Manual Approval by Service Category in Online Booking

Choose which service categories require a booking request while allowing other categories to book directly.

You can control Online Booking approval by service category instead of requiring manual approval for every online appointment. This lets higher-touch services use a request flow while other services stay available for direct booking.

Where to Find It

Go to Business Settings > Online Booking > Settings > Booking Permissions.

Choose Which Categories Require Approval

1. Turn on Review and approve each appointment request manually.

2. Under the setting, review the enabled service categories for the location.

3. Select each category that should require manual approval.

4. Leave categories unselected when pet parents should be able to book them directly.

5. Save your Online Booking settings.

How the Booking Flow Changes

Selected categories — bookings follow the existing request/manual-approval flow. The pet parent submits a request, deposits are not collected in the request flow, and existing staff approval notifications continue to apply.
Unselected categories — bookings follow the normal direct-booking flow, including the existing deposit behavior.
No categories selected — no Online Booking category requires manual approval.
Mixed submission — if at least one selected service category in the Online Booking submission requires approval, the entire submission is created as a request rather than being split into confirmed and requested services.

Which Categories Appear

The checklist shows only the appointment service categories enabled for the marketplace. Supported categories include Grooming, Daycare, Boarding, Transportation, Walking, and Training.

Things to Know

Turning the main toggle off removes manual approval for all categories.
Only users who can manage Online Booking settings can change this configuration.
The pet parent experience within the existing request and direct-booking flows stays the same; this setting determines which path is used.
Existing businesses that previously required approval for all Online Booking requests were migrated so their current behavior remained intact.

Summary

Use category-based approval when only certain types of Online Booking appointments need staff review. Select the categories that should become requests and leave the rest available for direct booking.