Booking locations help your clients and team members understand where their appointments are scheduled. This includes bookings at your facility, at the customer's home, online (i.e. with no physical address), or at another location such as a local park or pet-friendly shop. When a location is assigned to a booking in BusyPaws, that information is listed on the booking's information page, may be used to filter bookings viewed on the main Schedule page, and will be included on the booking event synced to the assigned user's calendar. A booking's location can also be included as dynamic content in your custom automated messaging. This can include the assigned location's name and/or address, providing your clients with all the information they need for their appointment.
In this guide, we explore how to create and manage your custom locations, and walk through how they can be used for your bookings and services.
Locations, rooms/kennels, and facilities have similar but distinct purposes. While Facilities refer to separate brick and mortar venues out of which your business operates, locations refer to places outside if your business' facility (i.e. parks, pet-friendly stores, etc.) where you may host training, play groups, or other services. Rooms/kennels are located within a facility, and are used to control capacity for the different spaces in which services may be booked.
Editing & Managing Existing Locations
To find your locations list, start by clicking the gear icon in the bottom-left corner of the page to open your Settings navigation page.
Then select "Locations" in the "Product Configuration" section.
This page lists all of the locations you have created for your account. These locations are intended to serve as potential alternative service locations, outside of your usual facility. Each location is listed with its name followed by its address. Click "Get Directions" under any of the locations to view the address in Google Maps or select the "Edit" button to make any needed changes to the address or location name.
Note that there is no need to create custom locations for in-home services or online appointments. These can be handled by defaults that are available when configuring your booking/service settings. See the Using Your Locations section below for more information.
After editing a location, be sure to click the "Update Location" button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
From the Edit Location page, select the "Actions" button in the menu bar at the top of the page, then select "Delete" to remove the location altogether. Note that this action cannot be undone.
Adding a New Location
To add a new location select the "Add Location" button at the top of the page.
This will open the New Location form, with fields for the location's name and address. This form also includes a toggle for enabling a custom colour bookings assigned to the location. Once you have completed your selections, click "Add Location" to save the new location to your list.
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.
Once your location has been saved, you can begin using it for your services and bookings!
Using Your Locations
There are two ways that locations can be used: they may be assigned to individual services or selected manually for bookings. In this section of the guide, we will take a look at both of those processes. Note that, in both cases, the same types of locations will be available for use.
No Address | Best suited for services offered online, this option results in no address being associated with scheduled bookings. |
Client Address | For those service appointments where the provider travels to the customer's home. When selected, the customer's address will populate (if available) or the client/user will be prompted to enter an address. This option is only available to select for individual training, grooming, or other-type services. |
Facility Address(es) | The default option for your service settings. Unless configured otherwise, services are assumed to take place at your facility. When users book manually, each facility on your business' account will be listed as an available location option. The chosen facility dictates the room/kennel options available for the booking. |
Custom Addresses | Locations/addresses added to your Locations page. Generally indicate addresses outside of your brick and mortar facility that your team uses frequently for service bookings. |
Assigning Locations to Services
This option is available only for individual services, and dictates the location to which appointments are assigned when self-booked by customers. To adjust a service's location settings, start by navigating to your Services page.
Then locate the service to which you want to assign a location. Select the service's name or the gear icon at the right end of its list entry to edit its associated settings. Note that the location setting is only available for individual training, grooming, or other-type services.
The "Booking Location" field is found on the Rooms and Locations card.
By default, all services are set to be scheduled at your business' facility address. To change the default setting for a service, select the "Booking Location" field. This will open a drop-down menu with a list of available location options including No Address, Client Address, your facility address, and any custom locations you have added. The option selected here will set the address for any appointments self-booked by your customers.
When Client Address is selected, customers will be prompted to enter or confirm their address during the self-booking process. If the customer has no address yet listed on their account, they will need to enter one to proceed with their booking. If they have an existing address saved to their profile, it will autopopulate and they need only confirm the address. All address fields (street, city, province/state, country, and zip/postal code) must be completed to continue on to the next step in the booking process.
Selecting a Location When Scheduling a Booking
Users can also select locations when manually scheduling bookings or editing an existing booking. This applies to both individual and group services of any type. The location setting for a booking is found on the "Service" card, just below the booking's provider.
This setting will default to your facility's address. To change the location for the booking, click on the "Booking Location" field. This will open a drop-down menu with a list of available location options including No Address, New Location, Client Address, your facility address, and any custom locations you have added.
If "New Location" is selected, fields for the location's name and address will populate, allowing the user to create a new location for their booking. When the booking is saved, the new location will be added to the list of custom locations available to be used for future bookings.
If the location is set to "Client Address", address fields will populate below the customer selection field after a client has been chosen for the booking. If the selected customer has no address yet listed on their account, the user will need to enter one to schedule the booking. If the client has an existing address saved to their profile, it will autopopulate and the user will just need to confirm the address. All address fields (street, city, province/state, country, and zip/postal code) must be completed to add the booking to the calendar.
"Client Address" is available to select only for individual training, grooming, or other-type services.
You now know everything you need to start using locations for your services and bookings! If you'd like to learn more about rooms and kennels, check out our guide on Using Rooms & Kennels. For more information about the client self-booking process, see our guides on Configuring Self-Serve Bookings and The Client Self-Booking Process.