Create a Service

This page walks through the service creation wizard — from basic details to pricing, add-ons, resources, and availability. Each step builds on the last, so you end up with a complete, bookable service.


Getting Started

  1. From the sidebar, go to Services > All Services
  2. Click Create Service to open the wizard
  3. The wizard has multiple sections — you can fill them in order or jump between them

Basic Information

Field Required Description
Service Name Yes What customers see when booking — be descriptive, e.g. "60-Minute Swedish Massage"
Status Yes Active — available for booking immediately; Draft — save and publish later

Duration & Buffer

Duration

Set how long the service takes. The unit determines how the service is scheduled:

Unit Scheduling Type Example
Minutes Appointment — customer picks a time slot 60-minute massage
Hours Appointment — same as minutes but displayed in hours 2-hour consultation
Days Rental — customer picks check-in and check-out dates 3-day boat hire

{info} For day-based services, the duration is the number of days, not minutes. The scheduling view changes to reflect this.

Buffer Time (Turnaround)

Buffer time is extra time blocked after each booking for cleaning, setup, or travel between appointments. It is set on the service, not on individual resource schedules.

Available options: 0 minutes (no buffer) up to 24 hours (1440 minutes).

For day-based services, buffer represents turnaround days — the gap between rentals. For example, a 1-day buffer means a boat that returns on Monday is available from Tuesday.

Per-resource toggle: After assigning resources to the service (see Branches & Resources), each resource shows an Applies Buffer After Booking checkbox. Uncheck it for resources where the buffer should not apply (e.g., a staff member who starts immediately).

{primary} If buffer is set to 0, the per-resource toggle is hidden. At least one resource must have buffer enabled.


Pricing

Field Required Description
Base Price Yes The starting price in your currency before add-ons. For rentals, this is the price per rental period.

See Services & Pricing for details on how pricing combines with add-ons, deposits, and taxes.


Description & Media

Field Required Description
Description Yes Long description shown on the service detail page. Use the rich text editor to format with headings, lists, and images.
Short Description Yes A brief summary shown in service cards and search results (visible on the booking page).
What's Included No Tags that appear on the service card — for example, "towels", "refreshments", "pickup included". Click Enter to add each tag.
Images No Upload one or more photos of the service. The first image is used as the main thumbnail. Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP.

Branches & Resources

Eligible Branches

If you operate multiple branches, select which branches offer this service. The service will appear in booking pages for those branches only.

Eligible Resources

Resources are the physical items or staff required to deliver the service — rooms, vehicles, equipment, instructors, etc.

When you add a resource from the searchable dropdown, three controls appear for each selected resource:

Control When Visible What It Does
Use as relevant support resource Always When checked, the resource becomes hidden from customers and is reserved automatically alongside the primary. At least one resource must remain primary.
Applies Buffer After Booking Only when the service has a buffer set When checked (default), the resource's schedule includes the buffer gap. Uncheck to skip buffer for that specific resource.
Pool Only for support resources An optional name to group identical, interchangeable units — the system then only needs ONE free member of the pool, not all.

Primary vs Support Resources

Role Customer Sees It? What It Means
Primary (default) Yes (depending on selection mode) The main resource. At least one primary is required per service.
Support ("Use as relevant support resource" checked) No A secondary resource auto-reserved alongside the primary. Must also be free and have schedule coverage.

{info} Both primary and support resources affect availability. If a support resource is occupied, the time slot is blocked — even if the primary resource is free.

How Support Resources Work (Without Pools)

When you add multiple support resources without a pool name, the system requires ALL of them to be free. This is the default behaviour and works well when every support resource is unique and irreplaceable.

Example — Dental Clinic:

  • Primary: Dentist (Dr. Smith)
  • Support: Dental chair (unique — there's only one), X-ray machine (unique equipment)
  • Both the chair AND the X-ray machine must be free for the slot to be available. If the X-ray is in use by another patient, Dr. Smith cannot take a booking — even though she's free.

This makes sense because both pieces of equipment are unique and the service can't run without either one.

Resource Pools (Interchangeable Support Resources)

When you have several identical support resources, pooling them prevents unnecessary blocking.

Real-life example — Car Detailing Service:

You run a car detailing shop. Your signature service "Full Interior & Exterior Detail" requires:

  • Primary: A detailer (Ahmed) — customer chooses their preferred detailer
  • Support: Three wash bays (Bay 1, Bay 2, Bay 3) — needed for the work but interchangeable
Without Pool With "Wash bays" Pool
All 3 bays are reserved on EVERY booking Only 1 bay is reserved per booking
If Bay 1 is busy, the slot is blocked even though Bays 2 and 3 are empty If Bay 1 is busy, the system checks Bay 2 — if free, booking goes ahead
Slot blocked when ANY bay is occupied Slot blocked only when ALL bays are occupied

How to pool resources:

  1. Select the support resource from the dropdown
  2. Check Use as relevant support resource
  3. Type a pool name in the Pool field (e.g., "Wash bays")
  4. Repeat steps 1–3 for each identical resource, using the same pool name

Existing pool names appear as suggestions. Leave the pool field empty if the resource is unique and must always be individually available.

{primary} When to use pools: You own several identical units (wash bays, salon chairs, treatment rooms, rental vehicles, machines) and any one will do. When not to use pools: The resource is unique, or you want the customer to choose it — that should be set as a primary resource.

