Beauty salons: planning bookings for the busy seasons

The weeks before Christmas, the wedding season and the start of summer can fill a beauty diary in days, while January sits half empty. Plan the peaks in your booking calendar a few weeks ahead: open the busy weeks early, create the seasonal services clients ask for, decide which longer days you'll work, and keep slots for your regular clients before the page fills with new ones. With online booking, clients take those slots themselves, and you see the season fill week by week instead of answering the phone all day.

Look at last year's diary, or your bookings list if you already use Book, and mark the weeks that were full: the run-up to Christmas and New Year, school proms, the wedding months, the first warm weeks for waxing and tans, the weeks before summer holidays. Those are the weeks to open first and to staff properly. Quiet weeks are worth noting too: they're the time for training, deep cleaning or a short break.

On Book, slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date. Extend your end date to cover the peak weeks well ahead, so clients who plan can book. When a slot is booked, it leaves your page, so the last free times are always the ones on show, and you're never double-booked.

Peaks come with their own requests. Each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, so create the seasonal ones as separate services for the season only.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. When the season ends, stop opening slots for those services.

If you'll start earlier or finish later in December, open those extra slots now rather than squeezing clients in later. Decide the limit before the rush: a late evening twice a week may be fine, every night may not. Clients only see the times you open.

Book has one booking page per business and no staff field, so each team member has their own services, such as "Gel nails with Lina". For the peak weeks, open extra slots for a part-time colleague on their days; slots of different services can overlap, so two people work in parallel. When someone is off sick, move their bookings to a colleague from the list: rescheduling works across services.

Regular clients shouldn't find their usual slot taken by newcomers. Before you share the peak weeks widely, book your regulars' appointments yourself from your list, or message them the link first. First and last name are enough; if you enter their email, they get a confirmation with a calendar file.

Post the link when the peak weeks open: on Instagram, your Google profile, the salon window and a card at the till. A short line such as "December appointments are open" tells clients to book now.

Clients can't move or cancel online: they call or message you, and you move the booking from your list. A cancelled slot goes back on your page straight away. Book doesn't send reminders, so a quick message the day before helps keep peak slots full. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.