Yes. Any staff member with access to a client’s booking can add an extra walk, a bath, a grooming touch-up, or any other add-on service directly to that invoice at check-in through Products, and the charge processes in the same transaction as the rest of the stay rather than requiring a separate payment.
PocketSuite powers 7,000+ service businesses, including 1,000+ pet service businesses, whose clients have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in income and scheduled over 9.2 million appointments. Add-on revenue is one of the more direct ways a facility grows income from clients it already has, without needing to book a single new client to see the increase.
“2026 Pet Boarding, Daycare & Resort Industry Benchmarking Report” (International Boarding and Pet Services Association, The Dog Gurus, PocketSuite, and Researchscape International, 2026) found that 72% of $1M+ pet boarding businesses see add-on purchases on 4 or more of every 10 bookings, compared to just 18% of businesses under $150K, a signal that consistently offering add-ons at check-in tracks closely with a facility’s overall growth.
Adding an Upsell to an Existing Invoice
A staff member checking a pet in can pull up that reservation and add any available service, an extra walk, a nail trim, a bath before pickup, directly to the existing invoice, and the client is charged for the full stay plus the add-on in a single transaction rather than two separate charges. That keeps checkout simple for the client even when the final invoice looks different from what they originally booked.
“I call it Monthly Maintenance. I recommend it most to our puppy clients. I tell them that once their puppy becomes an adolescent, the ‘teenage months’ can be quite challenging to navigate on their own.” said Georgette Lombardo, owner, Pawsitive Training ABQ, describing how she presents her own add-on, framed around a specific stage in a pet’s life, so it reads as a genuinely useful option rather than a generic upsell pitch.
Watch: The Add-On Advantage: The Three Ms of Add-On Revenue for Pet Businesses
Giving Staff a Menu to Work From
Every add-on service a business offers can be set up ahead of time with its own price, so a staff member checking a pet in is choosing from a defined list rather than negotiating a price on the spot. That consistency matters for a multi-staff facility, a client should see the same add-on price regardless of which team member happens to be at the front desk that day.
Having that menu already built also removes the friction that keeps add-ons from getting offered consistently in the first place, a staff member does not need to remember a price from memory or check with a manager before quoting one to a client.
Offering an Add-On Mid-Stay, Not Just at Check-In
An add-on does not have to be limited to the moment of arrival. Through the same Text Messaging a business already uses for client communication, staff can reach out partway through a longer stay to offer a bath before pickup or an extra playtime session, and add that charge to the invoice once the client agrees.
That mid-stay window is often the more natural moment for certain add-ons anyway, a client is more likely to say yes to a bath once they know their dog has had an active, messy few days, than they were to predict that need at drop-off.
Keeping Add-On Revenue Visible in Reporting
Add-on charges show up in the same Income Reports a business already uses to track overall revenue, broken out clearly enough that a facility can see how much of a given month’s income came from base services versus add-ons. That visibility is what turns add-ons from a nice-to-have into a line item a business can actually manage and try to grow.
Seeing that breakdown over several months also makes it easier to notice which specific add-ons are actually selling and which ones staff may need reminding to offer more consistently.
Training Staff to Offer, Not Just Wait to Be Asked
The businesses that see the most from add-on revenue tend to build offering them into the standard check-in script rather than waiting for a client to ask what is available. A staff member trained to mention one or two relevant add-ons at drop-off, based on that specific pet’s stay, converts far more often than a generic add-on menu a client has to seek out themselves.
That kind of proactive offering does not require a hard sell, framing an add-on the way Georgette does above, as a genuinely useful option for a specific situation, tends to land better with clients than a straightforward upsell pitch ever would.
Building a Menu That Changes With the Season
An add-on menu does not have to stay static year-round. A business can add a seasonal option, a cooling treat in summer, a holiday-themed photo package in December, and remove it from the menu once that window closes, without disrupting the standard add-ons that stay available all year. That seasonal rotation gives returning clients a reason to look at the add-on menu again even after they have seen the standard list before.
Because each add-on is its own listing with its own price, adding or retiring a seasonal option takes the same small amount of setup as any other add-on, no separate promotional system required.
Letting a Client Request an Add-On Themselves
Add-on revenue does not have to come only from a staff member offering one. A client booking online can also see available add-ons directly on the booking page and select one themselves before the reservation is even finalized, useful for a client who already knows they want an extra service and would rather add it up front than wait to be asked at check-in.
Having that option visible during booking, in addition to staff offering it at check-in and mid-stay, gives a business three separate points where an add-on can get picked up rather than relying on just one.
Deciding Which Staff Roles Can Apply an Add-On
A business can decide which staff members have permission to add a charge to an existing invoice, useful for a facility that wants front-desk staff handling add-on sales directly while keeping certain pricing decisions limited to a manager. That permission structure means a business is not choosing between full staff access and no staff access at all, it can land wherever fits its own team.
For a smaller operation where the owner handles most check-ins personally, that distinction matters less, but it becomes more useful as a facility adds staff and wants consistent oversight over how add-ons get priced and applied.
A business can revisit those permissions at any point as its team changes, expanding access as a new employee earns trust with pricing decisions, or narrowing it temporarily while training a brand-new hire on the full check-in process.
Getting Help Setting Up an Add-On Menu
A business building out its add-on menu for the first time can reach a Product Expert through in-app live chat, available 10 hours a day, seven days a week, or request an ASAP Call for a live walkthrough with a callback within 15 to 30 minutes, useful for getting pricing and staff permissions set correctly before the first busy check-in day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Any staff member with access to a booking can add an available service to that invoice at check-in, and it’s charged in the same transaction as the rest of the stay.
No. Each add-on service can be set up ahead of time with its own fixed price, so staff choose from a consistent menu rather than negotiating on the spot.
Yes. Staff can text a client mid-stay to offer something like a bath before pickup, and add the charge once the client agrees.
Yes. Add-on charges appear in Income Reports broken out from base service revenue, so a business can track add-on performance over time.
No special setup is required, but businesses that train staff to proactively mention relevant add-ons at check-in tend to see more consistent uptake.
PocketSuite’s in-app live chat connects a business with a Product Expert 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for help setting up add-on pricing.
Add-on revenue is sitting in front of most facilities already, in clients who are already booked and already at the front desk. Making it easy for any staff member to offer and charge for an add-on in the same transaction is what turns that opportunity into consistent revenue instead of an occasional upsell.
For a business that has never formally tracked add-on income separately from base bookings, that visibility alone tends to be worth setting up.
