Configuration of booking options | anny Knowledge Base

This article explains how to configure a booking option in anny and helps you decide in advance whether it is better to use a booking option (resource-first flow) or a service (service-first flow) for the respective use case.

Terms and basic understanding

A booking option is the configuration of how something is booked – e.g., duration/time unit, price, etc. In the admin area, “booking option” and “service” are used synonymously (both are bookable entries).

Booking option: Defines how an existing resource is booked, e.g., room by the hour or day, vehicle, device, ticket, or activity. There is a fixed relationship to the specific item here. The selection starts with the resource (resource-first flow).
Service: A service that is usually provided by a person, e.g., coaching, consulting, massage, haircut. Important point: For services, the service-first flow can be activated. Customers first select the service and then, if permitted, the person or resource performing it.

Decision-making aid: Which flow is right for me?

First ask yourself this question:

Do I want to reserve a specific object, e.g., a particular room, a device, or an event, and do I define the booking method for this? → Resource-first flow (booking option)
Would I like to book a service and only then, if necessary, select a person/resource? → Service-first flow (service)

Here you will find more detailed information about the service-first flow. This article focuses on the booking option.

Configuring booking options: Step by step

To create a booking option, you must first create a resource (e.g., rooms, equipment, vehicle, event, workshop).

Open the desired resource and switch to the Booking Option tab.

Left side “Connected booking option”: shows all booking options linked to this resource.
Right side “All booking options”: shows all booking options created in the account.

Note: Booking options are stored centrally in the account. Editing a central booking option affects all linked resources.

Instructions

Select +Add and +New.
Choose a suitable name (e.g., Hourly, Flex booking, etc.).
Optionally, define a group for internal overview.
Set the time period.
1. Fixed duration: Booking interval is specified.
2. Flexible duration: Dynamic booking interval (min. & max. duration) - customer determines the duration
3. Duration by schedule: Booking interval is based on schedule
4. Series: a series of multiple bookings of the same booking option/resource over several dates
Select a price for a chargeable resource and specify the applicable VAT rate. Optionally, dynamic pricing can also be applied here.
Open the Advanced Settings to define additional functions:
1. Booking interval: determines the time interval between possible start dates (1 hour = start date: 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., etc.)
2. Lead time: the earliest possible date in the future on which bookings can be made (1 day = appointments can only be booked if they are at least 24 hours in the future)
3. Advance booking period: specifies how far into the future customers can book in advance (7 days = availability for the coming week is displayed)
4. Set-up and follow-up time: is automatically blocked before and after each booking and is not included in the billing.
5. Allow cross-schedule booking: bookings can be made across unavailable times. The full booking time is charged.
6. Allow end outside of schedule: a booking end outside of the schedule is allowed.
7. Allow recurring bookings: with free booking options, recurring bookings can be made at specific intervals
8. Accept all bookings automatically: bookings are accepted automatically; deactivate to accept or reject bookings
9. Quota: limit the number of parallel bookings; this is an additional limit in addition to the available number of resources
10. Booking type:
  1. Default: Bookings block the resource for the respective period.
  2. Transparent: Bookings do not block the period, so an infinite number of bookings are allowed for the period.
  3. Full: Bookings block the full capacity of the resource (only possible for child resources)
  4. Multiple: Blocks multiple capacity units with one booking.
    Weighting: Specifies how many units a booking with this booking option blocks (example: restaurant with a total capacity of 20 seats: table for 2 → weighting = 2 (one booking occupies 2 of 20 seats)
11. Internal service: Booking option can only be used by administrators when manually creating a booking
12. Access code: Booking option is only accessible to specific people who have the URL with the code
13. Presentation of the time selection: Determines how the time selection for the booking is displayed (calendar or list)
14. Hide location: if the resource is an online service
15. Allow further bookings: Hide the ‘Further booking’ button in the booking process; activate the function to allow further bookings

Available tabs and useful use cases

Depending on the features activated, additional tabs will be displayed within the booking option. Find out what's behind the tabs here:

Resources

If the Smart Availability feature is activated in the features, the Resources tab will be displayed. Here, additional necessary resources can be linked to a service to ensure combined availability.

Use case: This tab is particularly useful if you opt for a service-first flow. You can find instructions here.

Access

Set the access level here and/or add the booking option to a community.

Payments

Manage payments for paid booking options here. Decide whether payments should be made offline (on site), online in advance, or by invoice.

Add Ons

Create additional options (add-ons) here that can be added optionally during the booking process.

Examples: Catering, microphone, padel rackets, etc.

Prerequisite: Activate the Additional Service Options feature.

Schedules

Schedules can be used to further limit availability. Bookings are only permitted if both the availability of the resource and the booking option are met.

Prerequisite: Activate the Service Availability feature.

Form

This allows you to define additional queries during checkout, from your own forms to legal documents.

Messages

Store additional information that will be added to the email when the respective booking option is selected. You can also set up reminder emails before and/or after the start of the booking.

Cancellation

Here you can determine the cancellation policy—whether free of charge or subject to a fee.