A Service Calendar is a tailored calendar created to simplify service-based businesses’ scheduling process. In this calendar type, users can create different services they offer, group them together by category, and display all of them in one single scheduling link—the Service Menu.

These calendars seamlessly integrate with your staff’s availability, allowing you to configure your team members, assign services to specific groups, set the service duration, and accept customer payments during the booking process.

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How to Enable Service Calendars?

1. Go to Calendar Settings.
2. Click on “Preferences.”
3. Under “In-App Preferences,” toggle the “Service Menu” option to turn it on.
4. You will now see “Service Calendar” under “Create New Calendar”

Note: Only admins can access this setting

Step 1: Navigate to Calendar Settings and Input the Essentials

Start by logging in to your sub-account > Go to Calendars > Calendar Settings.

Within the Calendars Tab, click “Create Calendar,” then choose the “Service Calendar” option.

Input the Essentials: Provide the necessary information for your service calendar, such as:

• Calendar Name: Give your calendar a descriptive name.
• Calendar Description: Add a brief description to help users understand the calendar’s purpose.
• Staff Assignment and URL: Select the staff members assigned to the service for which you’re creating the calendar. Additionally, define a calendar slug or URL that will determine the link to your calendar.
• Duration: Specify the duration of your service
• You can customize your service calendar further with Advanced Options. Click on the Advanced Settings Button.

Step 2: Service Details

Upload your Service Logo. This image will appear on the Appointment Booking Widget for your Service Calendar.

Note: Service Logo will be visible only for the appointment widget of a single service calendar. For Service Menu / Groups, Service Cover Image should be used.

Link to Service Menu:

If you intend to add this Service Calendar to your Service Menu (where all your services are showcased on one page), ensure you select a group for the calendar. Think of a group as a way to categorize similar services together. For example, you could create a group named “HAIR” and assign service calendars like “Hair Cut,” “Hair Spa,” and “Hair Coloring” to it.

Note: Service Calendars can be used in a Service Menu as well as in a Group

You can also customize your Appointment Invite Title. This is the title for the Calendar event that shows in Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, etc.

Event Color—Choose the event color to assign to this calendar. Remember, colors get synced to events in Google Calendars.

Service Calendars are primarily meant to cater to physical services; hence, we do not support the addition of any Meeting Location including Zoom / Google Meet in a service calendar.

Step 3: Availability

• Appointment Duration: Set the length of each appointment.
• Post Buffer time: Add extra time after appointments for preparation or transition.
• Minimum Scheduling Notice: Set the required advance notice for appointment bookings, specifying how many hours or days before an appointment should the booking be closed.
• Date Range: Define how many days into the future appointments can be booked.

Note: The slot interval in the Service Calendar is set to 15 minutes by default and cannot be altered

Step 4: Forms & Payments

• Forms – You have the flexibility to choose how you gather client information. You can opt for the default form, which collects standard details like Name, Email, and Phone number, or create a custom form tailored to your needs. To use a custom form, create it in Sites > Forms > Builder, then select it from the dropdown menu on the calendar. You can also:
  – Toggle the consent checkbox on/off.
  – Customize the consent message.

Note: Custom forms will only apply to bookings made directly on a Service Calendar. For bookings made through the Service Menu, default forms will be used.

Confirmation Page – After booking an appointment, you can decide how to present the confirmation to the user. You can choose between displaying a thank you message on the same page or redirecting the user to a specific URL.

Payments:

If you want to accept booking payments, ensure your payment gateway is integrated. Once set up, you can specify the payment amount and start collecting payments. It’s important to note that payments only apply to the primary attendee, not guests.

Step 5: Notifications, Additional Options & Customizations

Notifications: You can select who should receive appointment notifications and whether to allow Google to send invitations or update emails to attendees. You can also determine whether contacts should be assigned to their respective staff members each time an appointment is booked.

Customizations—Service Cover Image: In this section, upload a service cover image that will be displayed in the service menu and visible in the Neo Group Widget.

Customizations—Additional Notes: The Google invitation will include Anything entered here. For this feature to work, please ensure that “Allow Google Calendar to Send Invitations” is enabled from the ‘Notifications’ settings.

Step 6: Rooms & Equipment

You can select from a list of rooms and equipment that have been created. This will associate the selected rooms/equipment with the service calendar, which will be booked along with this calendar.

Finally, click save, and Voila, your Service Calendar is ready to be booked!

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Key Highlights

1. This calendar enables contacts to book multiple services for themselves or combine services for multiple participants (themselves and their guests).

2. The calendar operates with a default 15-minute slot interval, which ensures efficient scheduling. While this interval is fixed, you can add buffer times between appointments, giving your staff the time they need to prepare for the next client.

3. Crucially, the availability of the service calendar is directly linked to the schedules of the staff members assigned to it. Hence, there is no option to configure the Calendar Availability. The calendar will consider the availability of only its assigned staff members. If a staff member is unavailable at a given time, the calendar will reflect this unavailability.

4. If you wish to display different services on a single scheduling link (The Service Menu), it is essential first to create the desired groups, then create your service calendars and assign them to the respective groups, and finally create your Service Menu.