Massage Therapist Couples Massage work around

[TBMAK]

Using Square Appointment has anyone found a work around for have 2 calendars blocked off for one appointment type ( E.I. a couples massage where 2 calendars are involved in one session). blocking in needed to avoid double booking and I can't figure out a work around.  I tried to use resources but that didn't seem to work (I have figured out how to make resources actually make something unavailable)  

[BernadetteA]

Welcome to the Community @TBMAK 🎉

Can you please clarify what you mean by using two calendars for one appointment? Do you have calendars for multiple staff members? 

[MassageBossETX]

We have the clients text us to book couples massage and we make a separate appointment for each person and just write that it is a couples in the notes.   If you check out by using the appointments app and using review and checkout you will have to check them out separately. On the iPad you cant make the tickets an merch them, on the "Square Register" you can create tickets and merge them both but then when you go back to appointments they don't show paid.  I have created a category for each staff member that has our full menu on it. that way I can ring up 1 hr massage by Sally and 1 hr Massage by Jen and the same ticket. Then I have a split tip button so I can see that that tip is for both of them. Then I just made reports for each staff category so i can run payroll that way. Its honestly infuriating but I hope this helps in the mean time.  Square has still not been able to add couples appointments and we've been asking since 2016. I've found a work around for each issue related to it but at this point I'm so tired of having to figure out a workaround. I may be about to purchase another company and I'll probably be trying new software there. 

[DragonMassage]

Yes, having the ability for our customers to book a "couples massage" online themselves is the biggest reason I am considering moving to a different booking application that has this ability.  It has the ability to create service packages where multiple services can be included in the package and booked in sequence (one after the other) or in parallel (at the same start time).  This allows creating a package called "Couples Massage" and having two 60-minute massage services included that each start at the same time and each require a staff member assigned to it.  For us, this package feature would also allow the creation of a Sauna/Massage package that would include a 30-minute Sauna session followed by a 60-minute massage.

The big benefit with this system is customers can book themselves online and when looking for a time slot only those that would fit ALL services in the package would be available.  No scheduling one service only to find out the other service desired is not available at that time.

[HealthySF9]

No updates on this from Square? 

[JJ_]

Hey there @HealthySF9 

Our product team is working on ways to effectively implement the ability to book more than one customer to one booking spot. I don't have any news in regard to this but rest assured that your feedback and the feedback of others in this thread and the Seller Community.

Thank you for sharing your interest.

[asch86]

I’ve owned a massage spa and used square appointments for eight years. I have no long term complaints other than our clients can’t book a couples massage online. Especially after the pandemic when we had to cut our front desk staff hours, we don’t have around the clock phone answering to schedule the couples massages. 

Square, I’ve been following this problem in the sellers community for 7 years now. Please fix this.

[Kassi_]

Welcome to the Community, @asch86 - 

Completely understand the business need for this to be added to Square Appointments. At the moment, it's still a feature request. 

Another seller has posted this on our Ideate Board, feel free to add your voice to the post. 

[modrar123]

Hi @TBMAK 

One possible workaround to block off two calendars for one appointment type in Square Appointments is to create a custom service that is specific to the couples massage appointment type. Within this custom service, you can specify the two calendars that need to be blocked off for the appointment. Here's how you can do it:

1. Go to the Square Appointments website and log in to your account.
2. Click on the "Appointments" tab in the main menu.
3. Click on the "Services" tab at the top of the page.
4. Click on the "Create a Service" button.
5. Enter a name for the custom service (e.g., "Couples Massage").
6. Enter the appointment duration and any other relevant information.
7. In the "Staff" section, select the two staff members who will be involved in the couples massage appointment.
8. In the "Calendar" section, click on the "Edit" button.
9. In the "Calendar Settings" popup, select the two calendars that need to be blocked off for the appointment.
10. Click on the "Save" button to save the changes.

