The times clients can book depend on your working hours and, for each option, on “Appointment duration,” “Maximum capacity per time slot,” and “Break between appointments,” as well as the slot interval. A slot is the bookable time window for an option, calculated by the server based on your working hours and the duration you configure. In PawsPet Business (iOS and Android), it’s best to start with the times you’ve measured at your salon, not the default values.
Before opening the app: measure your actual timings
Three things to do first:
- Group services by size, coat type, and grooming process: each group with different timings will be an option.
- Use recent appointments to work out the actual duration for each group, including drying and cleaning the animal, and note down the time needed to tidy the station separately.
- Decide how many animals you can handle at the same time, based on your stations and staff.
Create the service and an option for each working time
- Start here. New service: “Profile” tab » “Sales” section » “My Services” » “+” button, or “Dashboard” tab » “New service” quick link. Existing service: three dots on the card » “Edit.”
- General details and images. At the “General” step, choose “Service type” » “Grooming,” then enter a name and description; “Images” requires at least one photo.
- Options. At the “Pricing and options” step, you need at least one option: use “Add option” to create one for each group with different timings. Fill in “Option name” (up to 30 characters), “Description” (up to 90), “Price” (greater than zero), and “Price type.”
- Price type. Here we’ll consider two choices: “Fixed price,” a single price for the service, and “Per animal,” where the price applies to each animal and each one generates a separate booking.
- Animals. “Requires animal selection” (always enabled with “Per animal”) asks clients to indicate which animals they’re bringing. Under “Which animals is this option available for?” select “All” or individual species (Dog, Cat, Horse, Pony, Donkey, Rabbit): useful if dogs and cats require different timings.
“Maximum number of animals per booking” does not apply to “Per animal” options: clients can book multiple animals for the same option together, each as a separate line item, even above that number. Don’t rely on it to limit the salon’s workload.
You still need to complete “Geographic availability” (“At the business location” if you work only in the salon), “Working hours” (later), and the “Publish” step, where you choose “Public” or “Hidden” and confirm.
Duration, capacity per time slot, and break: the three fields that determine appointment times
The three fields are in every option, in the scheduling section.
“Appointment duration”
It ranges from 15 minutes to 4 hours, or “Not specified.” It helps prevent underestimating an appointment, which would make the suggested times unrealistic. Think of it this way: [grooming] + [drying] + [cleaning], measured for that group = option duration; choose the closest available value. Duration is also useful in the Calendar: when you create an appointment manually (“Calendar” tab » “+”) and choose a service and option, “Duration” fills in automatically.
“Maximum capacity per time slot”
This indicates how many animals or orders you can handle together in the same slot; the default is 1. It helps prevent, for example, booking two large animals together when you have only one station. Think of it this way: with [number of stations] and [people working], how many animals of that type can you really handle at the same time? That’s your capacity.
“Break between appointments”
It ranges from 5 to 60 minutes, or “No break.” It leaves a buffer between one appointment and the next, for example to clean and tidy the station. Think of it this way: start with the [tidying time] you noted and choose a value that covers it; choose “No break” only if you don’t need a buffer.
Options only take effect once you save or publish the entire service: “Done” saves them only in the form.
Service hours and slot interval
At the service’s “Working hours” step, choose “Use profile opening hours” or “Set custom hours”: for each day, select “Closed,” “Open all day,” or one or more time windows, with “Copy from” to apply a schedule to other days. At the bottom, if needed, “Slot interval for this service” offers 10, 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutes, or “Same as business.”
Profile hours are set in the “Profile” tab » “Your profile” section » “Working hours”: alongside the weekly schedule, “Time zone” determines how times are interpreted, and “How often to open slots” offers Default (30 minutes), or 10, 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutes. Then select “Save.”
The interval determines how often the suggested times start. The option duration, on the other hand, determines how long the appointment takes. Choose the interval based on how frequently you start appointments, not the default value.
Check the result: preview, Calendar, and blocked times
- Preview. Under “My Services,” tap the card to open the page as clients see it. In the “Availability” tab, choose a day: fully booked or blocked times remain visible but are crossed out.
- Calendar. Orders with a set time appear in read-only mode and are managed from “Orders.” A manually created appointment that overlaps another commitment will still be saved, with the “Overlaps” warning: the Calendar flags conflicts but doesn’t prevent them.
- Blocks. For occasional longer breaks, closures, or vacations: “Calendar” tab » ☰ icon » “Closing hours” » “Block time,” or press and hold a free time in Day view. You won’t receive marketplace bookings during that time.
- Changes. Each save replaces the previous version of the service. If “Reload and try again” appears, the server has a newer version: the button discards your local changes and closes the form, so start again from the server version.
These settings guide the suggested appointment times, but don’t guarantee there won’t be overlaps. After a few weeks, compare actual appointment timings with those shown in the Calendar for bookings and adjust the options.
