The times come from the availability of the listing's agent, the person shown under **Listing agent**. If you hand the listing to a colleague with **Hand over listing**, their availability is used from then on, along with their calendar.
## Decide what happens before someone books [#decide-what-happens-before-someone-books]
Under **Showings**, the **Before someone books** section sets what a visitor does before they see the calendar. Choose one:
| Option | What visitors do |
|---|---|
| **Anyone can book** | Visitors pick a time and you get the request. |
| **Name and phone number** | Visitors leave a name and a number you can reach them on. Matchai asks only for what it does not already know, so a signed-in visitor who has both goes straight to the calendar. |
| **A few quick questions** | Visitors answer a short set of taps before they can book. |
With **A few quick questions**, tick the questions you want to ask. Visitors answer up to the ones you pick, and often fewer, because a question that no longer applies is skipped. If you are not sure what to ask, describe what matters to you under **Not sure what to ask?** and choose **Suggest questions**. Then **Use these** or **Keep mine**.
Under **What happens with the answers**, you can choose **Add a rule**: if a question gets a given answer, confirm the request or decline it. Anything your rules do not decide follows **Otherwise, send me the request to review.**
The questions come before the calendar, never after. A visitor you would turn away should not spend time picking a slot first. Visitors never see your rules either, only the questions, so nobody can learn which answers you decline and answer around them.
## What visitors see [#what-visitors-see]
When a visitor chooses **Request tour**, the **Schedule a viewing** window opens.
- If you allowed more than one length, they choose a **Duration** first.
- Under **Preferred date**, days with no time left are greyed out.
- Under **Available times**, times are shown every 15 minutes. Selecting one also shows the five-minute times just after it, for a more precise start.
- The open times refresh every minute while the window is open, so a time that has just passed or just been taken disappears.
A time someone has requested is held for them while you decide, so the next visitor is not offered it. [Appointments and viewings](https://matchai.co/docs/guide/calendar/appointments-and-viewings) explains what happens after they send the request.
## Sitemap
- [Every page of Matchai Docs](https://matchai.co/docs/sitemap.md)
- [llms.txt](https://matchai.co/docs/llms.txt)