Rooms and kennels allow you to break your services down into specific spaces and to limit your capacity when accepting bookings. The capacity settings for a selected room may restrict available registrations to the total capacity of the room, which may span across several services. This will in turn affect the ability (or inability) for your clients to book concurrent services. Use your rooms and kennels to help control the total number of pets scheduled in your facility at one time and to control how many service bookings your team can handle at any given time.
In this guide we will take a look at how to create and assign rooms and kennels/runs.
Locating Your Rooms/Kennels List
To locate your existing Rooms & Kennels list, start by selecting the "Settings" icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Then select "Rooms / Kennels" near the bottom of the "Product Configuration" section.
All of the current rooms and kennels/runs are listed on the Room / Kennel Management page, along with their current set capacities. Rooms can be assigned to Training, Daycare, Grooming, and/or Other services, while Kennels/Runs will be available for Boarding services. As such, the capacities for Rooms and Kennels/Runs display slightly differently for each. Click the "Duplicate" button for any listed Room or Kennel/Run to create a copy.
Rooms are listed with their pet capacity, service capacity, and the names of any kennels/runs to which they are linked.
Linking a kennel/run to a room means that bookings assigned to that kennel/run will impact the pet count in the associated room.
i.e. If there is a boarding booking for 2 dogs in the Large Kennel, the Daycare cottage will consider that as taking 2 spaces of its 15 pet capacity.
Kennels/runs are listed with their pet capacity and information on whether or not they allow for multiple concurrent bookings.
If a kennel allows multiple concurrent bookings then clients will be able to self-book up until the kennel's pet capacity is reached. If the kennel does not allow concurrent bookings the kennel will not be available for client self-booking if there is an existing booking assigned on that date (i.e. Even if there is only one pet booked, the kennel should not allow another client to book their pet in).
If your account has more than one facility, each facility will have its own tab with a list of its associated rooms/kennels.
Setting Up New Rooms/Kennels
To create a new room or kennel/run click the "Add Room / Kennel" button at the top-right corner of the page.
Set the Type as Room or Kennel/Run using the drop-down menu.
If you have more than one facility on your account, this form will also have a "Facility" field. Each room/kennel is associated with a single facility.
Use the Name field to add a name to your new room/kennel. This name will be used to identify the room/kennel when assigning it to your services and bookings. It may be used to refer to a very specific room or kennel/run, or a more general space at your facility that you wish to use in controlling your overall capacity.
Rooms and kennels/runs may also have a custom colour assigned to them. To configure a custom colour, first turn the "Custom calendar colour" toggle on (purple), then click the colour field and assign a colour.
For more information on how to use the colour selector, check out the Custom Colours section of our guide on Viewing Bookings on Your Calendar.
The other available setting fields will vary slightly depending on whether you are creating a room or a kennel/run.
Room
Capacity | This setting restricts the number of pets able to be registered in the room within the same time slot. Use the up/down arrows to adjust capacity limits, or simply type the new limit into the text box.
i.e. If the Large Room has a capacity of 10 pets and there are already other services booked there at that time, it will reduce the availability for additional bookings. In this case, if 10 other dogs were booked into the Large Room at 10am there would be no space available for 10am Daycare in that same room, even if the Daycare booking itself still had space. |
Concurrent Services | This setting restricts the number of services that can be booked in the room at the same time. Use the up/down arrows to adjust capacity limits, or simply type the new limit into the text box.
i.e. If the Large Room has its Concurrent Services maximum set to 1 it will not allow multiple bookings to be scheduled at the same time, regardless of whether the pet Capacity has been reached or not. If a group service with 4 dogs was booked into the Large Room at 10am there would be no 10am slot available for Individual Dog Training. |
Kennels/Runs | This setting controls whether any kennels/runs should share their capacity with the room. This means bookings assigned to those kennels/runs will impact the room capacity (and vice versa).
i.e. If the Large Room has a pet capacity of 10 pets and is assigned to Kennel A, a booking for 2 pets in Kennel A will mean only 8 spots are left available in the Large Room on that date. |
When scheduling services in a room, any time period for which either capacity limit has been reached will no longer be available for booking.
Kennel/Run
Capacity | This setting restricts the number of pets able to be registered in the kennel/run within the same time slot/date. Use the up/down arrows to adjust capacity limits, or simply type the new limit into the text box. |
Concurrent Bookings | This toggle controls whether the kennel/run will allow clients to self-book multiple different bookings into it at the same time. When enabled (purple) customers can self-book their pet into a kennel at the same time as other bookings, provided the pet capacity allows. When disabled (grey) clients will be blocked from self-booking into a kennel that already has a scheduled booking for their chosen date.
i.e. If I have space for 5 dogs, regardless of how they are distributed across bookings, I may set my kennel to allow concurrent bookings. If I instead have a single run that might allow 5 dogs from the same family, but not dogs from different families, I would not want to allow concurrent bookings. I could instead set up separate runs for all of my available 5-dog runs, each of which has concurrent bookings disabled. |
When scheduling services in a kennel/run, any date on which the pet capacity has been reached will no longer be available for self-booking. If concurrent bookings are disabled, the kennel is unavailable for self-booking whenever there is an existing booking.
When you have finished configuring the settings for your new room/kennel, click the "+ Add" button to create your new room/kennel.
Adjusting Room/Kennel Capacities
You can also adjust the capacity or change the name of any existing room or kennel by selecting its name from the list on the Room / Kennel Management page.
