Pet Boarding Software That Prices Stays by the Night

Boarding is priced by the night, and the price usually moves with the pet and the season. A booking system for a kennel or cattery needs a nightly rate as the base, then variables for the things that change it: size of dog, a second pet from the same home, a bank holiday or school holiday week, medication, extra walks or a bath before collection. In BookingMachine those are price variables on the boarding service, each adding or taking off a fixed amount or a percentage.

The owner picks their dates and options and sees the total for the stay before they book. That removes the back and forth about whether the Christmas week costs more, and it means the price you quote is the price you charge. Daycare, where it is a day rather than a night, sits alongside as its own service with its own pricing.

The thing that goes wrong with a paper diary or a shared spreadsheet is the overlap: two dogs booked into one run because someone wrote the dates in the wrong column. A boarding stay in BookingMachine blocks the whole stay, from check-in to check-out, so a kennel that is occupied is not offered to a second owner for any night in between.

You set your check-in and check-out windows as your hours, and you block the dates you are closed. If you run more than one site, each location has its own hours and its own capacity. Owners only ever see what is actually free, and when a stay is booked it is removed for everyone else, which is how a kennel stays full without being overbooked.

Yes. You choose per service whether owners pay a deposit, pay in full, or pay at collection. The card payment is taken when they book and goes to your own Stripe account, not to us. Online payments are on the paid plans and need an approved payments application, which we review before switching them on.

For boarding, a deposit on peak weeks is what protects the business. A kennel held for ten nights in August and cancelled the week before is hard to refill. Taking a deposit at booking means the owner is committed, and your cancellation policy has something behind it. When the stay is marked complete you can invoice the balance from the same place, and the owner is asked for a review.

Before a dog arrives you need its vaccination status, feeding routine, medication, behaviour notes, the vet and an emergency contact. The booking form can ask for the fields you choose, so those details come in with the booking instead of on a form at the gate. Every booking arrives in your dashboard and your inbox with the answers attached.

Each owner has a customer record that keeps their stays, notes and pet details together. Repeat guests, which are most of a good kennel's trade, can be seen at a glance, and you can tag regulars, new owners and the ones who have not been back for a while. For a kennel that has been running on a card index, that alone saves a lot of time at check-in.

A pet sitting and doggy daycare business, or a kennel that also runs daycare, does not need two systems. List overnight boarding as a per-night service, daycare as a per-day or per-hour service, and extras such as grooming or a bath as add-ons. One booking form, one diary, one set of customer records, and the same deposit rules across all of it.

Owners never create an account. They open your link or your website on their phone, pick the service and dates, see the price, pay and get a confirmation by email. The free plan has no card and covers your services and prices, the booking link, the form for your website and your free website, and review requests after a stay. Deposits and online payments are on the paid plans.