The Booking Rules Spectrum

More rules mean less availability, so only add rules that solve real problems. Petboost's booking engine mirrors your real-world operations, on a spectrum from no rules (maximum availability) to extreme structure (maximum control). The question to ask is "what rules do I need to run my business safely?", not "what rules can I add?".

Get online booking working

This is the minimum setup that takes online bookings. Start here, then read the rest of this guide to refine your setup over time.

1. Open Team Members and select Manage on your own profile.
2. On Working Hours, set the hours you work.
3. On Capacity, set Pets at a Time to 1. You can adjust it later.
4. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
5. Open Services, select Add New, then New Service, and create at least one service.
6. On the service's Booking Settings tab, under Self-Service Booking, switch on Online booking. If online booking is off for your business, Turn on business online booking? opens: select Yes, turn it on.
7. Publish the service change the same way.

On Business Pro, Business Flex, Business Max or Enterprise, your booking page is then live. Refine the rules only when you hit a problem.

The spectrum at a glance

The rules spectrum runs from minimal to maximal rules:

The availability paradox

Each rule you add filters out potential bookings. This is expected: every rule removes some slots, and the more rules you stack, the tighter availability becomes. As an illustration (the actual impact varies with your setup):

Ask what rules you need to run your business safely, not what rules you can add. Every rule should prevent a real problem you've experienced or genuinely fear. If you can't say what the problem is, you probably don't need the rule.

Self-assessment questions

Use these questions to find your level on the spectrum.

Question 1: "Can I confidently accept any booking that passes my basic checks?"

Question 2: "What are my hard constraints?" (non-negotiable)

These are safety and operational limits that cannot be bypassed:

An age rule and a required birthday are two different settings. Age Restrictions on a service sets the range a pet must fall in. Require pet birthday on Settings > Policies & Paperwork makes a date of birth mandatory whether or not any service has an age range.

They interact. Once a service carries an age range, a pet with no date of birth recorded cannot book it until one is added, because Petboost cannot work out whether the pet is inside the range. If you set an age rule, expect the booking form to start asking pet owners for a birthday.

Question 3: "What are my soft constraints?" (preferences)

These are preferences that improve operations but aren't critical:

Question 4: "What am I lacking that requires further checks?"

For anything the rules do not cover:

• Vaccination verification: use Petboost's enforcement, or pending approval
• Behavioural assessment: use the initial service pattern, for example a temperament test
• Complex medical needs: use pending approval and a pre-booking questionnaire
• Anything else: default to pending approval until you are confident

The initial service pattern

The initial service pattern suits the balanced and fully managed levels. A pet completes a prerequisite service, such as an assessment, before it can book your regular services. Each pet is assessed once, then books the regular services online.

It gives you control where it matters, on new and unknown pets, while trusted pets book freely:

Common initial services:

Require an assessment before regular bookings

Set this up when new pets must be assessed before they book a service online.

1. Open Services, select Add New, then New Service, and create the assessment service, such as "Temperament Test", "Trial Day" or "Initial Consultation".
2. Select Manage on the regular service, then Manage Service.
3. Choose Who Can Book, then switch on Advanced options.
4. Under Service Prerequisite, switch on Require Prerequisite Service.
5. Choose the assessment service.
6. Under What counts as met, choose Completed (the assessment must have taken place), Booked (any booking counts, including an upcoming one) or Completed all sessions (for a course).
7. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.

New pets must book the assessment first. Once it counts as met, the pet can book the regular service online, and pets that already meet it skip the assessment automatically. If you choose two or more services, How they combine asks whether any one of them is enough or every one is needed.

Let a customer skip the assessment

Bypass the requirement for a customer you already trust, such as an established client.

1. Open Customers & Pets and choose the customer.
2. Open the Settings & Overrides tab.
3. To skip the check for every pet on the account, switch on Skip Service Prerequisites, then select Save Changes.
4. To unlock one pet only, select Add override on that pet's prerequisite overrides, choose the assessment service and Satisfied, then select Add override.

Satisfied treats the prerequisite as met, so the next service unlocks without appointment history. Not satisfied keeps the next service locked and makes an Initial assessment bookable again, for example when a pet did not pass.

Vertical-specific guidelines

The examples below use dogs, but the same patterns apply to cats, small animals and other pets. Adapt the concepts to your own services.

Training

If you do 1-on-1 work with a consultation anyway, turn on online booking and use pending approval if you are unsure. Most trainers need no more than that.

Daycare

The initial service pattern, a temperament test before regular booking, suits daycare: new dogs are assessed once, then book online.

Grooming

Weight-based service variants (XS, S, M, L, XL) with eligibility restrictions let customers choose the right service themselves, with transparent pricing and no surprises.

Walking

Suburb restrictions matter for mobile businesses: they stop bookings from outside your realistic service area.

Boarding and stays

Start minimal

We recommend starting with fewer rules and adding them as problems arise:

1. Start minimal: turn on online booking and use instant confirmation
2. Observe: watch what bookings come through for 2 to 4 weeks
3. Identify friction: note when the wrong bookings slip through
4. Add targeted rules: add only the rules that solve real problems
5. Monitor: check that availability hasn't dropped too far

This avoids over-engineering while still catching real issues.

Where to configure each rule

Related guides

Respect your customers' time: every unnecessary rule is a barrier between them and a booking with you. Add rules that solve real problems, not hypothetical ones.