Set up arena hire, private lessons, trail rides or rentals that riders book at a time that suits them. You need to be an Administrator or an Instructor. A service has options (what riders choose) and a schedule (when they can book). For ready-made settings, see Examples: arena hire, private lessons and rentals.
Before you start
Set up your cancellation policy first: see Choose your cancellation policies.
If only some riders may book, or riders pay with Stablecards or Passes, create your tags first too: see Use tags to decide who can book and buy. Tags are on the Growth, Pro and Ultimate plans. Earlier plans (from before September 2026) include them too.
Create the service
In the admin menu, open Services. The Service calendar shows a button for each service and your service schedules on a week calendar. Click Add a new service.
Enter a name, for example "Indoor arena hire", and a description that says what each option includes.
Choose a colour, an icon, the calendar, event type, location, instructor, minimum skill level and cancellation policy, as for a lesson.
To ask the booker a question they must answer, such as which horse they're bringing, use the message to the business setting.
Save the service.
Add the options riders choose from
Open the service and click Add an option.
Enter the option's name, for example "60 minutes", and its price, duration and number of participants.
Set the Interval, the gap between the start times riders can choose (see how it works below the steps).
Under Tags - option can be purchased, choose who can book the option. All Users lets every rider book it.
For private arena hire or private lessons, switch on Private booking: the time is offered only when nothing else is booked in the schedule, and then nobody else can book it.
To have riders fill in a form when they book the option, such as a waiver, choose the form in the option's settings. Forms are on the Pro and Ultimate plans. Earlier plans (from before September 2026) include them too. See Create forms, waivers and surveys.
Save the option and add the next one.
The Interval decides how often a start time is offered for the option. With an interval of 1 hour, riders can start a booking every hour, such as on the hour. With 30 minutes, they can start every half hour. For a 30-minute option, use a 30-minute interval so no half-hour gaps are left unbooked. For all-day rentals, use 1 day.
The booker books and pays for all participants at once. Only the booker needs a Hopoti account: other participants can be added by name, so they may not show in your client list.
On the Growth, Pro and Ultimate plans you can split an option's price into line items: see Split a price into line items with different VAT rates. New features like this aren't part of earlier plans (from before September 2026). Message our team to get access.
Set when the service can be booked
A service can be booked only once it's in a service schedule.
On the Service calendar, click Add a service schedule and add the services.
Choose the days and times, and whether the schedule runs until further notice or until a set date.
To limit how busy it gets, add a restriction: at most a number of participants at the same time (for example 4 riders in the arena) or at most a number of services at the same time (for example 2, if you have 2 horse trailers to rent).
Save the schedule.
A restriction counts bookings across all the services in its schedule, so put services that share an arena in one schedule.
Block out holidays
To close a service schedule on holidays, open the schedule, click Add an exception and choose the days or hours to close. You can add a text riders see in the booking calendar. An exception applies only to that schedule, not to other schedules on the same day.
What happens after a booking
Riders find the service on your Booking page and in the Shop under Services, choose an option, a time and the participants, and pay. If you pass a booking fee on to riders, the prices they see include it.
Each booking becomes an event in your calendar that other riders can't book onto. If the booker cancels, the event is removed.
Only the booker can change or cancel the booking, from their calendar, if the cancellation policy allows. If the policy gives credit, the booker gets a Stablecard.
To show riders which times are already booked, switch on Show service reservations in the booking calendar in Settings > Settings > Default settings.
Riders can also pay for a service with Stablecard credits or a Pass. If they do, open this section:
If riders pay with Stablecard credits or a Pass
If riders pay with Stablecard credits or a Pass
Stablecards and Passes work on service options through tags. Tags are on the Growth, Pro and Ultimate plans. Earlier plans (from before September 2026) include them too.
Stablecard: put the same tag in the card's Tags - Card is suitable to and the option's Tags - option can be purchased. On the option, also set the credits a booking uses (for example 1 for 60 minutes, 2 for 120 minutes), the Cancellation card's credits, and the same tag in Cancellation card's tags.
Pass: put a tag in the Pass's Tags - By purchasing the card the customer gets tags, and the same tag in Tags - option can be purchased on an option priced at 0. Pass holders then book that option free.
If riders can't book the service
Check these in order:
Tags: the rider has none of the option's Tags - option can be purchased. Give the rider the tag, or add All Users.
Restrictions: the schedule's limit is reached, or a private booking holds the time.
Schedule: the service isn't in a schedule, the schedule has ended, or an exception covers that day.
Stablecard or Pass not offered: the card's tag doesn't match the option, or the option has no credits set. See A Stablecard or Pass doesn't work for a lesson.
Still stuck? Message us in the chat with the service, the option, the date and time, and the rider's name.