Client picks a resource
Show a choice of a specific staff member at booking — or let the system assign one.
There’s a toggle in the service editor that looks cosmetic and is in fact the most powerful filter in the whole catalog — Client picks which one. It doesn’t only decide whether the customer sees a list of stylists. When it’s on, it writes an allow-list of resources, and from that moment the service can only be performed by the people on it — in public booking and in the admin form.
This article covers where the toggle is, what exactly happens when you switch it on, and how not to shut your own service down by accident.
1. Where it is
- In the left icon rail, pick your board.
- Catalog → Offerings.
- Open the service (or create a new one).
- In the section rail, open Resources & add-ons — “The main resource and optional add-ons.”
The section starts with Main resource and the hint “The resource the customer is renting.” The dropdown lists your kinds with the number of bookable units inside each — e.g. “Stylists · 4”, “Chairs · 0”.
“Bookable” here means: not archived, not hidden from customers, and with Active · available for booking switched on. A resource that fails any of the three doesn’t count in that number and won’t appear in the list below.
If the chosen kind has no bookable units, an amber hint appears right under the dropdown: “This kind has no active "
2. The toggle
Directly below the kind picker sits the Client picks which one row.
| State | Hint under the toggle |
|---|---|
| Available | ”The booking flow shows a resource picker. Otherwise the system assigns one automatically.” |
| Locked | ”Need at least 2 resources of this kind to enable customer choice.” |
The toggle is greyed out and unclickable while the kind has zero bookable units. Add one resource and it comes alive.
The locked-state copy talks about “at least 2 resources”, but in practice the choice unlocks at one. That’s deliberate: a single court, a single desk or a single stylist are all legitimate “pick exactly this one” cases. If you’re seeing that message, your bookable count is zero, not one.
3. What happens when you switch it on
A panel appears: Resources customers can pick, with a counter top-right in the form “selected / total” — e.g. “4 / 4”. Under it there’s one chip per bookable unit of the kind.
The mechanics:
- Switching on ticks every bookable unit automatically. The counter reads “4 / 4”.
- Clicking a chip removes it from the list. The counter drops to “3 / 4”.
- Clicking again puts it back.
- If you remove all of them, a warning appears — “Select at least 2 resources, or turn off customer choice above.” — and the save won’t go through.
If you change Main resource to a different kind, the list reloads with all units of the new kind.
4. The big one: the list is not cosmetic
This is where most people trip.
While the toggle is off, the service has no allow-list. Every bookable unit of the kind is a candidate and the system takes whichever is free.
The moment you switch it on, the list becomes a hard rule:
- A unit outside the list is never offered to the customer.
- A unit outside the list is never auto-assigned.
- A unit outside the list can’t even be chosen by you in the admin form — the save is refused with “Resource is not eligible for kind”.
- Remove someone from the list and the service stops showing free times with them.
In other words: the list filters availability, not just the display.
The list also overrides specializations. If a unit is on the list, its own Specializations section is ignored for this service. The priority is: the service’s allow-list → the resource’s specializations → “all”. See Which services a resource can perform.
5. What the customer sees
When the service requires a People-category kind, the specialist step shows up in public booking in both modes — the difference is how free the choice is:
- Toggle on — the customer picks a specific name from the allowed ones. The step is titled Choose a specialist, sub-titled “Available specialists for «
»”. - Toggle off — the customer still sees a list, but on desktop there’s also an Any specialist option, and the system assigns whoever is free.
- If nobody is free right now, the step shows “No available specialists for this service”.
Each card has a small circle top-right — it opens the specialist’s public profile, labelled Details.
Rentals work differently: with the toggle on the customer picks the resource and the time in one step; with it off they pick the time only.
6. The same logic on add-ons
Every add-on in the Add-ons list has its own Which resource to reserve block with a Client picks specific one toggle:
- off — “The system automatically picks any available resource.”;
- on — “The customer will see a list and pick one themselves.”, and the same chip panel appears.
A caveat: an add-on set to Always included (customer doesn’t see it) is reserved with the service but never displayed. If its kind is empty, the whole service stops being bookable — ""
7. When to switch it on — and when not to
| Situation | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Customers have “their” stylist | On — this is the reason the toggle exists |
| Different staff, different quality or price | On |
| Only part of the team performs this service | On, and leave only them on the list |
| Interchangeable chairs, rooms, machines | Off — fewer decisions, a denser schedule |
| A single court, but you want the customer to confirm it | On, with one chip |
| You just want to hide one person from one service | Better handled by Specializations on the resource itself |
Rule of thumb: switch it on when the choice is part of the product. If it doesn’t matter who does the work, leaving it off gives you a denser schedule — the system fills the gaps by itself.
8. Step by step: “only Anna and Maria do keratin”
- Catalog → Offerings → open Keratin treatment.
- Section Resources & add-ons.
- Main resource = Stylists.
- Switch on Client picks which one — everyone gets ticked.
- In Resources customers can pick, remove every chip except Anna and Maria. The counter reads “2 / 5”.
- Save changes.
- Open your public page and check: keratin now offers only those two.
If Maria leaves tomorrow, come back here and remove her chip — otherwise the service keeps offering her until you deactivate her as a resource.
9. Error messages you may hit
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| ”Select at least 2 resources, or turn off customer choice above.” | You removed every chip | Put at least one back, or switch the toggle off |
| ”When customers pick the resource themselves, you must allow at least one. Open “What this needs” and choose who can perform this service.” | Same thing, caught at save time | Open the section and tick at least one |
| ”A specific resource you allowed no longer exists or changed type. Re-pick who can perform this service.” | A listed resource was deleted or moved kinds | Open the section and re-tick |
| ”Need at least 2 resources of this kind to enable customer choice.” | The kind has no bookable units at all | Add a resource, or activate one |
| ”This kind has no active " | The chosen main kind is empty | Click Add |
10. Troubleshooting
The service stopped showing times after I touched this toggle. Check the counter — it’s probably “1 / 6” and the only allowed person is on leave or inactive. Put more chips back.
One stylist disappeared from one service only. That service has an allow-list and they’re not on it. Open the service → Resources & add-ons → tick their chip.
I can’t book a client with a specific person even from the admin. The allow-list applies to the admin form too. Either add the person to the service’s list, or use a different service.
The list shows fewer people than I have. Only bookable ones appear: no archived, no hidden-from-customers, no deactivated. See Hiding & archiving resources.
I switched the toggle off but customers still see a specialist step. That’s expected: for services with a person resource the step stays, so a customer can still ask for someone specific. Switching the toggle off simply removes the hard list and adds the “any” option.
A customer booked with a specific stylist even though choice is off. Specialist profiles are reachable from the service page and from the “About the business” panel. From there a customer can start a booking with a specific person. If you don’t want that, hide the person from customers or drop them from the service’s list.
What’s next
- Which services a resource can perform — the other, quieter filter.
- A specialist’s public profile — what the customer reads before choosing.
- Service add-ons — the same mechanic for a second resource.
- Find out why a service shows no free times — when something has closed up.