Using Classes and Booking Times

[Zstan]

Hi, So I need some help using and setting up the classes feature. It's ultimately going to be used for a specialty dinner service that is limited seating at a large event next summer, but I'm trying to get infrastructure in place now to be able to accommodate it and have it ready to go.  To be able to prepare for the meal, I need to know attendance before hand, so here's what I need if anybody knows how to setup these pieces of the puzzle.

1) I need the class cutoff time for online booking approximately 8 hours before the start, at a minimum 6 hours (staff ability to add someone during the cutoff is preferred). I see that on appointments, you can do a 6 hour cancellation thing. Again, just didn't know how to setup the cutoff time for a class. 

2) Is there a way to do an add-on for the class? Like say the seating offering is for a Ribeye Steak Dinner. If someone wanted to do an add-on for a Lobster tail to their meal, is there a way to add this to where they do the booking and have it show up on the roster that they paid for this add-on?

Thank you so much if anyone can help me out!

[SiBellebeauty]

Hye!

Square Champion here. Question 1 - you should be able to apply these setting in settings as you set up your booking system. In answer to your second question, could you add it into appointments as a variation giving the customer the option of what they  would like to opt for.

Hope that helps a little - I'll try to look into it more.

Lois

[Summer2024 · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Zstan ! 

Thanks for jumping in here, @SiBellebeauty ! 

To add on to what @SiBellebeauty had to say, 

Here’s how you can handle each part:

Setting a cutoff time for online booking

While Square Appointments doesn’t have a specific “class booking cutoff” setting, you can control how far in advance clients can book online under your settings.

To do this:

• Go to your Square Dashboard → Appointments → Settings→ Calendar and Booking → Scroll down to Online Scheduling 

• Adjust the “Appointments must be made in advance” to 8 hours (this prevents customers from booking last-minute online).

• Staff members will still be able to manually add participants to a class within that window from the calendar, so you can handle any last-minute additions yourself.

Adding an “add-on” option (like a Lobster Tail)

At this time, Square Appointments doesn’t have a built-in add-on feature specifically for classes. However, you have a couple of good workarounds:

Option A: Use Variations

• When setting up your class as an item (under Items → Services or Classes), create variations like “Ribeye Dinner Only” and “Ribeye Dinner + Lobster Tail.”

• Each variation can have its own price and will show up in your roster and reports so you know who selected which option.

Option B: Use Add-On Items

• Create a separate item for the add-on (e.g., “Lobster Tail Add-On”).

• You can then manually note who purchased the add-on on your class roster or ask guests to select it during checkout if you’re invoicing them directly.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!