Services Setup

Services are the types of reservations/appointments you offer (i.e. Lunch, Dinner, Shopping, Haircut, Office Visit, etc.). You must have Services set up in order to take online reservations/appointments. Each service has its own schedule and duration, which TablesReady uses to work out which times are available to book and how long a table (or other resource) will be occupied.

Configure Service Settings

Go to Settings > Services. Before you add services, set these options and click Save:

• Enable Services — turns the Services feature on.
• Services label — what a service is called in your account. A restaurant might use "Dinner" or "Dine-In"; a salon might use "Treatment." The label is used throughout the app and on your public pages.
• Display on Waitlist & Reservations pages — adds a Services column to your Waitlist and Reservations pages so staff can see each party's service at a glance.
• Allow charge via Stripe — appears once you've connected Stripe in Settings > Integrations. Turn it on to charge guests a service's Price when they book online. See Charge for Services with Stripe below.

Add Services

Click + Add service and fill in the details:

• Name — the display name for this service.
• Description — shown to guests on your online booking page once they've picked a time, and at the top of the service's direct link page. It's required if you charge for the service via Stripe, so use it to say what the charge covers (for example, "$20 per person deposit, applied to your bill").
• Price — if Allow charge via Stripe is on, this is the amount charged when a guest books, in your Stripe currency, and guests see it on the Stripe checkout page. Otherwise it's for display only: enter any pricing information you'd like, and it appears at the top of the service's direct link page.
• URL — optional. Enter a short word or phrase to give this service its own direct booking link. See Create Direct Links for Services.
• Public Availability — choose whether guests can pick this service for Check-In (walk-ins on your public waitlist), Reservations, or both. Your staff can always assign any service.
• Schedule — the schedule this service is available on. See Schedules Setup.
• Duration — how long this service takes, in hours and minutes. This is the turn time that TablesReady uses when checking availability.
• Duration by Party Size — optionally set different durations depending on how many guests are in the party. See Set Different Durations by Party Size below.
• Category — optional. Group related services together by picking an existing category or typing a new one.

Click Confirm to save the service.

Tip: keep your list short. If every reservation takes about the same amount of time and follows the same schedule, one service is enough. Create separate services when they run on different schedules, take different amounts of time, or you want guests to choose between them.

Set Different Durations by Party Size

A table for two usually turns faster than a table for eight. Instead of one fixed duration, you can give a service a set of rules that match party-size ranges to durations. TablesReady then uses the right duration for each booking when it checks availability, draws the reservation on the Timeline view, and fills in the duration when your staff add a party.

1. In the service's settings, turn on Use different durations by party size.
2. For each rule, enter the Min and Max party size and the Duration (hours : minutes).
3. Click + Add Rule to add another range. Ranges can't overlap.
4. Click Confirm.

For example, a Dinner service might use:

Party sizes that aren't covered by a rule use the service's regular Duration. Staff can still adjust the duration on an individual party when adding or editing it.

Charge for Services with Stripe

If you'd like to take a deposit or full payment when guests book online, connect your Stripe account under Settings > Integrations, then turn on Allow charge via Stripe in Settings > Services. Every service you charge for needs a Description and a Price of at least 1.00 in your Stripe currency.

When a guest books a priced service, they're taken to Stripe Checkout to pay. The booking is held for 5 minutes; if the payment isn't completed in that time, the hold is released and the booking is cancelled automatically. Once the payment goes through, the guest receives their confirmation and the reservation shows a Paid badge on your Reservations page. While a guest is still paying, the reservation shows an Unpaid badge with a countdown.

Stripe's processing fee and a TablesReady fee apply to each payment. Read more in Accept Payments for Bookings.

Manage Services

Your services are listed at the bottom of Settings > Services.

• Order — choose Manual Order, Name, or Category to set how services are sorted throughout the app and on your public pages. With Manual Order selected, drag a service by its handle to reorder it.
• Status — use the toggle to enable or disable a service without deleting it. Disabled services can't be booked.
• Edit / Delete — use the pencil and trash buttons in the Actions column.

Here are some different ways businesses might set up services

• Restaurants: one service called "Dining" is often enough. Turn on Duration by Party Size so larger groups hold a table longer (for example, 1:00 for 1–2 guests, 1:30 for 3–6 guests, and 2:00 for 7+ guests). Create separate Lunch and Dinner services if they run on different schedules, or Indoor and Patio services if guests should choose where to sit. Add a Price and turn on Stripe charging to take deposits for large parties or special events.
• Retailers: one service called "Shopping" that lasts 30 minutes (or however long the average shopper spends in your store).
• Barbers and stylists: one service for each offering, like Cut, Color, Trim, Men's Haircut, or Shave, each with its own duration and price.
• Motor vehicle and government offices: one service for each transaction you offer, e.g., Driver's License Renewal, Real ID, Records Printing, etc.