You can split a staff member’s business hours into multiple working segments in Appointy.
This lets you create non-working gaps during the day so customers cannot book appointments during those periods.
For example, instead of making a staff member available continuously from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, you can configure:
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
The gap between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM becomes unavailable for booking.
When should I split business hours?
This can be used for many different scheduling scenarios.
For example:
- Lunch or meal breaks — staff work before and after lunch
- School pickup or personal breaks — a staff member is unavailable for part of the day
- Shift-based schedules — morning and evening shifts with a gap in between
- Clinic sessions — a doctor sees patients in the morning and again in the evening
- Split salon shifts — a stylist works during selected morning and afternoon hours
- Training schedules — an instructor teaches during specific blocks of the day
- Equipment or room downtime — availability needs to stop during a specific period
- Prayer or religious breaks
- Administrative time — staff block time for meetings, paperwork, preparation, or internal work
- Recurring daily gaps — any period during normal working hours when bookings should not be accepted
This is why I would avoid positioning the feature as only “lunch hours.”
How to split business hours and add breaks
Quick navigation
Settings → Business Hours → Select Staff Schedule → Add Multiple Time Segments → Update
Steps to add a break between working hours
- Log in to your Appointy admin account.
- Click Settings in the toolbar on the left.
- Under Resource Management, open Business Hours.
- Hover over the required staff member’s time slot and click the + icon.
- In the Update Schedule window, enter the first working segment for the day.
- Click the smaller + icon next to the working hours to add another segment.
For example:
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
.
.
Add additional working segments if required.
- Repeat the same process for other days.
- Click Update when finished.
How does the break affect appointment availability?
Customers can only book appointments during the working segments you configure.
Using this schedule:
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
customers can book during those two periods, but they will not see appointment availability during the 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM gap.
The available time must also be long enough to accommodate the full service duration.
For example, if a service lasts 60 minutes, a remaining 30-minute working segment will not produce an available slot.
Example: Doctor with morning and evening consultation hours
Suppose a doctor is available:
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Instead of setting continuous availability from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, the business can create two working segments.
Appointments will then be available during the morning and evening sessions, while the doctor remains unavailable between 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
Example: Staff member with a lunch break
A staff member works from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM but takes lunch from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM.
Configure:
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
This prevents customers from booking during the lunch period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add more than one break in a day?
Yes. You can divide the day into multiple working segments by adding additional time ranges.
Can I use this for something other than lunch?
Yes. The gap can represent any period when the staff member should not accept bookings, including personal breaks, meetings, split shifts, administrative time, or separate morning and evening sessions.
Will customers see appointment slots during the break?
No. The gap between working segments is unavailable for booking.
Can different staff members have different breaks?
Yes. Business hours can be configured according to each staff member’s schedule.
Can I create morning and evening working hours?
Yes. For example, you can configure 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM for the same day.
Why is an appointment slot not showing near the end of a working segment?
The complete service duration must fit inside the available working segment. For example, a 60-minute service cannot start if only 30 minutes remain before the break begins.