Block Off / Accept Several Appointments

[CatchMyDrift]

Hello, I'm testing out the Square Appointments for my fishing charter business. I offer times from 4hr, 5hr, 8hr and 10hr bookings.

Currently it's set so only one booking can be made each day which works for the 8hr and 10hr services, but if someone books a 4hr trip in the morning, that blocks off the entire day when I could still have the afternoon available for later bookings.

I tried to toggle on the 'allow multiple bookings' option, but this doesn't address my issue - this is for one person booking multiple services.

Instead, I need several people to be able to select a service each day, allowing the 8hr and 10hr bookings to block off that day completely whereas the 4hr and 5hr times should allow for the option of a morning or afternoon booking.
is this possible?

I also need to collect a 10% deposit at the time of booking. All I see is I can either take the full payment or no payment. Has the option to allow business to add a 10% payment at the time of booking been considered?

Thank you.

[Summer2024]

Hi, @CatchMyDrift ! 

Let me address both of your questions:

1. Multiple Bookings Per Day

Currently, Square Appointments handles this through "Shifts" and "Service Availability." Here's how you can set this up:

1. Create Separate Time Slots:

   • Set up morning and afternoon shifts
   • For example:
     • Morning shift: 6:00 AM - 12:00 PM
     • Afternoon shift: 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM

2. Service Configuration:

   • Create separate services for morning and afternoon sessions
   • For example:
     • "4 Hour Morning Charter (6AM-10AM)"
     • "4 Hour Afternoon Charter (2PM-6PM)"
     • "8 Hour Full Day Charter"
     • "10 Hour Extended Charter"

3. Availability Settings:

   • Set the 8hr and 10hr services to block the entire day
   • Configure 4hr and 5hr services to only block their specific time slots

However, there are some limitations:

• You'll need to manually manage the time slots
• You might need to create multiple versions of the same service for different times
• The system doesn't automatically adjust availability based on previous bookings

2. 10% Deposit Feature

Currently, Square Appointments doesn't have a native percentage-based deposit feature. Here are your current options:

1. Available Payment Options:

   • Full payment upfront
   • No payment (pay later)
   • Fixed dollar amount deposit

2. Workarounds for 10% Deposit: a. Create Separate Services:

   • Create a "Deposit" service at 10% of each trip cost
   • Have customers book both the deposit and main service

   b. Manual Invoicing(Not as convenient, and extra work on the backend) :

   • Take bookings without payment
   • Manually send a 10% deposit invoice through Square

   c. Fixed Amount:

   • Set a fixed deposit amount that approximates 10%
   • Adjust the remaining balance accordingly

Recommendations:

1. For Multiple Bookings:

   • Set up your services with specific time slots
   • Use clear naming conventions (e.g., "Morning 4-Hour Charter")
   • Include booking instructions in your service descriptions

2. For Deposits:

   • Consider using a fixed deposit amount close to 10%
   • Or use Square Invoicing for more flexible deposit handling

Feature Request:

You might want to submit these feature requests to Square:

1. Smart time slot management for variable-length services
2. Percentage-based deposit options

I hope this helps! 

[CatchMyDrift]

Hello,
Thank you for the reply. Setting up the work hours from 6-11 and 12-5 worked for the 5hr and 4hr charters - they can now choose between morning and afternoon sessions - but it prevents booking the 8hr and 10hr tours due to the 1hr break in the day.

[Summer2024]

Hmmmm...let me think and see if I can come up with a better workaround for those 8 and 10 hour tours....

[Summer2024]

I didn't forget about you, @CatchMyDrift ! I am trying to figure out the best way to make this work. 

[CatchMyDrift]

Thank you.

[CatchMyDrift]

Hello, just wondering if there are any updates to this? If I add a break in the middle of the day the half day tours are available in both morning and evening but the full day tours are not available at all as the break looks like there is not a full 8hr or 10hr day to book.

[CatchMyDrift]

I found a workaround for this, but it raises a new issue.

I set up an employee with hours 6am-6pm. I assigned only 8hr and 10hr excursions to this person.

I set up a second employee from 6am-12pm, 12pm-6pm. I assigned only 4hr and 5hr excursions to this person.

I turned off the ability for clients to choose which employee (since it's the same person done 2 different ways)

This allows both half day and full day excursions to be displayed to choose from.

THE NEW ISSUE:

When one timeslot is booked, it needs to block this off in the calendar. If an 8hr or 10hr is booked with employee #1, this needs to be blocked off in employee #2 as well since it's the same person doing the trips.

If a morning or afternoon 1/2 day charter is booked with employee #2, this needs to block off the 8hr and 10hr timeslots in employee #1 calendar so they won't be double booked.

Is this possible? My client is launching services in 2 weeks and I need to determine if this calendar will work for him. Since he's using square for payments and invoicing it makes sense to have appointment bookings in the same platform.