A booking calendar showing incorrect availability — slots appearing open that shouldn’t be, or blocked when they should be free — usually comes down to a sync issue between the booking plugin’s own data and whatever it’s actually checking against, whether that’s a connected calendar or its own internal rules.
Compare what the calendar shows against a known, confirmed booking
Check a specific time slot you know should be booked or blocked, and see whether the calendar reflects that correctly. A clear mismatch confirms a genuine availability error rather than a display or caching issue elsewhere.
Booking calendar availability errors
Wrong availability on your booking calendar, traced to the actual sync or rule issue.
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This or something else?
| Your booking calendar shows incorrect availability | This fix covers it |
| The issue is specifically syncing with Google or Outlook | Calendar sync (Google/Outlook) repair, the more specific version if an external calendar is involved |
| The issue is timezone-related specifically, not general availability accuracy | Timezone handling errors in bookings |
| Notifications aren’t sending after a booking, not an availability display issue | Appointment notification failures |
What you are seeing
- Slots showing as available that are actually booked, or vice versa
- The calendar not reflecting a recent, confirmed booking
- Availability inconsistent between the front-end display and the admin booking list
- The issue possibly affecting only certain resources, staff, or booking types
Common causes
- A caching layer serving a stale version of the availability calendar
- A conflict between the booking plugin and a connected external calendar
- Booking rules (buffer times, capacity limits) configured incorrectly
- A double-booking allowed by a rule that should have prevented it
- Two separate booking forms or widgets on the site drawing from the same resource without checking each other’s holds in real time
What we do
- Reproduce the specific availability discrepancy
- Check for caching interference with the live calendar display
- Review booking rules and any external calendar connection for the actual cause
- Correct the identified issue
- Verify availability now displays accurately against known bookings
- Check across a representative sample of resources or booking types
What is included
- The cause of the availability error identified and corrected
- Verified accurate display against known bookings
- A check across a representative sample
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- External calendar sync issues specifically, a separate, more targeted fix if that’s the actual cause
- Timezone-specific errors, a separate, related fix
- Notification failures, a separate, related fix
- Ongoing monitoring for future availability discrepancies
Questions about this fix
Could caching really cause a booking calendar to show wrong information?
Yes — if the calendar view is cached rather than loaded fresh each time, a recent booking might not appear reflected until the cache clears, which can look exactly like an availability error even though the underlying data is actually correct.
Is this the same as a timezone issue?
Related but distinct — a timezone mismatch specifically shows correct availability at the wrong time; this covers broader accuracy issues, including cases unrelated to time zones at all.
Could this be causing double-bookings?
Yes, if a rule meant to prevent overlapping bookings isn't functioning correctly, that's exactly the kind of availability error this fix would investigate and correct.
Will this affect bookings already made before the fix?
No, existing confirmed bookings remain as they are — this corrects the calendar's ongoing accuracy going forward.
Does this actually cost me bookings, or is it just a display annoyance?
It can genuinely cost you — a slot shown as unavailable when it's actually free turns away a customer who never even tries to book, which is a real, if invisible, lost sale rather than a cosmetic issue.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
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Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
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If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
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If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.