① Initial Setup (First Steps)
Before creating events, it's important to set up your business details. This information is used as the default for all your events and communications.
- Business Setup: Set your business name, address, and default reminder settings. You can also customize the text for your public booking page, like your tagline and contact form message.
- Timezone: This is a crucial setting. Choose your local timezone to ensure automated reminders are sent at the correct time relative to your events.
- Payment Settings: Connect your Square account to accept online credit card payments. If not configured, all reservations will be "Pay In Person" by default.
② Creating & Managing Events
Go to the Event Management tab to control your schedule. Events with the same name will be grouped together.
- Creating an Event: Click the "+ Create New Event" button to open the Event Wizard. This will guide you through the setup process step-by-step.
- Recurring Events: For events that repeat, use the recurring event options in the wizard. You can set a date range (e.g., a whole season) and select which days of the week the event runs on (e.g., every Saturday and Sunday).
- Public vs. Private: You can set an event to be Public or Private. A private event is not shown on your main booking page and is only accessible via a special link, which you can find and copy from the event's card.
- Scheduling Controls: Use the "Booking Cut-off" field to prevent last-minute bookings and the "Block Out Dates" field to exclude holidays or days off from a recurring schedule.
- Custom Fields: Add custom text fields or waiver checkboxes to your booking form to collect specific information from your guests when they reserve.
③ Managing Guests & Reservations
The Dashboard and Check-In views are your hubs for daily operations.
- Dashboard: View all reservations, grouped by date and event. From here, you can manually Edit a reservation's guest count or Cancel the booking entirely. You can also print a daily manifest for all events on a selected day.
- Check-In View: On the day of an event, use this tab to manage arrivals. The list is grouped by event, and the action buttons are dynamic based on the reservation's status (e.g., "Mark as Paid", "Check In").
- Manual Booking: Click the "+ Add Reservation" button on the Dashboard to use the booking wizard to manually add a reservation for a customer (e.g., for a phone booking).