Tattoo studios: scheduling several artists on one page

A tattoo studio with several artists can take every booking on one Book page. Clients book a consultation with the artist whose style they want, such as "Consultation with Sacha, fine line"; once the design and size are agreed, the artist books the tattoo session into their own diary. Piercings, where any qualified piercer will do, can sit in a shared service, and guest artists get services for the dates they're in. The studio pays €5/month in total.

Book gives one booking page per business. Each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on the page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own number of places. There's no staff field, so the artist's name goes in the service name, ideally with their style. Slots of different services can run at the same time, which is what lets three artists tattoo side by side.

Durations, places and prices are examples: set your own.

A consultation has a fixed length, so clients can book it online with the artist they've chosen. The session depends on the design: size, placement and detail decide whether it's two hours or a full day. Don't open free session slots; at the end of the consultation, the artist creates a session slot of the right length and books the client into it straight away. With one place, it's full at once and never offered to anyone else. First and last name are required, email and phone optional; with an email, the client gets a confirmation with a calendar file.

A sleeve or a back piece takes several sittings with healing time in between. Each slot sits within one day, so book each sitting as its own slot, spaced as the artist wants, and enter the client's email so every date lands in their calendar.

For piercings, where clients don't need a particular person, a shared service works: set each slot's places to the number of qualified piercers on shift. If you also take walk-ins for piercings or flash, keep some hours off the page and say so in the description.

A guest spot is a set of dates. Create the guest's consultation or flash services, open their slots only on those days, and say in the description when they're in and what style they do. When the guest leaves, delete any remaining slots, and the services simply have no free times until the next visit.

Book doesn't know how many stations you have, and slots of different services can overlap, so it won't stop four artists being booked into three stations. Give each artist fixed station days, and only open their slots on those days. Slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so each resident artist's consultation hours become one series. When someone's days change, delete the remaining slots of the old series and create a new one.

Book doesn't take payments or deposits. If your studio asks for a deposit to hold a session, take it the way you do today, and say in the session and consultation descriptions how it works and what happens if the client cancels. A price shown on a session service can be a starting price or a price per hour; say which in the description.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note. Ask for the idea, the placement and the approximate size, and invite clients to email reference images. Ask them not to put health details there, since the note appears in their calendar file; cover those on your consent form at the studio.

Clients can't move or cancel online; the studio does it from the bookings list. A tattoo client chose an artist for their style, so offer to move their session to that artist's next free days before suggesting a colleague; piercing clients can move to another piercer. Rescheduling works across services. Book doesn't email clients about changes, so message each one, then delete the absent artist's free slots. Every booking syncs with the studio's Google, iPhone or Mac calendar. Book costs €5/month for the studio, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.