Can I set up an automated surcharge for weekends and holidays?
Of course! 😇
You can do so on the Policies & fees tab in your Category Settings page to set up automated surcharges for weekends & holidays. Make sure you've selected the category that you'd like to apply these surcharges for — in the screenshot below, we've selected the "Dog Walking" category for example.
Setting up weekend surcharges
Turn on the toggle to Apply surcharge on weekends. You'll then be able to set a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the service cost for the fee, decide if you'd like to charge clients this fee by the visit or by the day, and choose which days the surcharge applies. You can also set a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the fee to go to the staff member completing the appointment. In our example below, we set up an automated surcharge of $10 per visit for appointments completed on Saturdays and Sundays, with 50% of the fee going to the staff member assigned to the appointment.
Setting up holiday surcharges
Turn on the toggle to Apply surcharge on holidays. You'll then be able to set a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the service cost for the fee, decide if you'd like to charge clients this fee by the visit or by the day, as well as the amount or percentage of the fee you would like to give to the staff member assigned to an applicable appointment. Finally, choose which holidays the surcharge applies to. By default, all holiday toggles are off, so just turn on the toggles for the holidays where you'd like to apply surcharges. Once a toggle is turned on, we (as a default) may have selected a couple of days around that holiday where you might also like to apply a surcharge, but you can deselect any of those days and/or select additional days around that holiday for when you'd like your surcharge to apply! In our example below, we set up an automated surcharge of $25 per day, with 75% of the surcharge fee going to the assigned staff member, for appointments completed on 5/27 through 5/30 for Memorial Day and 7/2 through 7/4 for Independence Day.
Once you've added your surcharges, you'll see your policy appear below the on/off toggle under the Weekends and/or Holidays section(s) of the Policies & fees tab. If you need to make any changes, just tap the update button corresponding to the policy that you'd like to change!
⚠️ Your policy comes into effect immediately upon setup! Each year you'll be notified when your policies are carried over and ready for your view. By default, we'll select the date of the holiday; if you selected additional days around the holiday, we'll also by default include weekend dates before or after.
How will my clients know about surcharges for weekends & holidays?
When your clients request appointments on dates where weekend or holiday surcharges apply based on your policy, they'll be notified both after selecting their desired appointment date(s) and when reviewing the booking summary before confirming their request.
On the booking summary page, pet parents will see an Estimated cost section that itemizes any automated surcharges & fees (including sales tax, if applicable) so that they have an idea for the total cost of their requested services. Hovering or tapping on the information icon next to the weekend or holiday surcharge in this section will give them more information about your policy and which days surcharges are being applied to.
What if I wanted to make an exception for a client?
No problem! Automated surcharges are added to your client's draft invoices when the requested appointment is completed. At that point, the fee appears on the draft invoice just like any other additional charge adjustment that you might manually add to a bill. You can then remove that adjustment when editing the draft. 😎
What happens when a holiday falls on a weekend?
If you have surcharges set up for weekends and have holiday surcharges applying on a weekend day as well, only your holiday surcharge would be applied so that your clients aren't getting double charged 🐶