Real-Life Example — Putting It All Together

A beauty salon's "60-Minute Swedish Massage" service:

Resource Role Pool? Why
Massage therapist (Sarah) Primary No Customer chooses their therapist
Hot stone warmer Support No Only one exists — unique equipment, must always be free
Treatment Room A Support "Treatment Rooms" Interchangeable with Rooms B and C
Treatment Room B Support "Treatment Rooms" Same pool — any free room works
Treatment Room C Support "Treatment Rooms" Same pool — any free room works

For a 2:00 PM booking to be available:

  • Sarah must be free ✅
  • The hot stone warmer must be free ✅
  • At least ONE of Rooms A, B, or C must be free ✅

If Sarah is free, warmer is free, and Room B is free (even though A and C are busy) → booking goes ahead, reserving Room B.

Resource Selection Mode

Controls how the customer chooses a resource when booking online:

Mode Customer Experience
Required Customer must pick a resource before proceeding
Optional Customer can pick a resource or skip the step
Hidden Customer doesn't see the resource step — the system assigns automatically. In POS, you still see and control resource assignment.

Capacity & Group Bookings

Field Description
Max Participants The maximum number of people who can book this service in a single slot. Leave empty for individual bookings.
Group Bookings Enable this to allow customers to book for multiple guests at once. For example, a yoga class can accommodate up to 10 people in a single session.

When group bookings are enabled, the customer can set the number of participants. Pricing multiplies by the number of guests, and add-ons with per guest or per guest & day charge units become available.


Recurring Bookings

Recurring bookings let customers book a series of appointments (e.g., weekly personal training for 8 weeks).

Enable recurring bookings to configure:

Field Description
Allowed Patterns Which recurrence intervals customers can choose — daily, every other day, weekly, biweekly, monthly
Max Occurrences Maximum number of sessions in a recurring series (2–52)
Payment Policy Pay As You Go — customer pays per session before each appointment; Full Upfront — customer pays the entire series at booking time
Fixed Occurrences Lock the number of occurrences so customers cannot change it

Deposits

A deposit is a partial payment taken at booking time to secure the appointment. The balance is paid later.

Configure deposit settings:

Field Description
Deposit Type None (no deposit), Fixed Amount (e.g., 50), or Percentage (e.g., 20% of total)
Refund Rules Whether the deposit is refundable on cancellation — you can set different refund rates for the deposit vs the full fee

{warning} Deposits require an online payment gateway. When deposits are enabled, Cash on Delivery is automatically disabled for that service.


Add-Ons

Add-ons are extras that customers can add to their booking — insurance, meals, equipment upgrades, etc. Each add-on is created during the service setup wizard.

Creating a Simple Add-On

  1. Enter the add-on Name and optional Description
  2. Set the Price in your currency
  3. Choose a Charge Unit (see below)
  4. Set the Duration if the add-on extends the booking (see Add-On Duration below)
  5. Upload an optional Image
  6. Click Save & Add Another to add more, or Start New to clear and start over

Charge Units

Each add-on can be charged in one of four ways:

Unit Calculation Example
Once per booking Price × 1 50 "Welcome pack" = 50
Per guest Price × number of guests 25 "Extra towel" × 3 guests = 75
Per day Price × number of rental days 30 "GPS unit" × 3 days = 90
Per guest & day Price × guests × days 15 "Breakfast" × 2 guests × 3 days = 90

The available units depend on your service settings — "per guest" needs group bookings enabled, "per day" needs a day-based service.

Add-On Duration (Extended Time)

Add-ons can extend the total booking time. Each add-on has a duration in minutes (0–1440):

Mode Effect
Parallel (default) The add-on runs during the service — no extra time added
Sequential (toggle off) The add-on runs after the service and extends the booking

For example, a 60-minute haircut with a 15-minute scalp treatment (sequential) becomes a 75-minute appointment. The system accounts for this when checking resource availability.

{info} Day-based services don't show the duration field. Add-ons on rentals add cost but don't extend the rental period.

Option Group Add-Ons (Dynamic Pricing)

Toggle Has Options on an add-on to create a choice group where each variant has its own price:

  1. Toggle Has Options on
  2. Add each option with a label and price (e.g., "Basic coverage — 0", "Premium — 50")
  3. Optionally mark the add-on as Required — mandatory add-ons with options auto-select the first option

When to use option groups:

Use Case Example
Tiered packages Protection package: Basic (free), Standard (50), Premium (120)
Size/variant choices Equipment size: Small (0), Medium (25), Large (50)
Required upgrades Insurance (required): Basic (0), Full Coverage (75/day)

Editing Saved Add-Ons

Saved add-ons appear as pills below the add-on form. Click a pill to load its settings for editing. Click the trash icon to archive it.


Cancellation Policy & Tax

Cancellation Policy

Set rules for what happens when a customer cancels or doesn't show:

Setting Description
Free Cancellation Window How long before the appointment the customer can cancel for a full refund
Refund % After Window What percentage of the total fee is refunded if the customer cancels late
No-Show Retained % What percentage is kept if the customer doesn't show up
Deposit Refund % Separate refund rate for the deposit portion on late cancellations

Tax

Set the tax rate for this service (e.g., 5% VAT/GST or your local sales tax). The tax is added to the total and shown as a line item on receipts and invoices.


Review & Save

Once all sections are complete, click Save. The service is created with your configured status (Active or Draft).

From the service detail page you can:

  • Edit any setting
  • View add-ons and manage their options
  • See the service's booking history
  • Duplicate the service
  • Deactivate or delete it

Related Pages