Getting started, step by step

In this guide

1. Sign up and sign in
2. Your business details
3. Services and rates
4. Time off and how far ahead people book
5. Your cancellation policy
6. Google Calendar
7. Adding your clients
8. Your booking page or booking link
9. Choosing a plan
10. Card payments, on Pro
11. Booking by WhatsApp, on Pro
12. What your clients do
13. Questions and fixes

1. Sign up and sign in

Enter your email on the sign-up page and we email you a link. Follow it to the page headed “Set up your business”, type your business name, choose a password, and press “Finish setup”. You land in your dashboard, already signed in.

Your booking page’s address is made from the business name you type here, so type it the way you want clients to see it.

After that, sign in at the sign-in page with your email and password. “Forgot password?” there emails you a reset link.

The first time you sign in, “Quick setup” opens by itself and walks you through four steps: “About Your Business”, “What Services Do You Offer?”, “Set Your Prices” and “Connect Your Calendar”. Each step has “Skip for now”, and everything it sets can be changed later in the places below.

2. Your business details

Open Settings → Business. Clients see these on your booking page:

• “Business name” and “Brand color”.
• “Contact email” and “Contact phone”, shown to your clients so they can reach you.
• “Your time zone”, which every date and time is counted in.

Press “Save changes” when you are done.

3. Services and rates

The quickest start is the wizard’s presets: tap the ones that describe you (“Pack Walks”, “Solo Walks”, “Boarding”, “House sitting”, “Daycare”, “Check-in”) and type a price for each. You can run “Quick setup” again any time from Settings → Services & Rates; it only adds, and never overwrites.

To build one by hand, press “+ Add a service”, pick one of the five kinds (Boarding, House sitting, Daycare, Walk or Check-in), name it, and press “Add service”. You can offer up to six services. Open a service to set:

• Pricing & options: the rate per night, day, walk or visit. Walks and check-ins can carry several options, each with its own length, price, pickup window and capacity.
• Holiday rate, if you charge one.
• Booking limits: how many pets you take, the longest stay, and “Days of notice needed”.
• Questions: what clients answer when they book.
• Accepted pets: which kinds of animal the service takes.

Each service has an on and off switch. A service that is off reads “Not offered” and takes no bookings.

Pricing more than one pet. Under “Multi-pet pricing” you choose what a booking with several pets costs. A new service starts on “my rate × the number of pets”, so two dogs cost twice your one-dog rate. Under that you can add a combination with a price of its own, such as two dogs for $60. Choose “only the combinations I price below” instead and only the combinations you have priced can be booked together.

In that second mode, a client who picks pets you have not priced as a group is told their dates are free but that you haven’t set a price for that group of pets yet. They are given your email or phone to ask you, and told they can book one pet at a time. The price is never guessed, and the request cannot be sent until you add a rate.

4. Time off and how far ahead people book

Open Settings → Time off, pick a “First day off” and a “Last day off”, and press “Block these days”. Both days are included, so for a single day pick the same date twice. Those days stop being offered on every service at once, and bookings you have already confirmed stay as they are.

How far ahead clients can book is set in Settings → Business, as a number of months (new accounts start at twelve). How much notice each service needs is under that service’s “Booking limits”.

5. Your cancellation policy

Each service has its own policy, at the bottom of the service under “Cancellation policy”. Press “Add tier” and fill in “Within [days] days of start: [percent] % of cost”. You can add several tiers, and the tightest window that applies wins. Leave it blank and cancelling costs nothing.

When a client cancels on your booking page, the fee comes from the policy you wrote, and you get an email saying what is owed.

6. Google Calendar

Optional. Open Settings → Connected apps and press “Connect Google Calendar”, then sign in with Google in the window that opens. Your bookings start appearing on your calendar. Press “Create a pet calendar” if you would like them on a calendar of their own, named “Pawservation — Pet bookings”.

Anything you put on the connected calendar yourself blocks those dates for new requests, so a dentist appointment typed into Google is time off here too. Skip this step and everything else works the same.

7. Adding your clients

Only clients you add can book with you. Open Clients and fill in the client’s email, name and phone, plus their first pet’s name and type, then press “Add account”. Every client needs a phone number and at least one pet.

