Five weeks of real calls to a London salon group: before an AI receptionist, 49% of calls reached nobody. The worst hour, the worst day, and what the callers did next.
Notice dates, the 60-day data deadline and what to export (clients, appointments, colour notes, vouchers, courses) when you leave Phorest in the UK.
Patch tests, consultation forms, courses and fees: Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Timely, Phorest and Daviana compared for UK beauty salons.
An 8-point checklist for a salon till: cash out against the booking, split payments, tips per stylist, retail stock, and a worked bill.
Published UK card rates for Stripe, SumUp, Square, Zettle and the salon systems, reader prices, and a worked monthly example.
Published UK prices, plus the costs the headline hides: card fees, texts, commission, setup and notice, with a full year worked out.
Nail salons live and die by treatment times, technician skills and no-shows. Here is what to test, and how Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Timely and Daviana compare.
Seven UK salon booking systems compared on what they actually cost, how long they tie you in, and what they charge for new clients, for hair, nail and beauty salons.
Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Salon Agent, Zenoti, Qlient and Daviana Aria compared for hair, nail and beauty salons, starting from the question that decides it: which diary does it book into?
Vish, SalonScale, Color Bar Manager and ColorLab side by side: what each costs, whether you need their scale, and how each fits the booking system you already use.
Flat percentage, basic plus commission, or tiers: run your own busy and quiet months through each before you choose, and check the minimum wage and holiday pay rules that catch salons out.
A good salon no-show policy says four things in plain words: the notice window, the late cancellation charge, the no-show charge, and which bookings need a deposit. Here is a template you can copy.
Applications for a stylist chair arrive all week and get read on Sunday night, by which point the best candidates have already taken another chair. Speed of reply beats a perfect CV.
Back bar product and retail product disappear for different reasons. Most of what looks like theft is just use that nobody wrote down.
Twelve real questions to put to any salon software provider, with honest answers — including the ones where the honest answer is "it depends". Ask them of us and of anyone else on your list.
When a stylist can only see their commission on payday, every payslip is a potential argument. When the number is live all month, there is nothing left to dispute.
Every salon mixes a little extra colour, just in case. Nobody weighs what goes down the plughole afterwards, so nobody knows what it costs.
A colour card in a drawer is a record of what a stylist meant to do. When that stylist moves to a different salon, the client's next appointment starts from a guess.
Most salons price a colour service by the tube and guess the rest. Weigh the bowl instead, and the real cost of a head of colour turns out to be a number you can act on.
Most things sold as all-in-one are several products behind one login, each keeping its own copy of the client — which is why the numbers never quite agree. Here is the test that actually shows the difference.
Most phone-answering products sit outside your diary and reach into it. Ours doesn't reach into anything, because the phone and the diary are the same system.
The phone does not stop ringing when the desk goes quiet — after closing, on a Sunday, or on a Saturday when both receptionists are already with a client. Most of those calls become someone else's booking.