Booking a boarding stay for your pet

Going away and looking for a boarding kennel or cattery for your animal? Son Espace Santé lets you find a boarding facility, send it a booking request, confirm its offer, then follow the stay through the news and photos it posts.

You can make a request with or without an account. With an account, the form is pre-filled and you find your requests in the app.

Finding a boarding facility

• The directory: in the menu (icon at the top left), tap the Boarding tile to browse the registered boarding facilities.
• The community map: boarding facilities appear on it; their listing offers a Request a booking button when they accept online requests. See Community map.
• The "Dog boarding" and "Cat boarding" pages, by town and by département, which can be found through search engines.

On a boarding facility's public page, the Book a stay box shows its "from" price and offers the Request a booking button. If the facility does not take online requests, the page invites you to contact it directly by phone or by email.

Checking availability

Some boarding facilities show an Agenda tab on their public page. You can see there, month by month, the occupied days and the animals already booked. A colour code shows how full it is: Places available, Filling up, Almost full, Full.

1. Tap the arrival day, then the departure day.
2. Check the number of days shown: the arrival day and the departure day are both counted.
3. Tap Request these dates: the form opens with those dates already filled in.

Sending a booking request

The Boarding request form includes:

1. The Type of care: boarding stay, home sitting or day care.
2. The Stay dates. If the facility requires a minimum notice period before arrival, it is shown under the dates.
3. The Animal: if you are logged in, choose it from your list, or tap This animal is not in my list. Otherwise, enter its name, species, breed, year of birth, sex, whether it is neutered and its weight.
4. Special needs: ongoing treatment, diet, behaviour, habits…
5. Your contact details and how you prefer to be contacted (phone, email, or message in the app if you have an account).

As soon as the dates and the animal are filled in, a price Estimate is shown, calculated from the facility's prices, with the note "To be confirmed by the boarding facility". The length is counted in days, arrival day and departure day included: arriving on the 1st and leaving on the 3rd makes 3 days. If the facility asks for a deposit, its amount is shown.

Finally, tap Request a booking.

Without an account

No account is needed: you receive the reply by email. After sending, an email asks you to confirm your address. Click the link it contains: without that click, your request is not passed on to the boarding facility.

Some boarding facilities only accept requests from an account. The form tells you so.

If the boarding facility is full

If the facility is full on your dates, the form tells you. You can still send your request, or tap Notify me if a place becomes available (your email must be filled in). Then confirm from your inbox: the facility will be able to let you know if a place becomes available, with a link to the form for your dates.

Receiving and confirming the offer

The boarding facility reviews your request, may contact you, then sends you an offer with the dates agreed and the price. You are informed by notification if you have an account, and by email in all cases.

The offer shows:

• the arrival and departure dates, and what you asked for if the facility changed them;
• the duration and the price breakdown (quote or daily rate and discount);
• any Extra services (grooming, transport…) and the total;
• the facility's comment.

With an account, open the offer from the notification, or from the Pending boarding requests card on the homepage (View button), then tap Accept or Refuse. Without an account, use the link received by email: Confirm the booking or Refuse. The Call and Email buttons let you reach the facility.

The boarding facility is informed of your decision.

Paying the deposit

If the facility asks for a deposit, after your confirmation you receive an email with a payment link. On the page, tap Pay the deposit and pay online before the date shown. The booking is then confirmed.

When the boarding facility offers a stay

A boarding facility can also create a stay for your animal itself and send it to you for approval. You find it in the same way, in the Pending boarding requests card on the homepage, with the Accept and Refuse buttons.

Following or cancelling your requests

The My boarding requests screen, which you open from the side menu (Management section) or from the facility's notifications, groups your requests together:

• Waiting for your answer: offers to confirm, with the estimated total;
• Waiting for the facility: requests not yet handled;
• History: requests that were declined (with any reason), cancelled or expired.

As long as the facility has not replied, you can cancel a request with the bin icon, or with Cancel my request on the page received by email. The facility is informed.

Allowing a boarding facility to view your animal's profile

With your consent, a boarding facility can view your animals' profiles for 1 year. It can then check the required vaccines directly in the health record, without you having to bring the paper record. Access is read-only.

You can give this consent in two ways:

• by ticking, in the request form (with an account), "I authorise … to view my animals' profiles for 1 year"; the box is never ticked in advance;
• by opening the authorisation link the facility sends you by email or message.

In the second case, the Access authorization page introduces the facility and reminds you that the authorisation is valid for 1 year and covers all your animals. Log in if needed, then tap Authorize followed by the facility's name.

If you do not have an account yet, the invitation email offers to create one. Without authorisation, the facility will ask you for a photo of the vaccination record on arrival.

Removing a boarding facility's access

The facilities you have authorised are listed in the Authorized boarding facilities section of the My boarding requests screen, with the end date of each access. You can remove this access at any time: tap Revoke next to the facility, then confirm with Revoke. The facility can no longer view your animals' profiles.

During the stay

Reminders

• 7 days before arrival, an email reminds you to remember the health record.
• The day before, an email reminds you of the arrival time agreed with the facility.

The stay in your calendar

If you have an account, the stay appears in your Agenda. By tapping it, you find the dates, the facility's name and contact details and its comment. You are also informed of the arrival and the end of the stay.

News of your animal

If the facility uses the stay logbook, you receive an email "News of…" with a link to the …'s holiday page. It does not require an account and shows:

• the photos and news posted by the facility, day by day;
• a field to Reply to the boarding facility under each post, and an A message for the pension box;
• the choice of email frequency: Email for each news, Daily summary at 7 pm or No email;
• the facility's phone number and email.

The page can be viewed up to 30 days after departure. After that, you can still download the stay album for 30 days, if the facility has prepared it.

After the stay

• The invoice is sent to you by email, as a PDF, once the facility has validated it. If you have an account, you also find it in the app (see Invoices).
• A few hours after departure, you may receive an email asking for your review: a rating from 1 to 5 stars and a few words. You choose whether the facility can show it on its website.

Creating an account afterwards

If you booked without an account, the confirmation page offers to create a free account to follow the stay, find your boarding facility again and manage your animal's health record. See First steps and Adding an animal.