Dog groomers: scheduling several groomers in one salon

A grooming salon with two or three groomers can take every appointment on one Book page. Owners whose dog is used to one person book that groomer's service, such as "Full groom, medium dog, with Inès"; owners who don't mind book a shared service whose slots have one place per table in use. Size slots by dog and coat, open each groomer's slots on their working days, and move dogs to a colleague when someone is off. The salon pays €5/month in total.

Book gives one booking page per business. Each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on the page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own number of places. There's no staff field, so the groomer's name goes in the service name. Slots of different services can run at the same time, which is what lets two groomers work side by side.

Durations, places and prices are examples: set your own.

Anxious dogs and dogs with a particular cut do better with the same person, so give full grooms per-groomer services. Quick jobs, such as a bath and brush or a nail clip, can sit in a shared service: set each slot's places to the number of tables free at that hour, and decide in the salon who takes which dog. Keep the list readable on a phone by naming only the services where the choice of groomer matters.

A small short-haired dog and a large double-coated one don't take the same time. Create services by size, and say in each description which breeds fit, and to choose the larger size if in doubt. Ask owners to write the breed, weight and any matting in the booking note. If a dog arrives much bigger or more matted than booked, say in the description that you may need to rebook it into a longer slot.

Book doesn't know how many baths or force dryers you have, and slots of different services can overlap, so it won't stop three large dogs needing the only bath at 10:00. Plan around it when you open slots: stagger large-dog grooms between groomers, give each groomer a table, and only open as many shared places as tables really free. Leave a short gap after each dog for cleaning down.

Open each groomer's named slots only on the days they work. Slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so a full-timer and a Saturday groomer each get a series. For shared services, match places to the groomers on shift. When the rota changes, delete the remaining slots of the old series and create a new one.

Dogs that come back every six or eight weeks can be booked into their next groom before they leave, with the same groomer, from the calendar. First and last name are required, email and phone optional; with an email, the owner gets a confirmation with a calendar file. Book sends no reminders, so that calendar entry is what brings the dog back.

A puppy's first visits shape how it copes with grooming later. Give them to the groomer who's best with young dogs, in a short service of their own, at quieter times of the day when the salon is calm. Say in the description what the visit includes, such as handling, a brush and a gentle introduction to the dryer, and book the next short visit before the puppy leaves.

Owners can't move or cancel online; you move bookings from your bookings list. Rescheduling works across services, so a dog booked with Inès can move into Max's free slot, or to Inès's return. Book doesn't email owners about changes, so call or message each one; an anxious dog's owner may prefer to wait for the usual groomer. Then delete the absent groomer's free slots. All bookings sync with the salon's Google, iPhone or Mac calendar. Book doesn't take payments; owners pay at collection. Book costs €5/month for the salon, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.