Adding a client sends them nothing. When you are ready, open their row and press “Send welcome email”.

Have a list already? Use the CSV import on the same page. “Download example CSV” shows the columns, and tick “Send welcome emails to new clients” if you want them sent as the list goes in.

8. Your booking page or booking link

Open Settings → Your website. You will see your booking page as clients see it, and three ways to share it:

• On Squarespace and most website builders: press “Copy the code” and paste it into a code block on any page. It already has your business filled in.
• On Wix (choose “Embed a site”) and builders where the first one doesn’t work, use the second code and its own “Copy the code” button.
• No website? Press “Copy the link” and text or email it to your clients. It opens the same booking page on its own, with nothing to build or host.

The page is safe to put in public, because only clients you have added can book. A new visitor sees a welcome under your name, a sign-in box, and a note asking them to get in touch with you so you can add them. Your services and rates can be read by anyone with the address.

9. Choosing a plan

Solo is $15 a month. Pro is $29 a month or $290 a year, per sitter. Solo is your booking page, clients, rates, payment tracking and Google Calendar. Pro adds a booking assistant in your booking page’s chat and on WhatsApp, card payments through your own Stripe account, and extra sitters.

The 30-day free trial is Solo, and you don’t need a card to start it. Choose Pro during the trial and its assistant, booking by WhatsApp and card payments switch on right away; choosing a plan doesn’t extend the trial, and you’re first charged when it ends. If you haven’t chosen a plan when the trial ends, your dashboard goes read-only until you do, and your clients can still send requests.

Your plan lives at the bottom of Settings → Business, under “Your plan”. Press “Subscribe” beside Solo, Pro or Pro, yearly. Stripe asks for your card on its own page, so Pawservation never sees it, and Pro’s features switch on as soon as you subscribe to Pro. Once you have a plan, “Manage plan” is where you change your card or see past payments, and “Sync with Stripe” puts things right if your plan ever looks wrong there.

Nothing about your bookings, clients or pets changes when you subscribe or switch plans. A plan only decides which extras are switched on.

10. Card payments, on Pro

Card payments run through a Stripe account of your own. You pay Stripe’s published rate on each payment and no fee to Pawservation (see Stripe’s pricing). Stripe pays you directly, into your own bank account on Stripe’s schedule. Pawservation never holds your money.

Connecting. In the business audit card on your dashboard, find “Card payments” and choose “Open card payments”. There, press “Connect Stripe”. Stripe opens and asks for your details and your bank account, the same as any Stripe signup. When you come back, Stripe may still be checking your details for a few minutes; “Continue setup” takes you back to Stripe if it needs anything else.

An access token. Card payments need to act for you when nobody is signed in, for example to record a deposit at night. Open Settings → Business → Access tokens, create a token, paste it into card payments and press “Save token”. When it is done, card payments says it is on are on and names the Stripe account the money goes to.

Deposits. Choose “No deposit”, “A fixed amount” or “A percentage of the estimate”, press “Set deposit rule”, read the sentence it shows you, and press “Confirm deposit rule”. A deposit is asked for on confirmed bookings whose stay has not ended yet.

Charging the balance after a stay. This only ever happens to a client who asked for it. A client saves a card by paying a deposit, then asks the assistant to charge that card after each stay and taps “Allow charges after stays”. Once you press “Charge saved cards after stays” and confirm, each of those households is charged what its booking still owes, as your balance shows it, on the morning after the stay ends. Nothing is worked out or added on, and a stay already paid in full is never charged.

Clients who don’t opt in pay you the way they do now. You can pause any one household, or press “Stop charging saved cards” to stop them all, and a client can stop it themselves at any time. If a card is declined, it is not tried again: the balance stays owed on that booking, and you collect it the way you usually would.

What clients see. In “My bookings” on your booking page, a deposit that is due shows its amount and a “Pay deposit” button, which opens Stripe’s own payment page.

Turning it off. “Disconnect Stripe” removes saved cards, closes open payment links and stops any scheduled charges. Payments already made stay in your Stripe account.

