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Setting Up Online Booking for Your Salon

10-15 minutes

Tutorial 18.1: Setting Up Online Booking for Your Salon

Introduction

Online booking allows your customers to book appointments directly through a public booking page, available 24/7. Instead of calling during business hours or waiting for a response to an enquiry, customers can browse your services, choose their preferred stylist, select an available time slot, and confirm their booking instantly.

This tutorial walks you through enabling online booking for your salon, creating your unique booking URL, and understanding the key settings that control how the booking system works.

Who this is for: Salon owners and administrators who want to offer online booking to their customers.

What you'll learn:

  • How to enable online booking for your salon
  • Creating and customising your booking URL
  • Understanding the booking page settings
  • How to share your booking link with customers

Time to complete: 10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • Owner or Admin access to your salon
  • At least one active service configured (see Tutorial 7.1: Creating and Managing Your Service Menu)
  • At least one active staff member with a roster (see Tutorial 4.1: Adding New Staff Members)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Access Online Booking Settings

  1. Click your salon name in the header bar
  2. Select Salon Settings from the dropdown menu
  3. Click the Online Booking tab at the top of the settings page

You'll see the online booking configuration panel with several sections.

Step 2: Enable Online Booking

  1. Find the Online Booking section at the top
  2. Toggle the Enable Online Booking switch to the on position
  3. When enabled, the switch will show as active (highlighted)

What this does:

  • Makes your public booking page accessible to customers
  • Allows customers to browse services and book appointments
  • The booking URL becomes active and functional

Step 3: Set Up Your Booking URL

Every salon needs a unique URL slug for their booking page. This creates a memorable web address customers can use to book.

  1. In the Booking URL section, find the Custom URL Slug field
  2. Enter a short, memorable name using only:
    • Lowercase letters (a-z)
    • Numbers (0-9)
    • Hyphens (-)
  3. The slug must be at least 3 characters long

Example URLs:

  • luxe-hair-studio creates yourdomain.com/book/luxe-hair-studio
  • downtown-cuts creates yourdomain.com/book/downtown-cuts
  • hair-by-sarah creates yourdomain.com/book/hair-by-sarah

Using the Generate Button: Click Generate to automatically create a URL slug based on your salon name. The system will convert your salon name to a URL-friendly format (lowercase, spaces replaced with hyphens).

Step 4: Verify Your URL is Available

As you type, Luminate checks if your chosen slug is available:

  • A green tick indicates the URL is available
  • A red cross indicates the URL is already taken - choose a different slug
  • A loading spinner appears while checking

Once you see a green tick, your URL is ready to use.

Step 5: Preview Your Booking URL

Below the slug input, you'll see:

  • A preview of your full booking URL
  • A copy button to copy the URL to your clipboard
  • An external link button to open the booking page in a new tab (only visible when online booking is enabled)
  • A status badge showing Live (when enabled) or Disabled

Step 6: Save Your Settings

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page
  2. Click Update Salon
  3. You'll see a confirmation message when the settings are saved

Testing Your Booking Page

After saving, test your booking page to ensure everything works correctly:

  1. Click the external link icon next to your booking URL, or
  2. Copy the URL and paste it into a new browser tab
  3. You should see your salon's booking page with:
    • Your salon name and logo (if uploaded)
    • A list of bookable services
    • A step-by-step booking process

Sharing Your Booking Link

Once your booking page is live, share it with customers through:

Your Website: Add a "Book Now" button that links to your booking URL

Social Media: Include the link in your Instagram bio, Facebook page, or other social profiles

Email Signatures: Add the booking link to staff email signatures

Text Messages: Send the link directly to customers when they enquire about appointments

QR Codes: Generate a QR code from your booking URL for printed materials, window displays, or business cards

Common Pitfalls

"My booking page says it's disabled"

Check that the Enable Online Booking switch is turned on and you've clicked Update Salon to save the changes.

"Customers can't see any services"

Services must be enabled for online booking. By default, all services are available. Check that you have active services configured in your salon.

"No time slots are available"

This usually means:

  • Staff don't have roster shifts covering the dates customers are trying to book
  • The minimum lead time setting is preventing same-day bookings
  • All available slots are already booked

See Tutorial 18.2 for details on configuring availability settings.

"The URL slug I want is taken"

Each booking URL must be unique across all salons. Try adding your location, a number, or variation to create a unique slug (e.g., luxe-hair-london or luxe-hair-2).

Tips and Best Practices

  1. Keep your URL short and memorable - Customers may need to type it or remember it. luxe-hair is better than luxe-hair-studio-london-branch-1.

  2. Test on mobile devices - Most customers will book from their phones. Open your booking page on a mobile device to check the experience.

  3. Set up before promoting - Configure all your settings (see Tutorial 18.2) before widely sharing your booking link.

  4. Add services gradually - If you're new to online booking, start with your most popular services and expand from there.

  5. Monitor your bookings - After launching, keep an eye on incoming online bookings to ensure the system is working as expected.

Related Tutorials

  • Tutorial 18.2: Managing Your Online Booking Settings - Configure constraints and self-service options
  • Tutorial 18.3: The Customer Booking Experience - Understanding what customers see
  • Tutorial 18.4: Customer Self-Service - How customers manage their bookings
  • Tutorial 7.1: Creating and Managing Your Service Menu - Setting up services for booking
  • Tutorial 5.1: Setting Up Your Weekly Roster - Ensuring availability

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have different booking URLs for different services?

No, each salon has one booking URL. All enabled services appear on that page. Customers can select multiple services in a single booking.

What happens if I disable online booking?

The booking page will show a message that online booking is currently unavailable. Existing bookings are not affected - only new bookings are prevented.

Can customers book without verifying their email or phone?

No, all customers must verify their identity via a one-time code sent to their email or mobile phone. This prevents fake bookings and ensures you have valid contact details.

Does the booking page work on mobile?

Yes, the booking page is fully responsive and optimised for mobile devices. Most customers will book from their phones.

Can I customise the appearance of my booking page?

The booking page displays your salon name, logo (if uploaded), and uses a clean, professional design. Your salon's theme colour is applied to buttons and highlights.

What timezone is used for the booking page?

The booking page uses your salon's configured timezone. Customers see available times in your local timezone, regardless of where they're located.

Is the booking URL case-sensitive?

No, booking URLs are not case-sensitive. luxe-hair-studio and LUXE-HAIR-STUDIO will both work.

Last Updated: January 2026