Overview
Booking Settings control how customers book appointments through your online booking system. Configure self-service booking, payment requirements, confirmation workflows, and scheduling rules to match your business needs.
The page ends with How Petboost picks the times it offers, a collapsed section that explains, using your own settings, who takes a booking, which start times are offered, and how many pets a team member can take at once.
Self-Service Booking
Control whether customers can book appointments online without your approval.
Online booking
The Online booking switch controls whether customers can book and change appointments themselves. It is in Settings → Booking Settings. Select Publish Changes after you change it.
On - customers can book and change appointments themselves.
They see available times and book online
They can change a booking they already have
Off - customers cannot book or change appointments themselves.
They cannot start a new booking, including if they have booked with you before
They cannot change a booking they already have
The booking page still opens. They see a contact banner instead of services
Your public page stays up for search engines. Services, packages, add-ons, memberships, courses and the price list are hidden. About, contact, hours, gallery, team, map and similar information stay visible
Your team can still create and change bookings
Customers can still cancel where your rules allow
Turning this back on later does not mean re-publishing each service
To turn Online booking off:
Open Settings → Booking Settings
Turn Online booking off
Confirm in the dialog
Select Publish Changes
When to turn it off:
During high-demand periods that need manual approval
For VIP or complex work that needs a consultation first
When you are managing capacity yourself
Payment Requirements
Allow booking without card
This toggle is on Settings > Pricing & Payments, in the Card on file card. It is off by default.
On - Book without payment method
Customer can book without adding a payment card
Payment collected later (in-person, bank transfer, etc.)
Higher no-show risk
Off (default) - Must have payment method
Customer must add a valid payment card to book
A deposit, if the service takes one, is charged at booking. Otherwise the card is not charged until the appointment. Deposits are not set here: the business default is Settings > Pricing & Payments, under Deposits, and each service can override it on its own Pricing & Payments tab. See Deposits and pre-authorisation
Significantly reduces no-shows
Enables Automatic Actions (pre-hold funds, auto-pay)
Recommendation: Require payment methods to reduce no-shows and enable automated payment workflows.
Booking Confirmation
Control how bookings are confirmed.
Instant confirmation
Auto-confirm bookings
Bookings are immediately confirmed
Customer receives instant confirmation
Reduces admin workload
Best for most businesses
Manual Approval
Review before confirming
Bookings are "Pending" until you approve them
You manually review and confirm each booking
Customer notified once you approve
Use for high-value or complex services
When to use manual approval:
Services requiring special preparation
VIP or sensitive appointments
When managing capacity manually
During busy periods when you need control
Customers choose their team member
Control how team members are assigned to appointments. Turn Customers choose their team member on for customer choice, or leave it off for auto-assigned.
Customer Choice
Can select preferred staff
Customers see available team members and choose their preferred one
They then see only that team member's available times
Builds customer relationships
Some team members may get booked more than others
Auto-Assigned
Staff assigned automatically
Customers see available times without staff names
The engine generates available time slots for eligible team members one by one
When multiple team members are free at the same time, the first team member checked is shown for that slot and duplicate slots from other team members are removed
How Auto-Assigned works step by step:
The engine identifies which team members can perform the requested service
It goes through eligible team members in order and generates all their available time slots
When two or more team members are both available at the same time (e.g. both Sarah and James at 9:00 AM), only the first one checked is shown for that time slot
The customer picks a time, and the team member already attached to that slot is assigned
Important: Auto-assigned mode does not distribute bookings evenly. If Sarah and James have identical schedules and both perform the same services, Sarah will be assigned to most bookings because her slots are generated first. James only gets assigned when Sarah is already booked at that time. We are actively building a balanced distribution mode that will spread bookings evenly across equally qualified team members.
Recommendation: Customer choice builds stronger relationships. Auto-assigned keeps the booking flow simpler for customers who do not have a preference.
Let customers book a repeating series
When Let customers book a repeating series is on, customers can set a booking to repeat when they book online. When it is off, they book one visit at a time. A service can keep its own value for this switch; the badge under the switch says how many do.
