# Calendar Slot Duration — Why Appointments Block 30 Minutes

Closers occasionally notice that a single inbound appointment "eats" a 30-minute block on the Consultation calendar — even when the actual call is much shorter, or the lead does not show up. This page explains why that happens and what to do.

**📌 Trigger:** Paul Adrian (@lxr6831) asked in #improvement-requests on Apr 25, 2026: "bro can you check why some appointments are eating 30 minutes?" Documenting here so closers and admins have a single answer.

## How the Consultation Calendar Is Configured

- **Default appointment slot:** 30 minutes per booking. This is set on the calendar itself, not per-lead.
- **Buffer time:** The calendar may add a small buffer between bookings to prevent back-to-back overruns. That buffer counts toward the closer's blocked time, even though it does not appear on the appointment card.
- **Round-robin assignment:** When the AI books a lead, GHL picks the next available closer with an open 30-minute slot. If a closer has a 30-minute slot blocked, they are skipped on this lead.

## Why an Appointment Can "Eat" 30 Minutes

1. **Slot length is fixed at 30 min.** Even a 5-minute call still locks the 30-min block on the calendar. The slot does not auto-shrink to actual call length.
2. **No-shows still hold the slot.** If the lead does not pick up, the booked block stays on the calendar until manually rescheduled or marked no-show. The closer cannot take a new lead in that time window.
3. **Reassigned appointments leave the original block held.** When the AI re-routes a lead to another closer (see *AI Booking Agent — Appointment Reassignment*), the new closer gets a fresh 30-min block. If the old block was not cleared cleanly, both closers can show the time as blocked.
4. **Active-client re-route.** If the lead is already an active client, the appointment moves to CSR. The original closer's 30 min may stay reserved on their calendar view until the move syncs.
5. **Double-booking from manual entry.** If a closer or admin manually adds an appointment on top of an AI-booked slot, the calendar shows back-to-back 30-min blocks even if it is the same client.

## What to Do (Closers)

- **Do not panic about a "long" booking.** A 30-min slot is normal. The call itself is rarely 30 min — most consults run 10–20 min.
- **If the lead no-shows or reschedules:** mark the appointment status (No Show / Rescheduled) so the slot frees up for the next round-robin lead.
- **If you see two 30-min blocks for the same client back-to-back:** flag in #improvement-requests with client name + closer names + appointment times. Tag @Sam (Ops). Do not delete either; ops will reconcile.
- **If you think your calendar is showing time blocked that is not actually a real appointment:** screenshot the calendar view + open the appointment card so the actual booking record is visible. Post in #improvement-requests with @Sam and @Peter.

## What to Do (Admins / Ops)

- Verify on the calendar settings: slot length should be 30 min, buffer should be set deliberately (not accidentally inflated).
- Review the contact's appointment history: every "lost" 30 min should map to a booking record. If you see blocked time with no record, that is a sync bug — log it and tag Peter.
- If the same closer keeps reporting "eaten" time, audit their last 20 appointments: count no-shows still marked as Confirmed (not closed out), reassignments, and double-bookings.
- If no-shows are the main driver, that is a process gap — closers must close out no-shows in real time so round-robin can re-fill the slot.

## Related Pages

- AI Booking Agent — Appointment Reassignment & Missing Closer Records
- GHL Timezone & DST Troubleshooting
- Speed-to-Call Protocol
- GoHighLevel Complete Guide

*Page created 2026-04-29 from #improvement-requests question (Paul Adrian, Apr 25 2026). Owner: Sam (Ops) for calendar config, Peter for booking-flow logic.*