By creating a custom service that is specific to the couples massage appointment type, you can ensure that the correct calendars are blocked off for the appointment, and avoid any double booking. If you have any issues or further questions, Square's support team may be able to provide more specific assistance.

[DragonMassage]

@modrar123Your suggested workaround is a little confusing. When creating a service, everything in your suggestion through #6 is standard; however, there is no "Staff" or "Calendar" section as part of creating a service. The only thing close is under Online booking you can assign team members, which just allows you to specify which team members can be booked for that particular service. I cannot find any calendar option or any other way to specify multiple calendars need to be blocked for that one service.

[LorettaS]

This is suggesting that you only have one time slot available for couples massage.  I don't understand all of this. Square just needs to add couples booking already.  

[HSS-Wes]

Has this problem still not been resolved?  I have been following this thread for a while now.  I have called Square a couple of times and they have said they are working on implementing a couples booking feature yet I still haven't seen any updates.  Has anyone figured out a work around or a solution to this?  It seems to be a couple years now. 

[Summer2024]

Hi there, @HSS-Wes 👋

At this time, this is still a feature request being worked on. I understand that this is an important business need.

You can check out this ideate board where another seller has posted this feature request.

There is also a workaround provided in a comment above that is worth a try as well! 

[HSS-Wes]

Hi.  

Have you tried this workaround?  It appears to be dysfunctional as explained in the response underneath it.  If you can explain how to properly do it I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks

[LorettaS]

We shouldn't have to try workarounds for a system we are paying for.  They said to request any changes and they would look into it. It has been over 7 years and they still have not fixed the issue.  I think that is sad. There are several other server options out there to try. I may be switching. 

[SOMATherapeutic]

Can this feature be ESCALATED????? 

[LluviaMassage]

I want to share the current way I do this. Once a customer books an appointment I manually block off another massage therapist calendar for the same amount of time. 

Notes:
-Tips will still need to be manually split
-If you have an odd number of staff members for example( 3 staff members) there's a possibility you get two couples which would require 4 people and you will need to call the customer.

[LorettaS]

This is what I am currently doing now also. 

[DragonMassage]

We have started using our own work around that utilizes Google Calendars and the Square sync feature. It is a little confusing on the back end, but all the customer can see is an easy way to book couples massages online. We also use a third party Google Calendar sync to make it all automatic, it does cost for that service and there may be a free one available. Here is the quick explanation:

We have three people working and a staff created for each one. There are three possible combinations of those staff members that can do couples massages, so we created additional “staff” for each of those. Then created the couples massage service and assigned it only to the combination staff. So we basically have the following staff members:

Jane

Linda

Susan

Jane & Linda

Jane & Susan

Linda & Susan

We also had to create a Google account for each staff, so six of them.

Using the calendar sync from Square appointments made are synced to the appropriate staff’s Google Calendar and the third party syncs those back to Square to block the time for any additional Square calendars.

so when someone books a couples massage with “Jane & Linda” Square syncs to their Google Calendar and the third party syncs back to Square to also block the time on both Jane and Linda’s Square calendar so they cannot get any other appointments for that time. The only drawback is personal events in Square appointments do NOT sync out to the Google Calendar. So, if you block off time for a break or something in Square for Linda then you have to manually block it on the staff for couples massage that Linda is part of. This can be done automatically if you use their Google Calendar to add breaks or any other time off outside of their regular schedule in Square Appointments.

Yes, it is a bit of a mess to set up, and looks a lot more complex than it is when you view the calendar in appointments, and it does cost us for the third party app to sync, but it makes the online booking experience much easier for the customers.

[LorettaS]

This sounds very complicated. I am trying to avoid extra cost for more apps. I am looking into other options that already have the feature built in. I really wish square would just get on board with it already, because I already have so much set up with them and really like their features. But sadly I might be going. I would rather pay for one system that does it all instead of complicate things and make more work for me to do to avoid double booking.