Book a service that needs a room and equipment

What it is

Some treatments need more than one thing free at the same time, such as a treatment room and a laser machine. With Also needs on a service, Bookatu only offers a time when a person and one free resource of each kind are available, and the booking holds them all for its whole length. A service that needs one kind, or none, works exactly as before.

Why it helps

Your one laser can no longer be booked in two rooms at once. A laser held by one booking is busy for every service that needs a laser, so clashes are caught when the booking is made, not on the day.

How to use it

1. 1First give each resource a Kind on your resources page under Catalog (its name depends on your business type, such as Rooms, Treatment rooms or Resources), for example Room and Laser. Also needs only appears once you have active resources of two or more kinds.
2. 2Open Catalog, then Services, tap Edit on the service and pick the first kind under Requires a room (the label uses your own word, such as Requires a treatment room). Then tick each other kind under Also needs and tap Save changes. A service can need up to 4 kinds.
3. 3Changing Also needs takes the Manage permission, which owners and admins have by default. It is never offered to restaurants, or for classes and add-ons. The Services list then shows a tag such as 'Needs Room + Laser'.
4. 4Your booking page and New booking only offer times when one of each kind is free. If you book a time where a kind is taken, New booking says so, for example 'No free laser then.' Choose another time, or tap Save anyway to save it with whatever is free.
5. 5Moving a booking keeps each resource where it is still free and picks another of the same kind where it is not. If a client moves it online and a kind is full, the move is refused and nothing changes. If your team moves it to a time Bookatu would not offer, the extra resources are dropped, just as the room is. Cancelling frees everything it held, and the booking's page lists every resource it holds.