Straight answers.
The questions kennel and cattery owners actually ask, answered the way we'd answer them across a kitchen table.
Do I pay anything in a quiet month?
No. Sable never bills your business anything — no monthly fee, no setup fee, no per-booking fee. A quiet month costs £0, and so does a busy one.
What does Sable actually cost?
£0 in fees to your business — ever. No monthly fee, no setup fee, no per-booking fee, no lock-in. You receive your price for the dates in full — your rate card, lifted for demand on those dates and never below it; customers see one all-in price for their dates, which also carries Sable's booking-service charge to the customer. Card processing runs at Stripe's standard rate (about 1.5% + 20p per card payment), passed through at cost.
What happens to my customer list if I ever leave?
It's yours and it leaves with you. You can export your customers, pets and bookings free at any time, and Sable's terms promise your data is made available — never withheld — when you go.
Who do I actually talk to when something's wrong?
James — the founder. Sable is built inside a working kennels and cattery, and the person who answers your email is the person who mucks out at 7am. No ticket queue.
Do my customers pay extra to book through Sable?
No. Customers see one all-in price for their dates and that's what they pay — no booking fee or service charge added at checkout. That price is made of two things: your price for those dates — your rate card, lifted for demand on those dates and never below it — and Sable's booking-service charge to the customer, inside the price, never added to it. Your business is never billed anything.
How long does setup take?
About half an hour, in person, free. We come to you, set up your services, rates and cancellation policy, migrate your client and pet records, and most businesses take a real booking before we leave.
Do I need new card machines or hardware?
No. Online payments run through Stripe on your own account. Cash and on-account bookings can live in the diary too — however a booking is paid, Sable bills your business nothing.
I'm not techy. Is that a problem?
It's the whole design brief. You can set up and change almost anything by describing it in plain words — Sable proposes the change, you approve it, and every change can be undone.
Can I keep taking bookings by phone?
Yes. Plenty of your customers will always ring, and the diary is built for it — you add the booking in seconds and everything else (payment, check-in, records) works the same.
Is my diary and customer data safe?
Your data is held securely in the UK/EEA under UK GDPR, with no ads, no tracking and no selling of data — see the privacy policy. You remain the owner and controller of your customer records.
If my business pays nothing, how does Sable make money?
From the customer's side of the booking. Customers see one all-in price for their dates, made of two things: your price for those dates — your rate card, lifted for demand on those dates and never below it — and Sable's booking-service charge to the customer. For every £1 that demand adds to a night, 20p lifts your price and 80p is Sable's charge; the customer pays both. Your business is never billed anything. That structure is deliberate, and we're not changing it: subscription software gets paid the same whether your kennels are full or empty, but Sable only earns when your diary fills. When bookings dip our income dips with yours, and everything we build is built to fill your diary, because that's the only way we grow.
Is Sable just a booking system?
No — Sable is a hybrid marketplace, not just a booking system. Half of it does a marketplace's job: pet owners find Sable businesses in the app, and AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude can check your live availability and hand over your booking link — marketplaces charge 15–20% commission for that; Sable bills your business nothing. The other half is the back office: payment in full at booking, pre-arrival check-in, an arrivals board that chases the quiet ones, pet and vaccination records, payments and a ledger that reconciles to the penny — subscription software charges monthly for that and brings you nobody. Sable does both, and bills your business nothing for either. And if it doesn't do something your business needs, tell us and we'll build it — every business runs differently, and Sable bends to yours. We think it's the best system in the trade — and we'd rather prove that than say it, which is what the free setup visit is for.
Ask the person who built it.
Every email lands with the founder. Worst case, you get an honest “no, Sable doesn't do that.”