Booking Notice Period
Set minimum advance notice required for bookings.
Minimum advance notice required for bookings
Prevents last-minute bookings that don't give you enough preparation time.
Time Configuration:
Weeks, Days, Hours and Minutes, with minutes in 5-minute steps
Common Settings:
4 hours - Same-day bookings with preparation time
24 hours - Next-day bookings only
48 hours - Two-day advance notice for grooming
1 week - For services requiring special preparation
Example: If set to "4 hours", customers cannot book appointments starting within the next 4 hours.
Booking Interval
Set time slot intervals available for booking.
Allow Booking of Appointments Every:
Options:
5 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
How it works:
If you select "30 minutes", customers can only book appointments at start times like:
9:00 AM
9:30 AM
10:00 AM
(Not 9:15, 9:45)
The system automatically fills gaps based on service durations. If an appointment ends at 11:10 AM and you have a 15-minute interval with 30 minutes of padding after, the next available slot starts at 11:45 AM (end time + padding, rounded up to the next interval mark).
Choosing the right interval:
5 minutes - Maximum flexibility, many time slot options (may overwhelm customers)
15 minutes - Good balance for most services
30 minutes - Simplifies scheduling, reduces slot fragmentation
1 hour - For very long services or day bookings
Recommendation: 15 or 30 minutes works best for most pet service businesses.
How Petboost picks the times it offers
The collapsed section at the bottom of Settings > Booking Settings explains how Petboost finds and presents available times to your customers, with your own booking interval, padding and notice period in the example. It has three parts: Who does the booking, Which start times it offers and How many pets at once. Nothing in it is a setting.
Who does the booking
The two assignment modes:
Auto-Assigned (default): The engine goes through eligible team members one by one and generates their available slots. When two team members are both free at the same time, only the first one checked is shown for that slot. This means the first team member in the list tends to get most bookings until their calendar fills up. Customers do not see team member names.
Customer Choice: Customers select their preferred team member first, then see only that person's available times.
Switch between these modes with Customers choose their team member on Settings > Booking Settings.
Which start times it offers
This part uses your own settings from Settings > Duration & Timing:
Start times fall on your Booking Interval, for example every 15 minutes
Each booking blocks Buffer time before appointments and Buffer time after appointments on the calendar
Nothing is offered sooner than Minimum advance notice required for bookings
It ends with an example worked out from your settings: the next start offered after a booking that ends at 11:10 AM. With a 15-minute interval and 30 minutes of padding after, that is 11:45 AM.
Multi-Pet Scheduling
Multi-Pet Scheduling on Settings > Duration & Timing controls how appointments are scheduled when a customer books for multiple pets at once.
Best Fit (Recommended)
Pets are grouped together when possible, with fallback options.
Shows closest times first, then offers alternatives if needed
Slots are ordered by efficiency, with tightest groupings appearing first
If your team has capacity for 2+ pets at once, same-time slots are shown first
Never blocks bookings - always finds a slot, even when busy
Customer may still pick a scattered slot if they prefer
All Pets Together
All pets must start at exactly the same time.
Single drop-off - owner brings all pets together
Requires team to handle 2-3 pets simultaneously
Fewer available time slots
Warning: If capacity is too low, customers see NO available times with no backup options
Clustered Start
All pets must start within a configurable time window of each other.
Choose a maximum window (e.g. 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours)
First pet drops off at 9:00 AM, all others must start within the window
Good balance between "All Pets Together" and full flexibility
Allows rolling drop-off - owner can drop pets one by one
How many pets at once
This part explains the two types of capacity:
Standard Capacity - How many pets from different households a team member can work on at the same time. Most groomers set this to 1.
Same-family booking - A higher limit for when all pets belong to the same owner. This lets you handle siblings together while still limiting bookings from different families.
Example: Sarah has Standard Capacity of 1 and Same-family booking capacity of 3. She can groom 3 dogs from the Smith family at once, but cannot groom a Smith dog and a Jones dog at the same time.
Where to configure: Capacity is set per team member in Team Members → [Name] → Working Hours and per service in Services → [Name] → Team & Resources.
