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What are Add-on Resources?

As an admin, learn about add-on resources and how to set them up for your organization

Raul Zhou avatar
Written by Raul Zhou
Updated this week

Add-on Resources allow you to offer additional bookable items alongside a primary resource booking in Optix.

They are commonly used for equipment, services, or extras that complement a main resource, such as:

  • Podcast studio + microphones, cameras, or an audio engineer

  • Golf simulator + club rental or coaching session

  • Meeting room + projector, catering, or extra chairs

Adding and organizing add-on resources in Optix helps you:

  • Increase revenue: Sell additional resources and services

  • Stay organized: Group add-ons and apply shared rules (required vs optional, min/max quantities)

  • Simplify management: Manage pricing, allowances, and visibility for add-ons in one place

  • Improve the booking experience: Let users easily select additional services or equipment during booking, with clear pricing and allowance usage

Add-on Resources are booked as part of the same booking flow, but each add-on is treated as its own resource for pricing, allowance, and availability calculations.


How Add-on Resources work


Add-on Resources are configured on a primary (main) resource and follow a structured ruleset.

At a high level:

  • A user selects a primary resource (for example, a studio or room)

  • The booking flow then prompts the user to select any required or optional add-ons

  • Each add-on is priced and/or deducted from the allowance independently

  • All selected resources appear together under one booking

Key principles:

  • Each add-on is still a full resource in Optix

  • Pricing, allowance usage, and taxes are calculated per resource

  • Add-ons inherit visibility from the main resource

  • Add-ons cannot be booked on their own (they must be attached to a main resource)

How to configure Add-on Resources

Step 1: Create the Add-on resource

  1. Go to Resources > All Resources

  2. Create a new resource (for example: “Microphone”, “Engineer”, “Projector”)

  3. Set pricing, availability, and allowance rules as needed

  4. Save the resource

Note: We recommend creating a dedicated resource type such as Add-on Equipment or Add-on Services for easier organization.

Step 2: Attach Add-ons to a main resource

  1. Open the primary resource (for example, “Conference Room”)

  2. Navigate to the Add-ons section

  3. Add one or more Add-on Resources

  4. Group them logically (for example, “Required services” or “Optional equipment”)

  5. Define selection rules:

    • Required vs Optional

    • Minimum quantity

    • Maximum quantity

Each add-on group can be reordered and managed independently.

Add-on selection rules

For each add-on group, you can configure:

  • Required: Users must select at least the minimum number

  • Optional: Users may select up to the maximum number

  • Minimum quantity: The minimum number that must be selected

  • Maximum quantity: The maximum number that can be selected


Example: Podcast Studio add-ons

When booking a Podcast Studio, users may be asked to select add-ons during checkout.

  1. Projectors(Required — choose at least 1)
    Basic Projector — +$20/hour

    HD Super Bright Projector — +$35/hour

  2. Cameras (Optional — max 2)

    4K Wide Angle — +$35/hour

    1080p Standard — +$35/hour

Add-ons are grouped with clear required/optional rules, and pricing updates in real time as users make selections.

How do add-on resources behave when they are booked

How pricing works

  • Each add-on is priced independently

  • Hourly, daily, conditional pricing, and taxes apply per resource

  • The system always checks for allowance first

  • If allowance is unavailable or exceeded, pricing is applied automatically

How allowance works

  • Add-ons consume allowance separately from the main resource

  • The system treats each add-on as an individual booking for allowance calculation

  • One booking may consume multiple allowances across different resources

Note: Because add-ons are calculated independently, you can mix and match how pricing and allowances apply. For example:

A single booking may therefore use a combination of allowances and direct payments.

Visibility and access rules

  • Add-on visibility is inherited from the main resource

  • Add-ons are not hidden just because a user lacks a plan or allowance

  • When a user can’t actually use an add-on (for example, due to availability or plan/allowance limits), the add-on still appears in the list, and it will show indicators such as pricing or other explanatory messaging.

This ensures users are aware of available add-ons even if they require payment.

Supported resource types and limitations

Supported

  • Single primary resource per booking: It selects one main resource and allows add-ons to be attached to that booking.

  • Add‑on resources are regular bookable resources: Add‑ons are selected from existing resources or resource types and grouped by rules (location/resource/resource type).

Current limitations

  • Non-specific primary resources are not recommended for add-ons

  • It only supports one primary resource per booking with add-ons

  • Add-ons cannot be attached to multiple primary resources in a single booking

Note: Add-on resource bookings are currently supported on the mobile apps (v9.0.0+). Users can create, edit, and cancel bookings with add-ons in the mobile app. On the admin dashboard, creating bookings with add-ons is not yet supported. The Drop-in widget does not currently support creating bookings with add-ons.

Where users see Add-on details

Users and admins can view add-ons in:

  • Booking confirmation screen

  • Booking details screen (web and mobile)

  • Admin booking view

Each add-on is displayed with:

  • Resource name

  • Quantity

  • Price

  • Allowance usage (if applicable)

FAQs

Can Add-on Resources have conditional pricing?

Yes. Add-ons are priced per resource, so any pricing or allowance rules configured on the add-on resource apply normally, including conditional pricing and tax rules.

Can users book add-ons without booking the main resource?

No. Add-ons are always attached to a primary resource and cannot be booked independently.


Can add-ons be required?

Yes. You can mark add-ons as required and enforce minimum and maximum quantities.


Do add-ons work with allowances?

Yes. Each add-on can consume its own allowance independently from the main resource.

Can add-ons be used with extended bookings?

Yes. When a booking is extended, associated add-ons are extended as well, following the same pricing and allowance rules.

Troubleshooting

Add-ons are not appearing during booking

Check that:

  • The add-ons are attached to the primary resource

  • The primary resource is visible to the user

  • The add-on group is not disabled

Users are being charged when they expect allowance usage

Verify:

  • The add-on resource has allowance configured

  • The user has remaining allowance

  • The allowance applies to the selected time range

Pricing looks incorrect

Confirm:

  • Conditional pricing priority order

  • Hourly vs daily rate logic

  • Custom tax rates on the add-on resource

Add-ons appear but cannot be selected

This may occur if:

  • Minimum/maximum rules are misconfigured

  • The add-on resource has no availability

  • The add-on resource is blocked by another resource

Availability conflicts appear unexpectedly

Check:

  • Parent/child resource relationships

  • External calendar integrations

  • Whether another booking has blocked the add-on resource

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