Gingr Alternatives for Grooming, Daycare and Boarding Businesses

Gingr is widely used by dog daycare and boarding businesses, particularly in North America. Its strength is running facilities where dogs come and go all day. For Australian businesses that combine grooming with daycare or boarding, or that are mostly grooming with a little boarding on the side, it's worth checking how well any system fits the mix of services you actually offer. This guide covers what to compare.

Start with your service mix

Write down what share of your income comes from grooming, daycare, boarding and retail. A business that is 80% daycare needs different things from one that is 80% grooming with a few boarding rooms. The best software for you is the one that handles your biggest service brilliantly and the others well.

Grooming needs its own tools

If grooming is a big part of your business, look closely at the grooming side of any system. Can each groomer have their own calendar and working hours? Are breed, coat and behaviour notes easy to find? Does it make rebooking the next groom quick at checkout? Some systems built mainly for daycare treat grooming as an add-on, so test it properly.

Daycare and boarding essentials

For daycare, check packs of days, attendance tracking and vaccination records that are easy to see at drop-off. For boarding, look at nights, rooms or kennels, feeding and medication notes, and how bookings over peak holidays are handled. PetConnect covers grooming, daycare and boarding with the same client and pet records.

One client record for everything

The biggest time-saver is having one record per client and pet across every service. When a boarding dog has a bath before going home, it should be one booking and one checkout, not two systems and two receipts. Ask any provider to show you exactly how a combined booking works.

Pricing and payments

Compare the total cost for a year in Australian dollars, including any per-location or per-user fees, card processing and hardware. PetConnect has no setup fee and no monthly fee, and card payments cost about 2.2%, with a free card terminal for approved businesses and same-day settlement.

Support and time zones

Daycare and boarding businesses often open early and close late, and they run on weekends and public holidays. Ask when support is available in Australian time, and how quickly problems are answered.

Pet parents want an app

Daycare and boarding clients like to book, see their upcoming stays and receive updates on their phones. PetConnect includes a pet parent app where clients can manage bookings and stay in touch with your business, alongside SMS and email.

Moving across

Daycare and boarding businesses often have years of records, including vaccination dates and pack balances. Before you choose, ask what will be moved and how. PetConnect moves your data for you within 24 business hours.

Make a fair comparison

Gingr has many loyal users, and for a large daycare-first facility it may be a great fit. The point of comparing is to find what fits your business. Score each option against your own list, try it with your real daily tasks and involve the staff who will use it most.

Questions to ask

• Can I see a combined boarding and grooming booking from start to finish?
• How are packs of daycare days sold and tracked?
• How do vaccination reminders work?
• What do I pay in my quietest month?
• Who moves my data, and how long does it take?

Think about growth

Many businesses start with grooming and add daycare or boarding later, or the other way round. Choosing a system that already handles all of these means you won't need to change software when you grow. Our guide to adding boarding or daycare covers the planning side.

Staffing and permissions

Mixed businesses often have different staff for different areas: groomers, daycare attendants, kennel staff and front desk. Check that each person can see what they need, and nothing more. A daycare attendant may need vaccination records and feeding notes but not the day's takings. Good permissions keep information safe and screens uncluttered.

Reports across every service

Finally, look at reporting. You'll want to see income from grooming, daycare, boarding and retail separately and together, by day, week and month. If a product can only report on one service well, you'll end up exporting data to spreadsheets, which defeats the purpose of one system.

Check the busy days

Ask how each system copes with your busiest days: the Friday before a long weekend, or the week before Christmas when boarding is full and every dog wants a bath before going home. Software that is easy on a quiet Tuesday can struggle when twenty dogs check out in an hour. A quick test of check-in and check-out speed tells you a lot.

See our side-by-side page on PetConnect vs Gingr, or learn more about daycare and boarding in PetConnect.