Padding Before/After Appointments
Set buffer time before and after appointments.
Options:
No padding
15 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
1.5 hours
2 hours
3 hours
Buffer time before appointments (padding before) - Setup time before the appointment (e.g. preparing equipment, reviewing notes). It is on Settings > Duration & Timing, under Advanced options.
Buffer time after appointments (padding after) - Cleanup time after the appointment (e.g. cleaning station, writing notes).
How padding affects availability:
Padding blocks time on either side of each appointment. A 45-minute grooming with 15 minutes padding before and 15 minutes padding after effectively blocks 1 hour and 15 minutes on the calendar.
Tip: You can set different padding per service using service-level overrides.
Start Appointment Calendar On
Choose which day the calendar week begins:
Monday - Standard business week
Sunday - Starts the week on Sunday
This only affects the calendar display in your appointment management view.
Per-Customer Booking Overrides
You can block individual customers from online booking while keeping online booking enabled for others.
Blocking a Specific Customer
To block a customer:
Open the customer's pet profile
Click the Manage Owner menu
Select Block from Online Booking
What happens:
Customer sees "no availability" when trying to book online
Customer can still log in and access their portal
Customer retains access to past appointment photos and history
You can still create appointments for them manually
All other customers can continue booking normally
To unblock:
Open the customer's pet profile
Click the Manage Owner menu
Select Enable Online Booking
When to use per-customer blocking:
Customers who repeatedly no-show or cancel last-minute
Customers requiring consultation before booking
Temporary restrictions during disputes or payment issues
Common Questions
Q: How are team members assigned when I use auto-assign?
A: The engine pools all eligible team members' available times together. When a customer picks a time, the team member who was available at that slot is assigned. Customers choose the time, which determines the team member.
Q: Does auto-assign distribute bookings evenly across my team?
A: No. When two team members are both available at the same time, the first one checked gets that slot. This means one team member may receive most bookings until their calendar fills up.
Q: Can I temporarily disable online booking?
A: Yes. Turn Online booking off in Settings → Booking Settings, then select Publish Changes. Customers cannot start or change a booking. The booking page still opens with a contact banner. Your public page stays up for search engines without services, packages, memberships or courses. Your team can still create and change bookings. Customers can still cancel where your rules allow.
Q: Can I block specific customers from booking while keeping it enabled for others?
A: Yes, use per-customer booking overrides. Open the customer's profile, click Manage Owner, then Block from Online Booking. Blocked customers see "no availability" but can still access their portal.
Q: What happens if I require a card on file?
A: Customers must add a valid payment card before booking online. A deposit, if the service takes one, is charged at booking. Otherwise the card is not charged until the appointment. Requiring a card is not the same as taking a deposit. Set a deposit on Settings > Pricing & Payments under Deposits, then override it per service if you need to. See Deposits and pre-authorisation.
Q: Should I use instant confirmation or manual approval?
A: Use instant confirmation for 95% of bookings. Only use manual approval if you truly need to review each booking individually.
Q: What's the best booking interval?
A: 15 or 30 minutes works for most businesses. Use 5 minutes only if you need maximum flexibility.
Q: What is the difference between "Best Fit" and "All Pets Together" for multi-pet bookings?
A: Best Fit tries to group pets close together but always shows alternative options if tight grouping is not possible. All Pets Together requires every pet to start at exactly the same time, which needs enough team capacity for simultaneous pets. If capacity is too low, customers may see no available times at all.
Q: What is Same-family booking?
A: It is a higher capacity limit that applies only when all pets being booked belong to the same owner. For example, a groomer with Standard Capacity of 1 and Same-family booking capacity of 3 can handle 3 of one family's dogs at once, but only 1 dog at a time from different families.
Q: Where do I set capacity for my team members?
A: Go to Team Members → [Name] → Working Hours to set per-session capacity, and Services → [Name] → Team & Resources to set how much capacity each service consumes.
Next Steps
Set up Automatic Actions to automate appointment workflows
Configure Notifications to keep customers informed
Review Policies & Paperwork for cancellation policies
Set up Payment Settings to process card payments