Group bookings
One appointment, several people — for families and groups.
A family wants their flu jabs together. Two colleagues want travel vaccinations on one trip. Group bookings let one person book for all of them in a single appointment — the slot runs longer, and each extra person is charged the service price.
What a group booking is — and isn't
A group booking is one appointment, one member of staff, more people in the room. Three people on a 20-minute service become a single 60-minute appointment with Priya Sharma — not three appointments running side by side.
That distinction matters. Booked has no class size and no "maximum bookings per slot" anywhere. Two customers can only be seen at the same time when two different qualified staff members are both free — so a flu clinic seeing six people at once needs three pharmacists on the rota, not a group booking.
Switch it on for the whole site
Group bookings are off until you turn them on. The site-wide switch lives in Settings under the Bookings tab, in the Group bookings card.
Configure how Booked works.
Settings › Booking rules › Group bookings — the site-wide default.
- 1Bookings tab — the Settings tabs are a vertical rail. Group bookings sits below the booking rules, deposit and bundle cards.
- 2The switch — off by default. Turning it on makes group bookings available to every service that hasn't been told otherwise.
- 3Default max people per booking — the party-size ceiling for any service that doesn't set its own. It appears only once the switch is on, and is held between 2 and 10.
Whatever you type here, and whatever a service sets, 10 people is a hard ceiling, and the lowest maximum is 2.
Override it on a single service
Most pharmacies want groups on some services and not others — a flu jab for the household yes, a 45-minute travel consultation no. Open Business › Services, click the service, and look near the bottom of the General tab.
Services
Let one person book for several people in a single appointment (e.g. book your own flu jab and your partner's together). Each extra person adds one more slot of time and one more service price.
On for this service ▾The Group bookings controls on a service's General tab.
- 1Duration — the length of one person's appointment. A group booking is a multiple of this number, so check it before raising the party size.
- 2Group bookings — three choices: Use global default (Settings → Bookings), On for this service or Off for this service. Setting it here beats the site-wide switch in both directions.
- 3Max people (blank = global default) — a cap for this service alone, between 2 and 10. Leave it blank and the service follows the number in Settings.
One thing to watch: Max people is shown whenever the mode is anything other than Off for this service — including when the service inherits a global setting that is switched off. A number in that box is not proof that group bookings are running.
Press Save service when you're done — the six tabs share one form.
What it does to your diary
The block of time Booked has to find is number of people × duration, plus one buffer after. The buffer is added once at the end, not once per person. Three people on a 20-minute flu jab with a 10-minute buffer need a clear 70 minutes.
Because the whole block has to fit inside one continuous stretch of open time, a longer appointment can't straddle a lunchtime close or run past closing.
Why a 12:30 slot disappears as the party grows.
- 1The lunchtime close — a break in the branch's opening hours. Any appointment must sit entirely on one side of it.
- 2The group block — 3 × 20 minutes plus the 10-minute buffer is 70 minutes, which runs past 13:00. The 12:30 start is offered to one or two people and quietly withdrawn for three.
Booked refetches availability the moment the customer changes the party size, so adding a person can wipe out most of the day. Expect far fewer bookable times for large parties — that is the maths, not a fault.
What the customer sees
On a service with group bookings on, the customer gets an extra step called How many people? It comes before the date and time, because the party size decides which slots are long enough.
Flu vaccination · 20 min · £18.00 each
Who else is coming?
3 people · £54.00 total
The "How many people?" step, sitting ahead of the date and time.
- 1An extra step — it only appears on services where group bookings are switched on. Everything else books exactly as before.
- 2The party pills — one per person, 1 up to the maximum you set. Changing the number reloads the available times behind the scenes.
- 3The running total — the service price multiplied by the number of people, shown before they pick a time.
Under Who else is coming? there is a name box for each extra person — Person 2 name, Person 3 name and so on. The booker's own details come in the usual step later, so a party of three asks for two extra names.
What lands in your Bookings list
A group booking is a single row in Bookings and a single block in the Calendar, saved at the service price multiplied by the number of people. Open it and a banner reads Group booking — one appointment for 3 people. followed by Also attending: and the names typed on the form.
Bookings you create yourself — with + Add booking, from the Calendar, or as a walk-in — ignore group size completely. You get one appointment at the service's ordinary duration and price. If you are taking a family booking over the phone, lengthen that one appointment and adjust its price by hand.
Money, courses and the limits
The saved price scales with the party. The deposit does not — it is worked out from one person's price, even when the deposit is set to Full amount (100%).
| People | Clear time needed | Booking saved at | Taken by card | Due in the pharmacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 min | £18.00 | £4.50 | £13.50 |
| 2 | 50 min | £36.00 | £4.50 | £31.50 |
| 3 | 70 min | £54.00 | £4.50 | £49.50 |
A 20-minute service at £18.00, 10-minute buffer after, 25% deposit.
Booked Payments charges the deposit on one person's price however large the party. Have your team check the party size on the booking and take the rest at the counter.
A service set up under Repeat visits is always booked for one person. If group bookings are also on for it, the customer still sees the How many people? step and can pick 3 — and it is ignored without a word. Set courses to Off for this service.
One last thing: a group booking never creates a second slot, it lengthens one. Two people seen at the same time needs a second qualified, available member of staff.