Slot Free Service
The Slot-Free Service feature gives businesses flexibility to handle quick, standalone services—like nail trims or brush-outs—without blocking an entire booking slot.
Traditionally, under Book by Slot mode, every appointment (regardless of duration) occupies a full slot. This caused inefficiency for short services that take only a few minutes but still consume full capacity.
With Slot-Free Service, you can now specify which services do not consume capacity, helping you:
- Increase overall slot utilization
- Improve revenue potential
- Support overlapping appointments when appropriate
How It Works
Definition
A Slot-Free Service is a service type that doesn’t count toward a staff’s total capacity. It’s ideal for short or quick tasks that can be done alongside another appointment. For example:
- A groomer can accept a 10-minute nail trim while working on a 3.5-hour full groom.
- A bath-only service during daycare can be set to not consume additional slots, depending on how the business operates.
💡 You can set different rules for different groomers to fit your business flow.
Use case
Scenario | Example | How Slot-Free Service Helps |
|---|---|---|
Quick standalone service | Nail clipping, brush-out, ear cleaning | Doesn’t take up an entire slot, allowing for more efficient scheduling |
Overlapping appointment | Small bath overlaps with a full groom | Groomers can handle both within the same time frame |
Mixed services (e.g., Boarding + Grooming) | The dog in daycare also gets a bath | Bath can be configured as slot-free if desired |
Capacity rules
Scenario | Does it use slot capacity? | Counted in pet total? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Slot-Free Service only | ❌ No | ❌ No | Good for short services like nail trims or brush-outs. |
Regular Service only | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Standard slot usage. |
Same pet + Multi-service — Slot-Free + Regular Service | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Still consumes capacity because of the regular service. |
Multiple pets — one with Slot-Free only, others with Regular | ✅ Yes (for pets with regular service) | ✅ Yes (except the slot-free one) | A Slot-free pet doesn’t affect capacity. |
Multiple pets — all Slot-Free only | ❌ No | ❌ No | Appointment won’t block staff slots. |
Multiple pets + Multi-service — Slot-Free + Regular Service | ✅ Yes (for pets with regular service) | ✅ Yes (except the slot-free one) | A Slot-free pet doesn’t affect capacity. |
How To Set Up
Staff Schedule
- Go to Shift Management → Staff Schedule → Slot-Free Service.
- Select the staff member you want to configure.
- Choose which services should be treated as Slot-Free.
- (Optional) Adjust the schedule if certain times shouldn’t accept those services.
- Click Copy widget to apply the same configuration to other staff members.
Online Booking
- Navigate to Online Booking → Settings → Availability → Slot-Free Service.
- Enable Slot-Free Services and select which ones apply.
- Save your settings to sync them with the staff schedule.
Calendar Indicator
When a Slot-Free Service appointment appears on the Calendar:
- It will display like a regular appointment.
- However, it won’t block additional bookings for that same time slot.
- You can hover over the staff's name or click to view details.