Scheduling customers into services can take significant time from you and your staff. Consumers are increasingly more comfortable identifying the services they're interested in, finding the times they can attend, and paying for it online, all without ever speaking to a vendor. Let's walk through the process to setting this up for your business.

This guide discusses the following aspects of configuring client self-booking:

If you'd like to see more details on what the booking process looks like for your customers, check out our guide on The Client Self-Booking Process.

First, click or hover your mouse over the ellipses in the left-hand menu bar, then select "Services".

You can edit the settings for any existing service or series listed on this page by selecting either its name or the gear icon at the right end of its line entry.

From here, there are a variety of settings that can be used to configure client self-booking for the selected service/series. These settings will vary slightly depending on the type of service you have selected, and whether it is an individual or a group service, however there are some settings that are available for all services. The range of available settings is broken down into sections, depending on their functionalities. Let's take a look at which settings are available in each section, and what each of them does.

Select an option from the following list to jump to that subsection.

This section includes toggles for controlling whether the selected service is listed on your public service list (i.e. available for anyone to book) and what colour its bookings are when added to your calendar.

To allow your customers to book a service themselves, set the "Publicly listed" toggle for the service to on (purple). On the most basic level, this is all that needs to be done to control which services are available for public booking.

Group training services have an additional toggle in this section, labelled "Open enrollment". Turning this toggle on (purple) allows you to set the number of consecutive bookings clients will be signed up for when they self-register. This sets the class up for open enrollment (sometimes called rolling admission) classes, where clients can sign up for a pre-defined number of weeks, starting at any time. Use the "Bookings" field to set the number of classes you want customers to be registered for when they sign up.

This section includes a set of toggles for configuring the payment process for clients registering through the self-booking process. If all toggles are turned off (grey) clients are able to register for the service without providing any payment and all invoices will need to be generated manually. If any of the toggles are turned on (purple) the system will automatically generate an invoice for the client at the time of booking. Depending on the payment setting chosen, clients may or may not be required to provide payment to confirm their registration.

This section includes information and options surrounding restricting access to the service.

This section includes fields controlling how your services are organized and what information is collected when clients self-book.

The options in this section control the available booking window, cancellation policy, and default tips for the selected service. By default, all services/series are subject to the global settings you have chosen, however the override toggles found here allow you to customize those settings at the service level.

When the toggles in this section are switched on (purple), additional fields will populate, allowing you to make your customizations. Turning any of these settings on causes the custom to setting override your global settings.

This section is available only for individual, or one-on-one, services. Since individual service bookings are added to the calendar only when there is a specific client associated, a variety of settings are required to control when and how your customers are able to schedule bookings. Note that the available settings found in this section differ slightly for boarding services compared with other types of individual services.

Boarding services have the unique ability to be scheduled over multiple days. There are a variety of different types of boarding services that may require more or less flexibility for your clients when scheduling. By default, clients can book boarding services for any duration (number of nights). The options found under "Self-Booking Availability" for boarding services allow you to customize the flexibility of those bookings for clients that are self-registering.

When the "Fixed duration" toggle is enabled (purple) a "Nights" field will populate, allowing you to set the duration for the service.

Additionally, the Pick-up Times section will be replaced by a single "Pick-up range" field. This range will apply to the pick-up date of any self-booked registration for the fixed duration service, regardless of the day of the week.

When setting time ranges in any of the range fields, a weekday can be made non-selectable by removing the time altogether.

To include a split range (i.e. morning times and afternoon times, with a lunch break in between), simply separate each range in the field with a comma.

After making any changes to your available drop-off/pick-up ranges, be sure to click the "Update Availability" button to save the new settings.

The time slot options for individual, non-boarding services control how available times appear for clients that are self-booking. This includes the interval of selectable times as well as any required time between appointments (i.e. preventing back to back bookings, accounting for travel time, etc.).

This section is available only for daycare services and allows you to set a default schedule for the service. Once set to "Active", the system uses the assigned schedule to automatically generate daycare bookings on your calendars for which customers can register.

The time fields control the start and end times for each day of the week for your default daycare schedule. Switching the "Active" toggle on (purple) prompts the system to generate bookings for the service according to the set schedule. Turning the toggle off (grey) removes those bookings from your calendar, with the exception of those bookings with existing registrations.

