A new customer wants three weeks in July
A family calls in April. They have a rescue dog they have never boarded before and want three weeks in July. Your policy for new dogs on long stays is a trial night first, or at least an afternoon visit, so you can see how the dog settles and the dog gets used to the place.
Someone pencils in a trial night for May and holds the July booking. In May the trial happens, the dog is fine but barks at night and needs a quiet run. The member of staff who did the trial writes that on the run card. By July, the card is long gone, the July booking has no note, and the dog is put next to the busiest part of the block.
Two bookings that do not know about each other
A trial night and the main stay are usually treated as two unrelated bookings, if the trial is in the diary at all.
- The trial is arranged by phone and may not appear in the booking system.
- The main booking is held without a clear condition that the trial comes first.
- Staff have no standard way to record how the trial went.
- Outcomes such as "fine, needs quiet run" never make it to the main booking.
- If a trial is missed, nobody notices until close to the main stay.
What goes wrong without a link
The point of a trial is to learn something before the long stay. If what you learn is not carried forward, you have spent a run and staff time for nothing, and the long stay starts no better informed.
Worse, sometimes the trial reveals the dog is not suited to kennel boarding, and nobody follows that up until the family arrives in July with suitcases in the car.
Trial stays that feed the main booking
We build the trial as a linked step with a clear outcome.
- When a new dog books a stay over a length you set, the system offers trial dates and links the trial to the main booking.
- The main booking stays provisional until the trial is completed.
- After the trial, staff fill in a short form: settled or not, eating, behaviour with staff and other dogs, noise, anything to note for the long stay.
- The outcome is set by a senior as confirmed, confirmed with conditions (such as quiet run, separate feeding) or needs a conversation.
- Conditions are copied to the dog's profile and to the main booking, so they appear on arrival lists, run allocation and feed rounds.
- Trials not booked or not completed by a date you choose appear on a follow-up list.
| Trial outcome | What happens to the main booking |
|---|---|
| Confirmed | Booking confirmed, deposit requested |
| Confirmed with conditions | Conditions added to the dog's profile and run plan |
| Needs a conversation | Senior member of staff calls the owner |
| Trial not done | Flagged for follow-up well before the stay |
What you assess in a trial, and when you decide a dog is not suited to boarding, is your judgement. The system records it and makes sure it follows through.
July, with the trial result on screen
The July arrivals list shows the rescue dog with two conditions from May: quiet run, may bark at night. Run allocation has already placed him at the far end. The family gets a brief note that he did well on his trial, which helps them feel better about leaving him for three weeks.
Is your trial process working?
- Trial nights are booked by phone and not linked to the main stay.
- There is no standard record of how a trial went.
- What staff learned on the trial is not on the main booking.
- Missed trials are noticed only near the main stay.
- You have had a long stay go badly that a trial might have warned about.