Clients are requesting appointments which require a resource when that resource is already booked!?

[Ashleyrene8777]

Hi there, 

I have assigned a resource to my spa services as I have one room available, but have two staff who perform the spa services. I am receiving booking requests from clients who are requesting spa appointment bookings with staff member A, which requires a resource, when staff member B already has a spa booking using that same resource at that same time.  

I thought the resource assignment blocked double booking, but clients are still able to request bookings at the same time. Please advise. Thank you. 

[Stacelyn24]

It sounds like the issue is related to how appointments are being set up with resource assignments. Based on what you've shared, the system isn't automatically blocking double bookings because the setup may be for client-requested appointments instead of automatically approved appointments. Here’s how to resolve this issue:

Solution: Use "Automatically Approved Appointments"

In your current setup, it seems like clients are able to request appointments without the system checking for availability before confirming the booking. To avoid double bookings, you should switch to automatically approved appointments.

1. Ensure Resource Assignment is Correct:

   • When you assign a resource (like the spa room) to a service, make sure the resource is linked to both staff members.
   • Double-check the availability settings for each staff member to ensure that they can only be booked in the spa room at times when it’s available.

2. Set the Appointment Type to "Automatically Approved":

   • In Square Appointments, you can set your booking method to automatically approve appointments instead of requiring client requests. This way, clients will only be able to book times that are available, and double bookings will be prevented.
   • To do this, navigate to the Appointments settings, and make sure staff availability is set up properly and resources are linked correctly to prevent overlaps.

3. Adjust Resource Availability:

   • In the Resource Assignment settings, ensure that only one staff member can be booked for the same resource at a time. If both staff members need to use the same room, adjust their scheduling times to avoid conflicts.
   • When you have more than one person using the same resource (e.g., spa room), you need to ensure the system knows only one person can be in that room at a given time. It may help to set specific time blocks for each staff member, or assign different resources to each.

4. Communicate the Change to Clients:

   • If you do change the setup to automatically approve, make sure clients are aware that the system will no longer request approvals. They should also know that appointment times may be adjusted automatically if there's a conflict with the resources.

Check Your Booking Preferences

• Go to Settings > Appointments and review the Staff Availability and Resource Availability to ensure there’s no overlap in the scheduling rules.

Conclusion

By adjusting your system to automatically approve appointments, the system will only show available time slots, preventing clients from booking conflicting appointments. This should resolve the issue of double booking the spa room with different staff members.

If you'd like further help setting this up or tweaking any details, feel free to let me know! 🙂