meta_title: How to Close Timeslots & Days in TicketingHub

meta_description: Learn 5 ways to close timeslots, block days, or cancel orders in TicketingHub — including what customers see and how to handle existing bookings.

slug: how-to-close-timeslots-days-and-manage-availability-exceptions

category: Product Dashboard

last_updated: April 2026

How to Close Timeslots, Days, and Block Availability in TicketingHub

A complete guide for tour operators and activity providers who need to control their availability — and understand exactly what customers see when they do.

TicketingHub offers five ways to close availability: deleting a timeslot, setting capacity to zero, closing an entire day, creating an availability exception, or using a blank season to cover multiple days. Each method serves a different scenario — the guide below explains which to use and when.

Which Approach Should I Use?

Understanding Exceptions and Seasons

Your availability in TicketingHub is controlled by two things:

Seasons define your repeating schedule — the times and capacities that apply across a date range. You can have multiple seasons (e.g. Summer, Winter, Christmas). When seasons overlap, the most recently created one takes priority.

Exceptions override your season for one specific date only. They leave all other dates untouched.

Whenever you close a timeslot, a day, or a date range — however you do it — TicketingHub is working with one of these two mechanisms under the hood.

Method 1 — Close a Single Timeslot

Use this when you want to close one specific timeslot on one specific date.

Steps:

1. Go to your product → Availability
2. Click on the timeslot you want to close
3. Click Edit
4. Choose one of the two options below

Option A — Delete the timeslot (slot disappears from widget)

Click the delete icon. This removes the timeslot entirely for that date. The slot will not appear in the booking widget at all for customers.

✅ Best for: Cancelled departures, unexpected closures, private bookings taking the full slot.

Option B — Set capacity to 0 (slot shows as "Sold Out")

Change the capacity field to 0 and save.

⚠️ Important: Setting capacity to 0 does not hide the slot from customers — it shows it as "Sold Out." If you want it to disappear from the widget entirely, use Option A instead.

✅ Best for: Internal placeholders you may reopen later, but want to temporarily block from new bookings.

💡 Both options create an exception behind the scenes for that date only. Your season schedule is not affected.

Method 2 — Close an Entire Day

Use this for a quick, full-day closure directly from the calendar view.

Steps:

1. Go to your product → Availability
2. Find the date on the calendar
3. Click the bin icon 🗑 in the top right corner of that date
4. Select the products you want to close for that day and confirm

TicketingHub automatically creates an exception for that date, removing all timeslots for the selected products from the booking widget.

💡 This is a faster way to create an exception — you're doing the same thing as Method 3, just without the full exception editor.

Method 3 — Create an Availability Exception

Use this when you need full control over one specific date — a modified schedule, a one-off extra departure, or removing just one timeslot while keeping the rest of the day open.

Steps:

1. Go to your product → Availability
2. Click Create Exception
3. Enter the date you want to override

You then have two choices:

Clone your existing schedule (recommended)

Enable the "Clone existing options" toggle. This copies your current season schedule for that date as a starting point. You can then:

• Add a new timeslot
• Remove specific timeslots
• Adjust capacities for that day only

Your underlying season is not affected.

Start from a blank canvas

Leave the clone option off. You'll have an empty schedule for that date — add only the timeslots you want to run. Best when the day looks completely different from your normal schedule.

The exception applies to that date only. All other dates continue running from your season settings as normal.

Method 4 — Close a Date Range (Create a Blank Season)

Use this when you want to close your product for multiple consecutive days — a holiday closure, annual maintenance, or an off-season period.

Rather than creating individual exceptions day by day, create a new season that covers the entire date range and leave it empty. Because the most recently created season takes priority, it overrides your existing schedule for the full period — with no timeslots, nothing appears in the widget.

