BookInnTimeThe last few weeks have been the busiest stretch of building since BookInnTime opened. Some of it you'll notice the first time someone books you; some of it you'll hopefully never notice at all. Here's all of it in one place.
Every booking gets a proper confirmation
When a customer books, they now get a confirmation email straight away with the time, the place and a map link, the price, how they're paying and your cancellation policy. You get one too, with their details and any answers to your booking questions — and hitting reply goes straight to the customer.
The same goes for everything that can happen afterwards. Reschedules, cancellations from either side (with any refund spelled out), payment receipts and made-to-order status updates (being prepared, ready, completed) all send their own email, written to say exactly what changed.
Bookings land in the calendar
Every confirmation carries a calendar invite, plus one-tap buttons for Google Calendar and for Apple or Outlook. The event has the address, a link back to the booking, and an alert an hour before. Move the booking and the same calendar entry moves with it rather than leaving a ghost behind. For a weekly or fortnightly series, every date goes in at once.
Fewer forgotten appointments is the whole point. A booking that lives in someone's calendar is a booking they turn up to.
Coupon codes, free for every business
Businesses can now make coupon codes for any percentage off. Cap how many times a code can be used, give it an expiry date, leave yourself a note about what it's for, and switch it off whenever you like. Customers type it in when they book and see the discount before they confirm.
You can also email a code to any customer who has booked with you before, with a personal message. It only works for your own past customers, so nobody can use it to send mail to strangers. We wrote up how to use coupons without training people to wait for a discount.
Pro, with the price on the page and a free month
Pro is A$9.99 a month, and now it says so everywhere, instead of making you click through to find out. First-time subscribers get 30 days free. We email you three days before the trial ends with the date and the price, and you can cancel from your dashboard at any point before then without paying anything. The full breakdown of what's free and what's Pro is on the new pricing page.
A tour of your dashboard
New businesses are offered a short guided tour when they first open the dashboard: ten stops, each pointing at the real thing on screen — where bookings arrive, where to set your hours, where your link lives. Skip it if you like; it's always in the menu under Take the tour.
Card surcharges, capped and then switched off in Australia
The extra a business can charge for paying online by card is now capped at 3%. From 1 October, Australian businesses can't add one at all, because card surcharges are banned from that date — BookInnTime switches it off automatically. The details are here.
Lighter, wider, easier to find your way
The dashboards got a lighter, calmer look. On a laptop every page now uses the full width beside the sidebar instead of sitting in a narrow column. In the app, the customer tabs — Explore, Bookings, Inbox and Account — each go exactly where they say, and the floating tab bar sits lower and slimmer.
Safer by default
Sign-up and password emails got stricter limits, clearer spam-folder guidance and a one-time resend button. There's a lot more under the hood, which we've written up separately: how we keep your account and your customers safe.
Coming next: SMS reminders
Text reminders are rolling out to Pro businesses, charged at exactly what the phone networks charge us. Here's how we're thinking about it — and we'd like your opinion on how you'd rather pay for them.