For more information on configuring a default schedule for your daycare services, check out our Daycare Schedules help guide.

This section is available only for daycare services and allows you to have clients select their drop-off and pickup times during self-booking. With the "Collect on registration" toggle turned on (purple), use the "Check-In" and "Check-Out" fields to set the period after the booking start time/before the booking end time within which clients may select the drop-off and pickup times for their pet(s). When this setting is disabled clients registering for bookings of this service will be booked from the booking start time to its end.

This section is available only for boarding services and allows you to assign the kennel(s) you would like the system to use when clients are self-booking. Assigned kennels allow the system to check availability for the service and help control the capacity for your boarding services overall. As such, boarding services must have at least one kennel/run assigned to be bookable by clients.

To add a kennel/run, or adjust those that have already been assigned to the selected service, click the "Add Kennels/Runs" button.

In the resulting pop-up, select those kennels/runs that you would like assigned to the service. Selected kennels appear in purple, while un-selected kennels appear in grey. De-select any assigned kennel by clicking on it again. When you are done, click the "Save Changes" button.

Assigned kennels appear on the Kennels/Runs card in black, listed with their name and capacity. If the kennel/run has been linked to a room, that room's name will be listed below the kennel name and capacity.

For more information on creating and configuring kennels, check out our guide on Using Rooms & Kennels.

This section is available only for individual, non-boarding services (i.e. grooming, training, other), and allows you to indicate where bookings of this service will take place while also controlling capacity at your facility.

Once you have set up the room(s) and location for your services, you can use that information in your automated messaging. That will allow you to communicate to your clients where their appointment will take place.

Availability is the final piece for configuring self-booking settings at the service level. Individual services are set up such that your clients can create the bookings on your calendar. To ensure bookings are only added within the time ranges you want to offer that service, you'll need to set your booking schedule. Note that this setting is available only for individual, non-boarding services (i.e. grooming, training, other). For applicable services, at least one assigned schedule is required for clients to be able to self-book.

Assign a user schedule to the selected service by clicking the "Add User" button.

Then choose an existing user schedule from the drop-down menu in the resulting pop-up.

Once one or more schedules are assigned to a service, each user's schedule will be listed with three icons: a clipboard, a pencil, and a trash can. Use these icons to get the user's direct booking link, edit their schedule, or remove their schedule from the service.

Group services (including all Daycare, Group Training, or Group Other services) and series options need to be added to your calendar before your customers can book them. Open enrollment classes need to be scheduled in a recurring set before clients will be able to self-register.

Note that you can use the Schedule options for daycare services to automatically generate service bookings on a regular schedule. All other kinds of group services/series must be scheduled manually.

There are some additional global settings that will affect your client's ability to self-book. You can find these on the Client Self-Booking page. Start by clicking the gear icon at the bottom of the left-hand menu bar.

Then locate and select "Client Self-Booking" under "Product Configuration".

This page lists some settings that apply to all services.

A Public Booking Portal Link will provide your clients with access to all the services that you have marked as publicly listed. To get a Public Booking Link, start by clicking the Links/Integrations icon in the left-hand menu bar.

This page provides links and website integrations for your Online Bookings, Public Calendar, Client Portal, Memberships, Packages, and Forms & Contracts. Use the "Copy Link" button on the Public Client Self-Booking Portal card to get the Public Link for your clients. This link will provide access only to those Services marked as publicly listed.

Each service/series also has a Direct Booking Link which can be used to provide access to book that specific service. This will allow anyone to book that service, even if it's not marked as publicly listed. To get the link for a specific service or series, open the "Services" page from the ellipses menu at the left-hand side of the page.

The Direct Booking Link for any active service or series listed on this page can be found at the top right-hand side of its card. Use the "Direct Link" button to copy the address to your clipboard. Alternatively, use the "Embed Code" button to copy the code needed to integrate direct access to the service within your website.

Once you have your services, bookings, and availabilities set up, and you've configured your booking settings, the self-booking process is ready for your customers. The process is the same whether your clients are booking through the Public Portal, the Client Portal, or the widget on your website. We hope your calendar is filled and your time spent managing appointments is reduced!

For more information on what things look like from the customer's end when booking, check out our guide on The Client Self-Booking Process.