Let visitors request a date on your form
- In the form builder, add a Date field. On your website it renders as a full booking calendar: a month grid styled to match your form design, with Morning / Afternoon / Evening buttons and an “Or pick an exact time” menu underneath. The Cleaning and Auto Detailing templates already include one.
- In the builder’s Destination card, set Calendar booking requests to use that field.
- Save & publish.
From then on, any submission with a date creates a booking request on your calendar, attached to the new lead. If the visitor chose an exact time, the request arrives with that time already set; if they chose Morning, Afternoon, or Evening, the request carries a “Preferred time” note you will see when you review it. Your new-lead notification mentions the requested date too. (Update the HoundBell plugin to the current version for the full booking calendar.)
Two more settings shape the picker:
- Ask how often (Destination card): adds a frequency question to the form: just once, weekly, every 2 weeks, or monthly. A visitor who picks “Weekly” creates a request that becomes a repeating series the moment you confirm it. Perfect for pet waste routes, recurring cleanings, and lawn care.
- Booking hours and days of operation (Settings page, or the calendar’s own setup card): the time window visitors can choose from, for example 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and which days you work. They drive the time menus inside the app too. Re-publish a form after changing hours to update the live site.
- Buffer between bookings (Settings page, next to booking hours): breathing room around every job. With a 1-hour buffer and a 10:00 AM booking, website visitors see 9:00 through 11:30 greyed out automatically; the picker checks your real calendar, recurring visits included, every time a day is clicked. Inside the app the buffer is advisory: you get a “tight fit” warning but can still book, and booking the exact same date and time as an existing job asks you to type override first, so double-booking is always a decision, never an accident.
Recurring bookings always show their next visit on the calendar, with faded โป entries projecting the repeats ahead. When a visit’s day passes, HoundBell automatically rolls the booking to the next date and re-arms its hour-before reminder. In your synced Google or Apple calendar, a recurring booking appears as a true repeating event. To end a series, open the booking and cancel it.
Still stuck?
Email us and a person will answer. Include your workspace name, and the quote or invoice number if it is about one.
Email support@houndbell.com