Steps:

1. Go to your product → Availability
2. Click Create Season
3. Give it a clear name — e.g. "Closed" or "August Closure"
4. Set the start and end dates (e.g. 1 August – 31 August)
5. Click Create
6. Do not add any timeslots or capacity — leave it completely blank and save

During that period, the product will show no available dates in the booking widget. Your regular season resumes automatically once the closure period ends.

💡 This is the cleanest way to handle a multi-day closure — one blank season covers the entire range in seconds.

⚠️ Set your start and end dates precisely. Any dates outside the range will continue running from your regular season as normal.

Method 5 — Cancel All Orders in a Timeslot

Use this when a timeslot you need to close already has existing bookings — a cancelled departure due to bad weather, a guide calling in sick, a venue issue. Rather than cancelling each booking manually, you can cancel, refund, and notify all affected customers in one action.

Step 1 — Activate the feature

1. Go to your product → Settings → Advanced Features
2. Enable Cancel All Orders

Step 2 — Use it from the Manifest

1. Go to your product → Availability
2. Click on the timeslot you want to cancel
3. Click Manifest
4. Click Cancel All Orders in the top right corner
5. A pop-up appears — write your custom message to affected customers
6. Review the warning (this confirms you are about to cancel and refund everyone in that timeslot)
7. Confirm to proceed

TicketingHub cancels all bookings, processes refunds automatically, and sends your custom email to every affected customer in a single action.

⚠️ Cancel All Orders handles bookings and notifications only. It does not automatically close the timeslot in the widget. After using this method, go back to Availability and delete the timeslot (Method 1A) or close the day (Method 2) so no new bookings can come in.

What Does "Sold Out" vs "Almost Full" Mean in TicketingHub?

This is one of the most common points of confusion for operators. Here's exactly what each status means and what triggers it.

🟢 Available

One or more bookable timeslots exist with remaining capacity.

🟡 Almost Full

More than 50% of the day's available spots across all bookable timeslots are taken. Timeslots with capacity set to 0 are excluded from this calculation — only genuinely open slots count toward the ratio.

🔴 Sold Out

Either all bookable timeslots are fully booked, or the only timeslots that exist for that day have capacity set to 0.

⚠️ The capacity=0 trap: If you use capacity=0 to "close" timeslots but don't delete them, customers will still see those slots listed as "Sold Out" — not hidden. Use Method 1A (delete) or Method 2 if you want them to disappear from the widget entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my timeslot show as "Sold Out" even though there are no bookings?

Setting capacity to 0 shows the timeslot as "Sold Out" to customers even with no bookings. To hide the slot entirely, delete it instead.

What is the difference between a season and an exception?

A season sets your repeating schedule across a date range. An exception overrides it for one specific date only. Every time you close a timeslot or day, TicketingHub creates an exception behind the scenes.

Will closing a day using the bin icon affect future recurring dates?

No — closing a day only affects that specific date. Your season schedule continues on all other dates as normal.

What happens when my blank closure season ends?

Your regular season resumes automatically. No action needed.

Can I reopen a timeslot or day I've closed?

Yes. For a single exception, go to Availability, find the exception for that date, edit it, and restore the timeslots you want. For a blank season closure, go into that season and either add timeslots back or delete the closure season entirely.

Why is every day showing as "Almost Full" with very few bookings?

Check whether your product has many timeslots with capacity set to 0. These are excluded from the "Almost Full" calculation, but having many unused placeholder slots can cause unexpected behaviour. Consider deleting unused placeholder timeslots to keep your availability clean.

Does Cancel All Orders also remove the timeslot from the widget?

No. It cancels and refunds existing bookings and sends your custom email. You still need to close or delete the timeslot separately so no new bookings can be made.

How do I close availability for an entire month?

Use Method 4 — create a blank season covering the date range. This is faster and cleaner than creating individual daily exceptions.

Related articles:

*How to Create Availability Using Seasons · How to Cancel or Refund a Booking or Order · What is a Ticket Cut-off Time?

*Last updated: April 2026 · Questions? support@ticketinghub.com

Updated on: 10/04/2026