🔒 To use instant bookings, your nursery must have in-app payments enabled. If you’re not set up with in-app payments yet, get in touch via the in-app chat
Parent Bookings lets parents reserve and pay for extra sessions and products directly through the Famly app. You decide whether bookings are instantly confirmed or need approval first.
How It Works for Parents
Instant bookings
Parents book available sessions and pay immediately. They receive instant confirmation without needing approval. This requires the parent to be a bill payer with a saved payment method.
Request bookings
Parents request sessions that need your approval. Once approved, the purchase is added to the corresponding invoice.
Setting Up Parent Bookings
Go to Settings → Finances → Pricing → Parent bookings. You’ll need the Manage parent booking settings permission.
Select how parents can book
Choose one of three booking modes:
Mode | What happens |
Requests only | All bookings need your approval before they’re confirmed |
Instant and requests | Available sessions are booked and paid instantly. If no spots are available, the parent can send a request instead |
Instant only | Parents can only book sessions that have available spots. No request option |
Select which sessions to add
Choose which sessions parents can see and book. You can select individual sessions from the dropdown, or clear all to start fresh.
Extra charges
Select which extra charges (such as lunch or nappies) parents can request. These are always sent as requests and are never instant.
Session Availability
When parents use instant booking, Famly automatically calculates how many spots are available for each session. You can choose what this calculation is based on.
This setting appears when your site uses Instant or Instant and requests mode.
By default, availability is based on room capacity, the maximum number of children each room can hold. You can also factor in staff to further limit availability based on staff-to-child ratios.
Room capacity (default)
Spots are limited by each room’s maximum capacity. If a room has capacity for 15 children and 11 are expected, there are 4 spots available for instant booking.
To set room capacities, go to Settings → Rooms and edit the maximum capacity for each room. If a room doesn’t have a capacity set, parents will only be able to send requests for sessions in that room.
Room capacity and staff
When you tick the Staff checkbox, spots are also limited by staff-to-child ratios. This means a session will only be offered as an instant booking if adding the child would not require an additional staff member in the room.
This model assumes your site has staffed each room according to the children who are already expected. Famly checks whether an additional booking would push the room past a staffing threshold, that is, whether you would need to bring in an extra staff member. It does not look at your actual staff schedule or who is rostered on. It only calculates the minimum staff required based on ratios and expected attendance.
The calculation uses your age-group ratios and accounts for mixed-age rooms. If a room has children of different ages, each age group’s ratio is applied individually, so the staff requirement reflects the actual mix of children rather than a single flat ratio for the whole room.
💡 Staff ratio calculations automatically adapt based on the number of children expected or attending in a room, always fulfilling the requirements of the youngest children first
How the staff calculation works
Based on the age-group ratios configured in your settings, Famly calculates the minimum number of staff required for the children expected in each room. When a parent tries to book a session, Famly checks whether adding that child would mean the room needs more staff than it already needs for the children who are expected.
If no, the session is offered as an instant booking
If yes, the session is offered as a request, or not at all, depending on your booking mode
💡 Staff requirements are always rounded up. You can’t have half a staff member!
Example: Butterfly Room
Capacity: 12 children. Ratio: 1 staff per 4 children.
Children expected | Staff required | Can one more child book instantly? | Why? |
7 | 1.75 → 2 staff | Yes, 8 children still need 2 staff (8 ÷ 4 = 2.0) | No extra staff needed |
8 | 2.0 → 2 staff | No, 9 children need 3 staff (9 ÷ 4 = 2.25 → 3) | Would require an extra staff member |
9 | 2.25 → 3 staff | Yes, 10 children still need 3 staff (10 ÷ 4 = 2.5) | No extra staff needed |
10 | 2.5 → 3 staff | Yes, 11 children still need 3 staff (11 ÷ 4 = 2.75) | No extra staff needed |
11 | 2.75 → 3 staff | No, 12 children need 3 staff (12 ÷ 4 = 3.0), but only 1 spot left and room capacity applies too | Capacity almost full, request only |
💡 If there are no children expected in a room for a session, or if there are fewer than 2 spots left based on room capacity, the session will only be available as a request. This is because Famly can’t determine staffing needs for an empty room, and near-capacity rooms should be managed manually
Comparing the two models
| Room capacity only | Room capacity and staff |
What limits spots? | Room’s maximum capacity minus expected attendance | Room’s maximum capacity and whether an additional staff member would be needed |
Best for | Sites where staffing adjusts to bookings, or where staff planning is flexible | Sites that staff rooms based on expected attendance and don’t want extra bookings to require bringing in additional staff |
Mixed-age rooms | N/A | Yes, each age group’s ratio is applied individually, so the calculation reflects the actual mix of children |
Setup needed | Room capacity set per room | Room capacity set per room and age-group ratios configured in settings |
Advanced Settings
The advanced settings section is collapsible and contains timing controls, discount settings, and child exclusions.
