Your December diary starts filling long before the first decorations go up. The hours you set on the roster this week determine your revenue for the end of the year. Slots only show up online when the shifts are on the roster. It's worth taking an hour now to get your settings right while the salon is quiet enough to think.

Extra hours start on the roster

Online booking is a mirror of your staff roster. Clients only see a stylist on the days and hours that stylist is rostered. To open up late nights or extra Sunday sessions, you must update the roster first. You can add a second shift to the same person on the same day if you need to account for a split shift or a few extra hours at the end of a standard Wednesday.

For example, a stylist working an extra two hours on each of the four Thursdays in December creates eight more bookable hours. If they bring in £45 an hour for services, that comes to £360 more per stylist across the month. These slots appear for clients as soon as you save the updated shifts on the roster.

How far ahead clients can see

The Maximum Advance Booking setting controls your booking window. If this is set to 30 days, a client looking at your website on 26 October can only see slots up to 25 November. A client wanting the Saturday before Christmas, 19 December, won't be able to book that slot until 19 November.

Extend this window to 60 or 90 days for the festive period so your regular clients can secure their preferred times. You can change this setting back in January once the rush is over. Check your Minimum Lead Time as well to give yourself enough notice for every booking during a busy shift.

Christmas week and closures

Managing closures correctly prevents the frustration of clients booking slots when the salon is shut. Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, and Boxing Day is a Saturday. This means Monday 28 December is the substitute bank holiday across the UK. New Year's Day is the following Friday. In Scotland, there is also a substitute bank holiday for 2 January on Monday 4 January 2027.

Luminate flags fixed dates like Christmas Day and Boxing Day with a striped marker, but you will need to add any substitute bank holidays as custom holidays. A holiday marker warns anyone who adds a shift on that day, and it never blocks a booking. Delete any fixed-date custom holidays in January so they don't repeat next year.

If you're staying closed for these bank holidays, don't roster any staff for those days. No online slots will appear. If you have chosen to close for a private reason, you can add a custom holiday in the salon settings. Luminate will warn anyone trying to add a shift on those closure dates.

Deposits on long appointments

No-shows in December are a direct hit to your revenue. You can protect your time by requiring a deposit for specific services. You can skip the deposit for a trim, but it's sensible to set one for long colour appointments. You can choose a fixed amount or a percentage of the price, and clients who book online pay the deposit as part of booking.

When a client books a deposit service online, they have 30 minutes to pay by card before the booking is cancelled automatically. You can switch these online deposits on for December and turn them off again in January. You could set a £20 deposit on a £120 colour.

The waitlist for cancellations

Cancellations are inevitable when winter flu starts. The waitlist gives you a ready list of clients to contact when a gap opens. When you add a client to the waitlist, you can specify the service, the stylist they prefer, and a priority level. If you have a regular who missed out on a prime Saturday slot, mark them as high priority so they sit at the top of the list.

When you cancel an appointment in the salon, Luminate checks the waitlist and offers up to five clients who fit the gap. The stylist involved also receives an email with the details of clients who could fill the space. You'll still need to call or message the client to confirm, as Luminate doesn't contact those clients automatically. Having a prepared waitlist means you can turn a cancellation into a filled slot in a few minutes.

Managing processing gaps

A processing gap on a multi-service booking can hold another client. If a colour service includes 35 minutes of development time before the next step, that gap remains free for the same stylist on your diary. This allows you to book a shorter service, like a blow-dry or a fringe trim, for a different client while the colour is developing.

Receptionists book these gaps for clients who call or walk in. Check your service durations and gaps now.

Staff holiday cut-off

Luminate doesn't have a setting to block leave requests for December, so this is a salon policy you must set and communicate. Be clear with your team about when the final date for holiday requests is. Once a stylist's leave is approved, their slots are removed from online booking automatically.

Rostering is a balance between meeting high demand and making sure the team doesn't burn out. State your policy plainly and make sure everyone knows that once the roster is published, changes will be difficult. Once the roster is final, you can trust that the availability your clients see online is exactly what you can deliver.

Your checklist for this week

Set aside an hour to confirm your settings are active today.

  • Check your SMS balance. Check you have enough credits to cover the increased volume of reminders in December.
  • Verify the booking window. Check that your Maximum Advance Booking setting allows clients to see December dates.
  • Confirm bank holidays. Check your public holiday settings include 28 December, and 4 January for salons in Scotland.
  • Review service durations. Double check that your colour services have the correct processing times.
  • Test the online journey. Go to your booking page as if you were a client to see exactly what is available.