Peak Week Capacity Planning Worksheet

Holiday weeks are where capacity discipline gets tested. Demand for Thanksgiving, the winter holidays, spring break, and the summer holiday weekends tends to arrive in a rush and well ahead of the dates, and the temptation to say yes to every caller is strong. The kennels that handle those weeks calmly decide a few things in advance: how many runs are genuinely bookable once repairs, isolation space, and staffing are accounted for, how many to hold back as a buffer for regulars and emergencies, the date bookings open, the deposit rule that applies, and how the waitlist will be worked when a cancellation lands. This worksheet gives each peak week one row so those decisions are written down before the phone starts ringing.

Fill it in once a year, ideally right after the previous peak season while the lessons are fresh, and revisit it as each week approaches. The final row is a normal quiet week for comparison, which makes it obvious how far the busy weeks stretch you. The Kennel Run Occupancy Rate Calculator in our Tools section will turn your run count and stay lengths into an occupancy figure for any of these weeks, and the articles on avoiding holiday double booking and on how far ahead families book pet boarding explain the reasoning behind each column. Our complete guide to pet boarding reservations covers the whole cycle from capacity through pickup.