Resource Working Hours & Blocked Times

Working hours and blocked times keep your resources available when you need them while leaving room for maintenance, cleaning and other downtime. Petboost checks both whenever it offers a time.

A resource's working hours are made of sessions, the same as a team member's: a working day with no session takes no bookings. Hours are times of day in your business's time zone, shown as Timezone under Local Info on Settings, so a 9:00 am start stays 9:00 am when daylight saving changes. Each location of a multi-location business keeps its own resources and hours.

Set a resource's weekly hours

Set the regular hours for each day of the week, taking account of your opening hours, customer demand and when staff are there to supervise.

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Working Hours. Default Hours is selected.
3. On each day, switch the toggle to Working or Day Off.
4. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

A day switched to Working reads No sessions until you add one. Sessions Guide, at the top of Working Hours & Schedule, explains how sessions work. The same week is on Schedules & Sessions beside your team.

Resources differ in how their hours are best set:

Add or change a session

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Working Hours.
3. To add a session, select Add Session on a working day. To change one, select the session.
4. Set Start Time and End Time.
5. Optional: set Pets at a time for this session. Left empty, the session uses the resource's own number.
6. Optional: for round-the-clock availability, open Advanced options and turn on 24 Hours.
7. Select Add Session, or Stage for Publishing when you changed an existing one.
8. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

Set different hours for set dates

Use special dates for holidays, special events, maintenance days or a seasonal change.

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Working Hours, then Special Dates.
3. Select Create Special Dates. When the resource already has some, the button reads New Special Dates.
4. On Date Range, set Start Date and End Date, and optionally an Override Label (Optional).
5. Select Next: Configure Schedule, then set the hours for each day of that range.
6. Select Stage for Publishing.
7. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

You can also add special dates from Schedules & Sessions.

Repeat special dates on a pattern

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Working Hours, then Special Dates, then Create Special Dates or New Special Dates.
3. Select Switch to Batch Mode.
4. On First Week, set Week Start and Week End.
5. On Frequency, choose Every Week, Every 2 Weeks or Every Month.
6. On End Condition, choose After and enter Create this many periods, or choose Until Date.
7. Check Preview, add an optional label on Label, then set the hours on Schedule.
8. Select Create with the number of special dates.

Batch mode saves straight away, without Publish Changes.

Block time on a resource

Block time when a resource is out of use: maintenance, cleaning, an emergency or a special event.

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Blocked Times.
3. Select Add, then Add Blocked Time. With nothing blocked yet, select Add First Blocked Time.
4. Set the Start Date and End Date.
5. Set the Start Time and End Time. They default to 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, so change them to cover what you need.
6. Optional: enter a Label (Optional), for example Maintenance.
7. Select Add Blocked Time.

The blocked time saves straight away. If the resource has bookings in that time, Appointment conflict detected lists them before you save. Petboost adds the blocked time without cancelling them unless you select Cancel Appointment, or Cancel All and the number of bookings, then Yes, cancel them. Cancelling tells the pet owners and cannot be undone. Select Check for existing appointments to review the bookings that overlap.

Blocked Times lists every entry with its label, date range, time and duration, and you can edit or delete an entry from the list. The Public Holidays card above it blocks the resource on public holidays: select Magic Load Public Holidays, tick the holidays, then select Apply Selected.

Repeat a blocked time

1. Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
2. Choose Blocked Times.
3. Select Add, then Batch Create.
4. In Create Blocked Time, set the Start Date, End Date, Start Time and End Time of the first occurrence.
5. Optional: enter a Label (Optional).
6. Switch on Repeat this blocked time, then choose how many Days or Weeks apart, and whether it ends After a number of times or on an End Date.
7. Select Create with the number of blocked times.

Repeating works for a block of 7 days or less. To block several resources at once, use Bulk Block Time in the settings menu on Resources.

Plan availability

Petboost does not plan maintenance for you or send maintenance reminders. These habits keep resources available when customers want them:

• Schedule maintenance and cleaning in quieter periods, keep every resource open in peak periods, and set up a regular maintenance routine to prevent breakdowns and keep safety and hygiene standards
• Coordinate resource hours with staff schedules, so a resource is never open with nobody to supervise it, and cross-train staff on more than one resource
• Plan for the seasons: summer brings more demand for outdoor activity and longer play area hours, winter moves demand to indoor resources and suits improvement projects, and holiday periods bring more boarding and changed staff hours
• Use a backup resource during maintenance where you have one, and tell affected customers early, both for planned work and for emergencies
• Review working hours monthly against how resources are used, keep records of blocked times, and give staff and customers notice of changes

Common conflicts and their fixes:

• Several services want the same resource: make the service and resource assignments clear, and set capacity to what the resource can take
• A resource is overbooked: set its capacity, and leave Magic Availability Check on so the booking form only offers free times
• A resource is under-used: review its working hours, match more services to it, or share or repurpose it
• Maintenance clashes with bookings: move maintenance to off-peak times, use a backup resource, and tell customers in advance

Related articles

• Getting Started with Resources: basic resource setup and configuration
• Resource Capacity Management: resource capacity and utilisation
• Service-Resource Assignment: matching services to the right resources
• Resource FAQ: common working hours and blocked times questions
• Availability Troubleshooter: find out why a resource is not showing as available for bookings

Frequently asked questions

• How do I set working hours for a resource?
• Can I have different hours for different days?
• Can I set up a temporary schedule for specific dates or date ranges?
• What are blocked times used for?

Need help? Contact support or select Get Help in your dashboard to chat with our team.