In this document:
Introduction
Everything you need to know about how timezones work with SSA.
Read our guide on choosing a Timezone For Your Booking Calendar.
Why are the time slots showing the timezone? (Ex. 11:00 AM MDT)
This happens when you’ve set the Appointment Type timezone to Locked. This is set in the Appointment Type > Scheduling Options > Appointment Timezone.
The timezone is only visible if the visitor’s timezone is different from the locked timezone of the Appointment Type.
The locked timezone information also shows in the top-right corner of the booking calendar.
The Locked timezone displays: “You are booking an appointment in timezone: America/Chihuahua” and it also tells you what the time currently is for that timezone.
If the timezone matches, we don’t display it at the top-right, and we don’t include it on the list of time slots (will only show 11:00 AM, not 11:00 AM MDT).
What timezone should I use? UTC or the closest city?
We use the standard list of Location timezones from IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which come in two varieties: locations and the UTC offsets.
Location timezones usually look like this: Region/City. Ex. America/New York. These take daylight savings into account.
Locations timezones are contextual, they’ll always be correct to tell you the time in that specific area.
We mostly recommend that you use the Location timezones using the City. For most uses, such as phone calls and in-person meetings, people who book will be keeping track of the time based on their location.
We also include the generalized Location timezones such as US Eastern or US Mountain time. But, we also don’t recommend using the general Location timezones. For example, Arizona is in US Mountain region, but most of Arizona does not use Daylight Savings Time (DST). They’re better off using America/Phoenix.
Recommended Location/City Timezones in the US
Here’s a list of generalized Location timezones and the corresponding Location/City timezone:
| US Region | Recommended Timezone |
|---|---|
| Eastern | America/New York |
| Central | America/Chicago |
| Mountain | America/Denver |
| Mountain – No DST | America/Phoenix |
| Pacific | America/Los Angeles |
| Alaska | America/Anchorage |
| Hawaii | America/Honolulu |
UTC Offsets
UTC offsets usually look like: UTC+X or UTC-X. Ex. UTC+1 or UTC-4.5. These do not take daylight savings into account. And we don’t recommend them 99% of the time, the use cases for these are very specific.
UTC offsets are absolute and will always be a measure of the Coordinated Universal Time – you’re either subtracting or adding hours to that time.
UTC offset timezones are used to synchronize computer clocks, the time standard in aviation, weather forecasts, and the International Space Station.
What if my city isn’t in the timezone list?
Choose a different nearby city in the same timezone.
Try looking in your region (Ex. America, Asia, etc..) and finding the city closest to you. Once you find a city that’s near you, just double-check on Google that your city is in the same timezone too.
Does the WordPress time affect the plugin time?
No, the Timezone settings will always be set within the plugin.
Under the WordPress Dashboard > Settings > General, there will be settings for timezones, date formatting, time formatting, and when the week starts.
None of these settings will affect how the plugin formats the booking calendar or when the notifications/reminders are sent.
