Speako manages availability at two levels: location and staff. Understanding the difference helps you configure schedules that work for your business.

Location Hours

Location hours are the default operating hours for your business. They define:

  • When your business is open to receive bookings

  • The baseline schedule inherited by all staff

  • The hours displayed on your booking page When you set location hours, they automatically apply to:

  • All staff members at that location

  • All venue units (tables, rooms) at that location

Staff Hours

Staff hours let individual team members have schedules different from the location defaults. Common scenarios include:

  • Part-time staff working fewer days
  • Staff with specialized hours (morning vs evening shifts)
  • Staff who work across multiple locations

How Staff Hours Override Location Hours

When you configure staff-specific hours:

  1. Location hours serve as the starting template
  2. Staff hours replace the location defaults entirely for that staff member
  3. Date-specific overrides still apply on top of staff hours

    💡 Important: When you update location hours, all staff who haven't set custom hours will inherit the new schedule. Staff with custom hours keep their existing schedules.

When to Use Each

Use Location Hours When

  • All staff follow the same schedule
  • You want a quick way to set operating hours
  • Your business has simple, consistent hours

Use Staff Hours When

  • Team members work different shifts
  • Part-time staff have limited availability
  • Staff specialize in certain time periods
  • You manage multiple locations with shared staff

The Cascading Effect

Changes to location hours cascade automatically:

  1. Recurring Hours: Location updates apply to all staff and venue units (unless overridden)
  2. Date-Specific Hours: Location overrides apply to all staff and venue units
  3. Holidays: Location holiday settings apply to all staff and venue units This means you typically only need to configure once at the location level—individual settings are for exceptions.

For Restaurants

Restaurants also have venue availability for individual tables:

  • Tables inherit location hours by default
  • You can set specific hours per table if needed
  • Capacity and party size settings are separate from availability

Best Practices

  1. Start with location hours — Set your standard business hours first
  2. Add staff exceptions — Only configure staff hours when they differ from location hours
  3. Use date-specific overrides sparingly — For truly one-off schedule changes
  4. Keep it simple — Fewer overrides means easier maintenance