Your pet boarding business needs to close for essential repairs. Some accommodation will be unavailable for several days, but customers already have confirmed stays during that period.
Blocking new reservations is only part of the job. You also need to identify affected pets, arrange suitable alternatives and make sure customers know what is happening.
For UK kennels, catteries and boarding businesses, managing pet boarding availability carefully helps prevent booking conflicts, protect existing reservations and reduce unnecessary disruption.
The solution is to identify unavailable dates, review overlapping stays, resolve affected bookings and update your booking availability before accepting further reservations.
Here is a practical six-step approach, including how TailPro can help manage booking availability.
1. Identify the Dates and Accommodation to Block
Start by establishing exactly what needs to close and how the closure will affect your boarding capacity.
For example, your boarding business needs repairs from 12 to 15 November, with accommodation reopening on 16 November.
Check:
- Closure dates: When will accommodation become unavailable?
- Affected areas: Is the whole premises closing or only certain rooms?
- Existing occupancy: Which pets will already be staying?
- Remaining capacity: Can unaffected accommodation operate safely?
- Reopening buffer: Is extra time needed for cleaning, inspections or unexpected delays?
If the entire business must close, prevent new reservations during the unavailable period.
TailPro’s Away Time feature supports business-wide unavailable periods, helping prevent customers from booking when your business cannot accept new reservations.
For partial closures, review the relevant accommodation and booking capacity settings rather than blocking the entire business unnecessarily.
How TailPro helps: Away Time provides a way to manage business-wide unavailability, reducing the risk of new reservations being accepted during planned closures.
2. Find Every Booking That Overlaps the Closure
Before changing availability, review confirmed and provisional boarding stays that could be affected.
Check the entire stay, not just the arrival date. A pet arriving before the closure may still occupy accommodation during the unavailable period.
For example:
Booking | Stay dates | Action |
A | 9–12 November | Check departure time |
B | 11–14 November | Resolve overlapping nights |
C | 13–17 November | Arrange alternative |
D | 17–20 November | Confirm reopening readiness |
Bookings B and C overlap the closure. Booking A needs a departure-time check, while Booking D depends on the accommodation being ready.
A useful rule is to flag any stay where the arrival is before the closure ends and departure is after the closure begins. Then check actual arrival, collection and room-preparation times.
TailPro also documents live impact checks for supported availability and capacity rule changes. These help administrators review potentially affected bookings before confirming relevant changes.
Important: Availability changes should not be assumed to cancel, move or resolve existing reservations automatically. Review affected bookings separately and confirm the necessary arrangements.
3. Agree a Solution for Each Affected Booking
Once you have identified affected stays, decide what can safely happen to each pet.
Possible solutions include:
- Moving the pet to suitable, unaffected accommodation.
- Agreeing alternative boarding dates.
- Helping the owner find another appropriate provider.
- Cancelling the stay and arranging any applicable refund.
Before offering an alternative, check the pet’s medication, behaviour, feeding instructions, compatibility with other animals and accommodation requirements.
Maintain a follow-up record containing the booking reference, customer, proposed solution, customer response, responsible staff member and resolution status.
If a customer has paid a deposit or the full boarding fee, review the applicable cancellation terms before arranging payment adjustments.
Do not mark a booking as resolved until the customer has agreed to the arrangement and the change has been recorded.
4. Contact Customers and Confirm Changes
Contact affected pet owners as soon as you understand the closure’s impact.
Explain the dates, why their booking is affected and which alternatives are available.
For example:
“We need to close part of our boarding accommodation for essential repairs from 12 to 15 November. Your dog’s stay overlaps these dates. Please contact us so we can discuss suitable alternative arrangements.”
Once the customer agrees:
- Confirm the revised arrangement in writing.
- Update the relevant booking information.
- Check any payment or refund adjustment.
- Make sure staff have the revised care instructions.
- Record outstanding actions and who is responsible.
If a customer has not responded, keep their booking on your unresolved list and follow up directly.
Clear communication helps prevent customers arriving for accommodation that is no longer available.
5. Apply the Closure and Test Booking Availability
Before applying the closure, confirm that affected bookings have been reviewed and unresolved cases have a responsible person and safe action plan.
Then update the appropriate unavailable periods or booking capacity settings.
TailPro’s Smart Booking feature uses configured booking availability and capacity rules to help determine which booking options customers can select.
After changing availability, test the customer booking journey.
Check that:
- Unavailable dates cannot be selected for new bookings.
- Unaffected accommodation remains available where appropriate.
- Existing booking changes have been recorded correctly.
- Arrival and departure boundaries behave as intended.
- Reopening dates are not offered prematurely.
For example, if accommodation remains closed through 15 November, customers should not be offered a new stay requiring that accommodation before it becomes available.
How TailPro helps: Smart Booking supports availability and capacity-based booking options, while Away Time supports business-wide closures. Together, these features can help businesses manage when new bookings are accepted.
Do not assume your booking availability is correct simply because the changes have been saved. Always verify the customer-facing options.
6. Confirm the Accommodation Is Ready to Reopen
Before accepting new arrivals, inspect the affected accommodation.
Confirm that:
- Repairs are complete and accommodation is safe.
- Cleaning and preparation have finished.
- Equipment and facilities are working correctly.
- Suitable staff are available.
- Outstanding booking changes have been resolved.
- Temporary booking restrictions can safely be removed.
Once the accommodation is ready, review your configured availability and capacity settings before reopening bookings.
If repairs overrun, extend the unavailable period and contact any newly affected customers.
Only restore booking availability when the accommodation can genuinely accept pets.
Why Careful Boarding Date Management Matters
Temporary closures cannot always be avoided, but the disruption they cause can often be reduced through early planning.
The essential process is straightforward: identify unavailable dates, review overlapping stays, agree suitable alternatives, communicate with customers and verify booking availability before reopening.
For kennels, catteries and boarding businesses, the key is to treat existing reservations and future booking availability as separate responsibilities.
Every affected booking should have a clear next step, even when the original reservation cannot proceed.
Manage Pet Boarding Availability With TailPro
Managing temporary closures should not mean losing control of your booking calendar or accepting reservations when accommodation is unavailable.
TailPro helps UK pet boarding businesses manage booking availability through connected scheduling and capacity features.
With TailPro, you can:
- Block unavailable dates: Use Away Time to manage business-wide unavailable periods and prevent new reservations during planned closures.
- Manage booking capacity: Use Smart Booking to keep customer booking options aligned with configured availability and capacity rules.
- Review potential booking impacts: Use live impact checks for supported availability and capacity rule changes.
Existing reservations still need to be reviewed, and any necessary changes agreed with customers. TailPro’s availability tools help businesses manage the booking restrictions that support this process.
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