The 10-point portal audit
Run this on your current booking portal as a client — real phone, fresh eyes, no staff shortcuts. It takes under an hour. Count everything, and write down every moment you hesitated. From the Pet-Parent Portal Trust Report by BarkWhiz.
- Book a stay as a new client would
Phone in hand, from your own website. Count the steps and screens from “I want to book” to “done.”
- Watch what happens after you submit
What does the client see while the request waits for approval — a status, a timeline, or nothing at all?
- Check the confirmation
When approved, what does the client receive, how fast — and does it say the dates, the dog, and the price?
- Enroll a brand-new client from scratch
Any invite codes, approval waits, or steps where a normal person would give up and call?
- Book two dogs at once
Count how many things you had to enter twice. Multiply by every multi-dog family you serve.
- Read your checkout page cold
Could a stranger tell what each charge is for without asking? Would you pay this bill without a question?
- Upload a vaccine record from a phone
Is there any acknowledgment it was received and accepted — or does the client find out at drop-off?
- Sit through a stay as the parent
From drop-off to pickup, what does your client hear from you by default? Silence is an answer — the wrong one.
- Break something on purpose
Wrong password, expired card, double-submit. Are the error messages human, and does anything get lost?
- Ask your team who owns a portal problem
When a client says “the app isn't working” — who fixes it, by when, and does the client ever hear back?
The three questions your portal must answer on one screen: Is my booking confirmed? What do I owe? How's my dog? — If your current software makes any of these ten hard, that's a design problem, not a training problem. See how we build against this list at barkwhiz.app/online-booking · © 2026 BarkWhiz · founder@barkwhiz.app