11. Booking by WhatsApp, on Pro

Your clients message your own WhatsApp Business number to check dates, get a quote, book, reschedule, cancel or ask what they owe. The assistant answers with your rates and your rules, and every new request comes to you to Confirm or Decline. It has a daily allowance, and when that runs out a client who messages is pointed to your booking page, which always works.

What you need:

• A WhatsApp Business number you control: the one your clients already message, or a new one.
• A second WhatsApp number of your own for alerts, such as your personal phone. It has to be a US number, and it can’t be the business number.
• A payment method with Meta. Meta bills you directly for the messages your business number sends.
• A little patience after connecting: Meta reviews the wording of the messages your number sends, and alerts start once it approves them.

Where it lives. On Pro, open Settings → Services & Rates and scroll to the bottom. The panel there has a section headed “WhatsApp”.

1. Press “Connect WhatsApp”. A window opens with two choices: “Keep the number my clients already text” or “Use a new number”. Meta’s own signup runs next; pick one WhatsApp Business account and one number. When it says “Connected”, close the window.
2. Meta reviews the message wording for your number. Until it approves it, the panel says so, and alerts wait.
3. Create an access token under Settings → Business → Access tokens, paste it into “Access token for booking by message” and press “Save token”.
4. Add your admin number: a WhatsApp number other than your business number. Press “Send code”, type the six-digit code it sends there, and press “Prove”.
5. Press “Switch booking by message on”, read the sentence it shows you, and press “Accept and switch on”. The panel then reads “Ready”.

Confirm and Decline. Each new request, whether it came by WhatsApp or from your booking page, reaches your admin number as an alert with the client, the dates and the estimate, and two buttons. “Confirm” confirms it in one tap. “Decline” asks once more, “Yes, decline” or “Keep it”. A client who booked by WhatsApp gets the answer on WhatsApp. Confirming by message goes ahead even past the capacity you set, and the reply tells you when it did, so you can change it in your dashboard. You can always decide in your dashboard instead.

Sharing it. While you are connected, the panel shows your WhatsApp link and a QR code for it. Add an optional greeting for clients’ first message, then put the link on your website or social profiles and print the QR code for flyers or your car.

Turning it off. “Switch booking by message off” stops it straight away: clients who message your number are pointed to your booking page. “Disconnect WhatsApp” removes Pawservation’s access to your WhatsApp account altogether. Your booking page keeps working either way.

12. What your clients do

• They open your booking page, on your website or from your link, enter the email you have on file for them, and type the six-digit code they are emailed. There is no password to remember.
• The first time, they are asked for a phone number if you have not added one, so you can reach them.
• They pick a service, the dates or a visit time, and their pets, see the price, answer your questions, and press “Request Booking”.
• Under “My bookings” they see each request as “Awaiting confirmation” until you confirm it, and they are emailed when you do. They can change or cancel their own bookings there.
• On Pro, they can ask the chat on your booking page, or message your WhatsApp number, instead.
• On the booking page a client picks each date; there are no repeating bookings there yet. On Pro they can ask the assistant for every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of November, say. It lists each date with its price for them to approve, up to 60 at a time, every one still comes to you to confirm, and they can cancel the rest of a run the same way.

13. Questions and fixes

A client says they can’t book. Check they are in Clients with the email they are typing. Only clients you have added can book.

A client sees no price for their pets. That service is set to “only the combinations I price below” and that group of pets has no rate. Add one under “Multi-pet pricing”, or switch the service to “my rate × the number of pets”.

A day shows as unavailable. Look for time off, a booking that fills your limit, an event on your connected Google Calendar, or a service set to weekdays only or needing more notice.

My booking page won’t show on Wix. Use the second code on Settings → Your website, with Wix’s “Embed a site”.

My dashboard is read-only. Your plan has lapsed. Start one under “Your plan”; your bookings, clients and pets are untouched.

WhatsApp alerts aren’t arriving. Check the WhatsApp section for its status line: alerts need an admin number you have proven, and Meta’s approval of your message wording.

Anything else. Email hello@pawservation.com and say which business you run. A person reads it.

Want the bigger picture first? Read the full tour, or try the demo: a made-up sitter’s account, so there is nothing to sign up for and nothing you can break.