Services, Resources & Hours

Set up bookings once: what can be booked, who or what delivers it, when it's available, and the rules around it. After that the booking widget on your site offers only the times that really work.

In the dashboard:Bookings › Services · Resources · Availability · Booking SettingsPlan:Business and above · requires the Appointments & Bookings extension

Setup order

  1. Install the extension

    Website › Extensions › Appointments & Bookings. The Bookings group appears in your sidebar.
  2. Set store hours and slot rules

    Bookings › Availability.
  3. Add staff (if people deliver the service)

    From the Staff page, then set their hours in Availability.
  4. Add resources (if things get booked)

    Bookings › Resources: courts, rooms, chairs, machines.
  5. Create services

    Bookings › Services: what customers actually book.
  6. Choose policies and notifications

    Bookings › Booking Settings.
  7. Add the booking section to your site

    In the page builder, add the Appointment Booking section to a page, for example a “Book now” page.

Services

A service is anything a customer can book: a consultation, a lab test, an hour on the court. Click New service. The editor has five tabs:

TabSettings
BasicsName, category, description, duration in minutes, price and a price label (“from”, “per hour”), seats per slot, image, calendar colour, and location: in person, online (with a meeting link), phone call, or at the customer’s location.
RulesBookable online, buffer before and after, slot step, minimum notice, maximum days ahead, and whether it requires approval. Leave a rule blank to use the store default.
Staff & resourcesWhich staff offer it and which resources it needs. Tick no staff for services that don’t need a person, such as a court; they run on store hours.
IntakeQuestions asked when booking, for example “Symptoms”, “Car model” or “Number of players”. They can be required, with options. Answers appear on the appointment.
PaymentDeposit: none, a fixed amount, or a percentage of the price.

Group bookings and classes

Set Seats per slot above 1 and several customers can book the same start time. Use it for a yoga class, a group trek briefing or a 4-bench lab.

Use Categories (such as “Dental”, “Lab tests” or “Turf hire”) to group services in the booking widget.

Resources

Resources are things that get booked besides people. Types: Room, Court / pitch, Chair / station, Equipment, Table, Vehicle or Other. A service that needs a resource is only offered when one is free.

FieldMeaning
NameFor example “Pitch A”, “Room 2”, “Chair 3”.
CapacityHow many bookings it can hold at once. A pitch is 1; a 4-bench lab is 4.
Own hoursGive it its own opening hours; otherwise it follows store hours.
ActiveSwitch it off for maintenance without deleting it.

Skip resources entirely if your bookings only depend on staff.

Availability

Store hours are the outer limit. Staff and resources can be narrower, never wider.

SettingMeaning
Store hoursWeekly opening hours for bookings.
Slot stepHow often start times are offered, for example every 15 or 30 minutes.
Min noticeHow close to the start time customers can still book online. Staff booking from the dashboard ignore it.
Max days aheadHow far into the future people can book.
Buffer before / afterSetup and clean-up time between appointments.
Staff hoursFor each person: the title shown to customers (“Dentist”, “Senior stylist”), a short bio, whether they accept bookings, which services they offer, and their own working hours.
Holidays & closuresAdd a holiday, closure or special day, for the whole store or one staff member or resource, with dates and a reason.

Booking Settings

GroupOptions
Confirmation & customer changesAuto-confirm online bookings (or approve each one), whether customers can cancel or reschedule online and how many hours’ notice they need, and the max bookings per customer per day.
Booking formPhone number required, ask for a note, waitlist on full days, and your timezone.
Booking termsShown to customers, for example “Please arrive 10 minutes early. Cancellations need 24 hours’ notice.”
Confirmation noteExtra text in the confirmation email, such as parking or what to bring.
NotificationsEmail the customer, the reminder schedule (hours before), and email you on new bookings (to an address you choose).

Examples

BusinessSetup
ClinicStaff: doctors. Services: consultation 15 min, check-up 30 min, requires approval. Intake: symptoms. Resources: consulting rooms.
Futsal groundNo staff. Resources: Pitch A and Pitch B (capacity 1). Service: 1-hour booking with a 50% deposit.
SalonStaff: stylists with their own hours. Resources: chairs. Services by category: Hair, Nails, Makeup.
Yoga studioService: Morning class, 12 seats per slot. Staff: instructor.
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