Booking Services

Services are the bookable offerings customers choose.

Services define what customers can book. A usable service depends on related staff, availability, location and pricing configuration.

What this feature is for

A Service is the central bookable product. It combines customer-facing information (name, description, media and price) with scheduling rules (duration, padding, capacity, notice), operational relationships (staff and location), and optional commercial policies (extras, repeat booking, cancellation/refund behavior).

The service type matters because it changes what “availability” means. A simple service needs an eligible provider/time. Collaborative services can require multiple staff to be free together. Compound services build a booking from linked service parts, so every required part must produce a compatible schedule.

A practical way to use it

Create the supporting Category, Location and Staff first.
Choose the correct Service Type before configuring availability.
Set duration, padding, capacity and price, then assign eligible staff/location.
Configure only the customer options you intend to support: group booking, repeat booking, waiting list, custom duration, cancellation/refund rules.
Add Extras, gallery/custom fields and Packages where they genuinely extend this service.
Test the service through a real Booking Form and verify several dates—not just the first available slot.

How it connects to other features

Staff schedules and time off ultimately determine whether assigned staff can fulfil the service. Booking-wide defaults can be overridden by service-specific rules where exposed. Booking Forms decide how customers select the service, and TruPayments handles payment after the appointment total is built.

What to expect after changes

Changing duration, padding, required staff, capacity or assignments changes future availability. Changing price/refund/cancellation options changes future commercial behavior. Review existing appointments before making major changes so staff understand why historical bookings may differ from new ones.

Where to find it

Open Booking → Services.

Using the Services list

Use the list as a service-catalog health check: confirm the service is active, priced as intended, attached to the right Category, and has staff/location relationships that make it bookable. If customers cannot find a time, open the service and inspect its service type, staffing and scheduling rules rather than only changing the public form.

Field and action reference

Use the tables below when you need the exact meaning of a field, column, filter or action. Read the workflow and dependency sections above first so each option is used in the right context.

Define services customers can book.

Using the list page

Column	Use
Name	Shows the record name.
Description	Shows the record description/summary.
Service Type	Shows whether the service is Simple, Collaborative, or Compound.
Category	Shows the assigned category.
Location	Shows the assigned Booking location.
Duration	Shows the configured service duration.
Custom Fields	Provides access to service-specific custom fields.
Revenue this month	Shows revenue attributed to the service for the current month.
Total revenue	Shows cumulative revenue attributed to the service in the available data.

Field reference

Field / option	Use
Name	The human-readable name used to identify this record.
Slug	The URL-friendly identifier used where this item has a public address.
Short Description	A shorter summary used where compact service information is needed.
Description	Longer descriptive information for this record.
Service Type	Chooses whether the service is Simple, Collaborative, or Compound.
Staff	Selects the staff/provider who can perform or is assigned to the service/appointment.
Required Staff	Sets how many eligible staff members must be available together for a collaborative service.
Duration	Sets the customer-facing service duration where this value is editable.
Price	Sets the price charged for this item before applicable discounts or taxes.
Sort Order	Controls the item’s relative ordering where TruCMS presents multiple records.
Padding Before	Reserves preparation time before the customer-facing appointment.
Padding After	Reserves cleanup or recovery time after the customer-facing appointment.
Minimum Capacity	Sets the minimum number of attendees allowed for a booking when capacity rules apply.
Maximum Capacity	Sets the maximum number of attendees allowed for a booking when capacity rules apply.
Daily Booking Limit	Limits how many bookings can be accepted for this service in a day.
Minimum Notice	Controls how far in advance a customer must book when this service-level value is used.
Visibility	Controls whether and how the item is exposed in customer-facing Booking screens.
Category	Associates the record with a category.
Location	Associates the record with a Booking location.
Image	Uploads or selects the primary image used for this record.
Service gallery	Adds the images used to present the service visually on supported Booking layouts.
Allow Group Booking	Allows group booking when enabled.
Allow Waiting List	Allows waiting list when enabled.
Allow Repeat	Allows repeat when enabled.
Allowed Repeat Frequencies	Chooses which recurrence patterns a customer may use when recurring bookings are enabled for this service.
Daily	Allows daily recurrence for this service.
Weekly	Allows weekly recurrence for this service.
Biweekly	Allows recurrence every two weeks for this service.
Monthly	Allows monthly recurrence for this service.
Allow Custom Duration	Allows custom duration when enabled.
Allow Cancellation	Allows cancellation when enabled.
Cancellation Notice	Sets the service-specific advance notice required for cancellation when the service is using its own cancellation rule.
Refund Policy	Chooses whether this service follows the Booking default refund policy or uses its own custom policy.
Refund Type	For a custom service refund policy, chooses whether the refundable amount is full or partial.
Partial Refund Percentage	For a partial custom refund policy, sets the percentage used to calculate the refundable amount.
Is Active	Controls whether this record is treated as active.

Actions available

Create
View
Custom Fields
Edit
Delete

Booking Settings · Appointments · Overview

Where services appear on your site

The services page lists active services with search and category filter, in the design chosen for Services listing layout. A single service has its own page (Service detail layout). See Frontend Designs.
Any page you build can show services with the Booking Services, Single Booking Service, Service Hero or Marquee blocks. See Page Builder Components.
Designed service pages from the Template Library can be bound to one service, so the page fills itself with that service’s details. See Data-Bound Sections.
The booking form can preselect a service, so a button on a service page starts the booking at the next step.

A service appears only while it is active, has an active category and has at least one active staff member. If it does not appear, see the Booking FAQ.