When you hover your mouse over the name of any room/kennel a small pop-up will appear with information on the number of individual services to which that room/kennel has been assigned.
For more information, see the sections below on Assigning Rooms to Individual Services and Assigning Kennels/Runs to Boarding Services.
Use the text fields and up/down arrows to make any desired changes to the name and/or capacities.
When editing rooms, this page will also allow you to adjust any kennels that have been linked to the room's capacity. Click the trash can next to any listed kennel to remove its connection to the room. Click the "Add Kennel" button to assign another kennel.
Deleting a kennel here does not delete it altogether. That action simply removes the connection between the room's capacity and the kennel's capacity.
When you are happy with the changes made, click the "Update Room"/"Update Kennel/Run" button to save the new settings.
Assigning Rooms to Individual Services
Rooms can be assigned directly to any individual, non-boarding services (i.e. grooming, training, other). Assigning rooms at the service-level prompts the system to schedule self-booked client appointments in those rooms, and check the room capacity when determining availabilities. Though services do not need to be assigned to a specific room, this setting can be helpful for limiting capacities when scheduling multiple services concurrently.
To assign one or more rooms to a service, start by navigating to the Services page.
Locate the individual (non-boarding) service to which you want to assign a room, and select its name or the gear icon at the right end of its list entry.
All individual services have a "Rooms and Locations" card on their settings page. To adjust the assigned room(s), select "Edit Rooms".
In the resulting pop-up, select which room(s) you want to assign to the service. Selected rooms are shown in purple, while deselected rooms are shown in grey. Click any selected room a second time to deselect it. Note that the pet capacity for each available room is listed next to its name. Once you've made your selections, click the "Save Changes" button to confirm your choices.
All assigned rooms will be listed just below the "Edit Rooms" button on the service's Rooms & Locations card.
Assigning Rooms to Daycare Schedules
Daycare services are the only type of group service that have the option of setting up an automated schedule. Rooms can be assigned to these schedules to help control the overall capacity for ongoing daycare bookings. This helps prevent facilities from ending up with too many registered pets on any given day, even when running multiple different types of daycare concurrently (i.e. Full Day, Half-Day, Small Dog, etc.).
Each daycare schedule can have only one assigned room. This is because each booking can have only one assigned room.
To assign a room to a daycare schedule, start by navigating to the Services page.
Locate the daycare service to whose schedule you want to assign a room, and select its name or the gear icon at the right end of its list entry.
All daycare services have a "Schedule" card near the top of their settings page. This schedule is used to automatically populate daycare bookings on the calendar, into which clients can then be registered. To have the system assign those bookings to a specific room, use the "Room" field. Click the field to open a drop-down menu then select an option from your list of available rooms.
If the schedule is active, click the "Update Schedule" button to update the existing bookings with the new room assignment.
Assigning Kennels/Runs to Boarding Services
Kennels are built to control the capacity for boarding bookings, which must have at least one kennel assigned for them to be self-booked by clients. Assigning kennels to a boarding service prompts the system to schedule self-booked client appointments in those kennels, and check the overall kennel capacity when determining availabilities.
When calculating which dates are available for clients to book, the system uses the total capacity of all assigned kennels.
i.e. You have set up Kennel A with a capacity of 2 pets, Kennel B with a capacity of 2 pets, and Kennel C with a capacity of 1 pet. If Kennel A is booked with 2 pets, and Kennel B is booked with 3 pets, a service assigned to all three kennels will be marked as fully booked, even though Kennel C has no associated booking. This is because the total number of pets (2 + 3) is already equal to the maximum capacity for all assigned kennels (2 + 2 + 1).
To assign one or more kennels to a service, start by navigating to the Services page.
Locate the boarding service to which you want to assign a kennel, and select its name or the gear icon at the right end of its list entry.
All boarding services have a "Kennels/Runs" card on their settings page. To adjust the assigned kennel(s), select "Edit Kennels/Runs".
In the resulting pop-up, select which kennel/run(s) you want to assign to the service. Selected kennels are shown in purple, while deselected kennels are shown in grey. Click any selected kennel a second time to deselect it. Note that the pet capacity for each available kennel is listed next to its name. Once you've made your selections, click the "Save Changes" button to confirm your choices.
Click the "Manage Rooms and Kennels" button at the top-right corner of the pop-up to navigate to your Room/Kennel Management page.
All assigned kennels will be listed just below the "Edit Kennels/Runs" button on the service's Kennels/Runs card. If any of the assigned kennels have been associated with a room, that room will be noted beneath the kennel's name.
Assigning Rooms & Kennels to Bookings
Rooms and kennels can also be applied to any bookings that are manually scheduled by users, or added to any existing appointment by editing the booking. This includes bookings for individual and group services. When scheduling a booking, after the service has been selected, you will be able to choose either a room or a kennel for the booking (depending on the type of service selected), or you can proceed without making a selection.
If the selected room/kennel is already booked for the date and time you set for your booking, a warning message will appear with details about the conflict.
When scheduling boarding bookings, the kennel capacities will display for the selected date range, allowing you to choose which kennel you wish to associate with the new booking.
Depending on your needs, you may also wish to configure locations for your services and bookings. While rooms and kennels help control capacity within a facility, locations allow you to assign addresses to your bookings that may take place outside your facility or even indicate that a booking has no address (i.e. virtual sessions). For more information, check out our Booking Locations help guide.