Booking windows
Set a minimum number of days (how soon parents can book) and a maximum number of days (how far ahead). Both take working days into account.
For example, if your nursery closes at 3pm on Thursday with a 1-day minimum window, a parent booking at 4pm cannot book Friday. The earliest available day would be Monday. This prevents after-hours booking requests.
Apply standard discounts automatically
Toggle this on to automatically apply any standard discounts, such as sibling discounts, to instant bookings.
Excluding children from book and pay instantly
This setting appears when your site uses Instant or Instant and requests mode.
You can exclude specific children from instant booking. Excluded children will only be able to send requests, regardless of session availability. This is useful for children who:
Require 1:1 support or additional staffing
Have specific needs that mean their bookings should be reviewed before confirmation
Are in a cohort with non-standard pricing that needs manual review
To exclude a child:
Open Advanced settings
Find Exclude from book and pay instantly
Search for and select the children you want to exclude
Click Save
Excluded children appear as chips in the field. Click the x on a chip to remove the exclusion, or use Clear all to reset.
What excluded children see:
On a site using Instant and requests: they can send a request for any session, but cannot book and pay instantly
On a site using Instant only: they will not see any sessions available for booking, since instant booking is the only option and they are excluded from it
The Parent Experience
Parents see available sessions and products in the Famly app, with clear pricing and any applicable discounts. Sessions show as either available for instant booking or available for request, depending on your settings and current availability.
The Already booked section shows approved ad hoc purchases and sessions from the child’s active plan. Future plan changes aren’t taken into account, so parents may see more or fewer available sessions depending on upcoming changes.
Checkout for instant bookings
Review the booking summary and total amount
Pay using a saved card, Apple Pay, or a new card. The total is shown clearly on the Pay button, for example “Pay £45.00”
Parents receive instant confirmation and an invoice is created immediately
Checkout for requests
Select the session and submit a request
Wait for the nursery to approve or decline
Once approved, the purchase is added to the next regular invoice
Managing Bookings
Instant bookings
Appear as “automatically approved” in your purchase list
Payment is already taken, so no approval is needed
These generate separate invoices from regular invoice runs
You must process a manual refund if cancellation is required
Request bookings
Appear normally in your purchase list
You can approve or decline the request
Approved bookings are added to the parent’s next regular invoice
Good to Know
Room capacity is required. If a room doesn’t have a maximum capacity set, sessions in that room will only be available as requests
Future plan changes aren’t considered. Availability is based on current bookings and expected attendance. If a child’s plan changes in the future, availability may fluctuate
Availability updates in real time. As bookings are made, available spots update automatically
Closing days are excluded. Sessions on closing days won’t appear as available
Automatic room moves are considered. If your site uses automatic room moves, the availability calculation accounts for children moving between rooms
In-app payments must be enabled. Instant bookings require in-app payments to be set up. Reach out via the in-app chat or at support@famly.co if you need help
Permissions
Two permissions control access to parent booking settings:
Permission | What it controls |
Manage parent booking settings | Access to configure booking mode, sessions, availability model, booking windows, and discounts |
Manage child exclusion list | Access to add or remove children from the instant booking exclusion list |
These permissions are independent, so you can grant one without the other.