Cookie notice

What cookies are used for

A cookie is a small file a site stores in your browser. OpenSlot uses a deliberately small number of them: some are strictly necessary to make the service work, and one set is used to measure how the website is used.

OpenSlot does not use advertising cookies, does not run third-party ad networks on business booking pages, and does not sell information collected through cookies.

Strictly necessary cookies

A PHP session cookie is set when you sign in, and also during a public booking so the service, time and details you have chosen carry across the three steps. It holds a random session identifier, not your personal details.

The session also carries a cross-site request forgery token, which protects forms such as sign-in, booking confirmation and settings changes from being submitted by another site on your behalf.

These cookies cannot be switched off, because sign-in and booking cannot function without them. They expire when the session ends or shortly afterwards.

Analytics cookies

OpenSlot uses Google Analytics 4, property G-GVC1CZ7Q23, to understand how the website is found and used, which pages are read, and where journeys are abandoned. It sets cookies beginning _ga, which contain a randomly generated identifier for a browser rather than a name or email address.

This measurement is not strictly necessary for the service to work. Analytics data is used in aggregate to improve the product and the website, and is retained according to the property's configured retention period.

Analytics can be prevented by declining non-essential cookies where a choice is offered, by using your browser's controls described below, or by installing Google's official opt-out browser add-on.

Cookies set by other services

When a payment is taken, checkout happens on Stripe's own hosted page rather than on OpenSlot. Stripe sets its own cookies there for fraud prevention and to operate the payment, governed by Stripe's privacy policy.

Where a business connects Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook, the sign-in step happens on that provider's own domain and is subject to their cookie practices. OpenSlot receives only the access tokens needed for calendar synchronisation, which are stored encrypted rather than in your browser.

Controlling cookies in your browser

Every major browser lets you view, block and delete cookies, usually under privacy or site settings, and most allow you to block third-party cookies specifically.

Blocking analytics cookies has no effect on booking or account features. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will prevent signing in, and will prevent a public booking from completing, because the booking steps cannot be linked together without a session.

Changes to this notice

If OpenSlot adds, removes or changes the purpose of a cookie, this notice is updated and the review date at the top of the page changes with it.