Feature Request - Booking a variable number of resources in one Appointment

[Shayne1128]

I am hoping to have clients book multiple items in one appointment - is this possible?

Background: I run a bike hire shop and I want clients to be able to book as many bikes as they want for the time period (Full or Half Day). They can make an appointment at the required time but there is no way for them to indicate the need for multiple bike nor for me to bill the client

[Boris]

Hi @Shayne1128, 

Thanks for posting! You can enable your online booking site to support booking multiple services from the Business Settings in your Dashboard: 

1. Visit the Appointments section on your online Square Dashboard.
2. Select Settings > Calendar & Booking.
3. Toggle on Allow multiple services to be booked online
4. Click Save on the bottom right.

While you cannot adjust quantities for services, it will allow clients to book multiple services from your online booking site. Feel free to try it out and let me know if you have any further questions! 

[Shayne1128]

I tried to make the same appointment on the same day but the system will not allow it.

How can a customer book 2 or more bikes to be taken at the same time?

[Seamus]

Hey @Shayne1128,

If you want to book multiple appointments at the same time (considered multiple staff calendars) then you'd need to make sure you're on a paid version of the Appointments app.

If you're on the free version you'll want to check out using Appointments resources. Once you've made your resources (eg bikes for hire, chairs at a table) then you can add multiple resources to a service. I'm not sure if this will work as a complete workaround on the free version, but the new resources feature is designed to track things like items you have out for hire.

Check out the above guide and let me know if you have any questions 🙂

[Shayne1128]

Unfortunately this does not work for my bookings.

Is there any consideration to create a "Booking" facility or is Square more focussed on the "appointment" model for the foreseeable future?

[Seamus]

Hey @Shayne1128,

We've been expanding the feature set of Appointments recently so this could be something we'd consider in the future, though I don't have insight into the status of this feature request at the moment.

We launched Resources to assign to Services last month, if I were to imagine different ways to expand on this I think what you're describing makes a good use case - eg booking an appointment and having the customer select a variable number of resources that can potentially be assigned to the service at the same time.

I'll start tracking this request via this thread and pass your feedback on to the Appointments team.

[WeMakeYouBake]

I’m having the same issue, I’m trying to control my food delivery order times by using booking and I can’t add extra toppings to my booked service without messing up my set delivery window ( 1 order very 30 min) I tried everything to work around it, but everything needs a minimum 5 min duration that screws up my calendar. What are my options if any , thx Heath “Froggy” 

[WeMakeYouBake]

An Easy fix ? Why not just enable the checkout directed to my calendar with my “ services” order ready .. then the customer just picks the delivery time,,, I’m going bananas tryin* to make this work. Thx 

[Seamus]

Hey @WeMakeYouBake,

To be honest I don't think Appointments is necessarily the right product to use use here - have you tried setting up a Square Online website? It's going to give you far better options for ordering items online than Appointments, which is traditionally more geared towards things like hair, beauty, massage, dog washes, tattoo parlors and other service based businesses.

In addition to pickup and delivery options you can also use QR codes for self service ordering from customers in your venue.

[WeMakeYouBake]

I have setup a squareup site & synced the appointments. You can’t book food for delivery at a certain time - why can’t I just export my completed order on my checkout directly to the booking calendar / problem solved for everyone who is trying to get people to pay for more than one “service” in advance & delivered at at specific time . Seems no software allows this - urban spoon etc / I tried downloading and using all the recommend apps that work with square up / none of them will do this / perplexing. 

[WeMakeYouBake]

That would work for me possibly  if you could assign a $ value to those items ( extra cheese) and use them at checkout. .? Extra chairs & cheese etc may need to be charged up front at the time of booking & not changing the booking times. 

[SydneyKayak]

I think this is so important. For each variable, you should be able to say how many resources should be allocated. For example, if a variation is for a two person booking then I should be able to choose I want it to allocate 2 of the 6 resources. Is this something that can be developed? 

In Response to 

"We launched Resources to assign to Services last month, if I were to imagine different ways to expand on this I think what you're describing makes a good use case - eg booking an appointment and having the customer select a variable number of resources that can potentially be assigned to the service at the same time.

I'll start tracking this request via this thread and pass your feedback on to the Appointments team." 

[Arie]

Hi @SydneyKayak,

Thanks for writing in and highlighting this suggestion. I noticed it's your first post, welcome to our community 👋 

We don't have an update on this feature request at the moment, I understand why what you're describing would be useful for businesses offering bookings that may require more than one resource. We're still tracking this suggestion, and will keep you posted in this thread. 

[WeMakeYouBake]

I’m still looking to embed a booking calendar that will allow this , it ridiculous to not have this option, I tried every square up compatible software and none allow this , I have no idea why, it’s rather easy to program, why can’t I just use the square up cart button to forward to my booking calendar with a comoket3 order ready to book, then it checks out .. seems so easy to implement as a program. I may behave tip-off look fir alternative, Shopify ? The6 have millions of widgets , plugins etc, giving square one more day to resolve thissimoke request that many of us desire.  , then adios amigos.