Booking States

When To Use This#

Use this page to understand booking requests, confirmed bookings, upcoming bookings, previous bookings, dog readiness, cancellations, and staff schedule work.

Booking Lifecycle#

• A booking can be created by a customer request or by a staff workflow.
• Some bookings may need staff review before they are considered scheduled.
• Customer-facing booking actions depend on dog readiness, document state, service availability, and the actions shown in the customer portal.
• Staff-facing schedule actions depend on the selected booking, the current schedule workflow, and the staff member's assigned access.
• If the business offers stay add-ons, you can choose them while you book a boarding stay. Add-ons are available on boarding stays only, not on other services. Add-ons can be grouped into categories, and depending on how the business set each one up you can apply an add-on to the whole stay or only to certain days. Within a category the options are mutually exclusive, so you can pick only one option from that category for any given date; if your choices overlap on a date, you'll be asked to choose just one. A business can also make a category required for every day of the stay: if any day of your stay has no choice from that category, the booking won't go through and you'll be told which days still need one. Add-ons that aren't in a category carry neither of those limits. Add-ons ride along with the booking: they follow its state, so they are confirmed when the booking is confirmed and canceled when it is declined or canceled.

Common States#

• Requested: A booking has been submitted and may need staff review. When you request several dates at once for the same dog, those bookings are usually reviewed together as one item, so they are approved or declined in one go. Bookings for different dogs are reviewed separately, even when you send them in the same request for the same date. Grouping applies while every booking in that set is still waiting on review; once part of the set has already been decided, the remaining bookings are reviewed one at a time.
• Confirmed: A booking is scheduled according to the app state. This does not override the business's cancellation, capacity, payment, or readiness policy. When your request is approved you get a confirmation email for each booking in it, unless you have turned off schedule emails or the business has its customer emails paused. Any add-ons chosen with that booking move to confirmed alongside it.
• Denied: A booking request was declined through staff review. You get an email for each declined booking unless the business has its customer emails paused; turning off your own schedule emails does not stop declined notices, because that setting doesn't apply to them. Any add-ons chosen with that booking are canceled. Staff record a reason when they decline; that reason is for the business's internal use and isn't shown to you.
• Upcoming: A future booking is visible in the customer's schedule or staff schedule.
• Previous: A past booking is visible for history or review.
• Blocked: A dog, account, document, payment, or setup item prevents booking. For example, if your household has been made inactive, you'll need staff to reactivate it before you can book online again. A date can also be blocked when the business has set special hours for that day: if it's closed, you'll see a message that the business is closed on that date; if it has reduced hours, only the times that fall inside those special hours are offered. If the business requires a saved payment method before booking, you'll be asked to add a saved card before your booking request can go through.
• Canceled: A booking was canceled through an available action or staff workflow.

Policy Boundaries#

Cancellation windows, refund handling, service capacity, and booking approval rules are set by the business's policy. This page shows where you see status and actions; a specific outcome depends on the business's policy, so it isn't guaranteed here.

If the business requires a saved payment method before booking, your booking request can be held until you add a saved card. When this applies, you'll be prompted to add a saved card to finish payment setup, and you can request bookings online once it's saved. Whether a saved card is required is set by the business's policy.

If a service uses a deposit, when it applies depends on how the booking is handled. If your booking is confirmed straight away, the deposit applies at that point. If it goes to staff review first, the deposit applies once the request is approved, and each approved booking is handled on its own rather than as a single charge for the whole request. Whether a service uses a deposit, and what it costs, is set by the business's policy, so ask the business if you need the exact amount.

If a service has a cancellation deadline, the option to cancel that booking yourself stays available only until the deadline passes. Once you're inside the deadline, the self-cancel option no longer appears, and you'll need to contact the business to make a change.

A business can also set special hours for specific dates — for example, a holiday closure or a shortened day. On a date the business has marked closed, no booking times are offered and you'll need to choose another day. On a date with reduced special hours, only the times inside those hours are available. Some special-hours notices are announcements only: the date stays fully bookable and you'll simply see the business's message for that day alongside the usual times, rather than losing any slots. Staff can still book an exception outside published special hours when they record a reason for doing so.

A business can also turn on an emergency closure. When it's active, the booking form shows a "closed until further notice" notice with any message the business added. Same-day bookings are unavailable while it's active, and any request you submit for a future date is held for the team to review once the business reopens.

Customer And Staff Views#

• Customers use the booking status and action buttons shown in the customer portal.
• Staff use the Bookings page, Schedule page, or Today's view depending on whether they are reviewing requests, planning future care, or running the current day.
• The Bookings page has a dedicated booking-requests view. Requests stay in a "Waiting on review" list until someone approves or declines them, and a "Recently approved" list shows bookings approved in the last 14 days that have not started yet. Seeing that list needs access to view bookings or attendance. Approving or declining also needs permission to edit bookings and the business's account in good standing; if either is missing, the same list appears as review-only.
• When a request comes in from the customer portal, the business's owners are emailed with a link straight to the review list. Requests that staff create inside the app do not trigger that email, and it goes to owners rather than to every manager.
• If an action is missing, first check the visible state; if access is the likely issue, staff can ask an owner or manager to review their access.

Troubleshooting#

• If a dog cannot be booked, check dog readiness and document requirements.
• If an expected service is missing, confirm business setup and service availability.
• If no times appear for a date you expected to be open, the business may have set special hours for that day (a closure or shortened hours). Try another date, or contact the business to confirm.
• If you see a "closed until further notice" notice, the business has an emergency closure turned on: same-day booking is paused, and a request for a later date is held for the team to review once they reopen.
• If you see a dated message on the booking form but the times still appear as usual, that notice is an announcement only — the day is still bookable and you can continue.
• If cancellation is not shown, the booking cannot be canceled automatically — for example, because the service's cancellation deadline has already passed. Contact the business to make a change.
• If several bookings change status at the same moment, that is expected: several dates requested at once for the same dog are decided as a group while they are all still waiting on review. Bookings for different dogs are decided separately, so they can change status at different times. If part of a grouped set was already decided, the rest is handled booking by booking.
• If approving or declining reports that the request has already been reviewed, someone else made the decision first. Reload the requests view to see the current state.
• If staff cannot update a booking, confirm the selected booking state, current business account, and assigned access.
• If only some dogs book successfully, use the visible warning to identify which dogs still need attention.