Spa therapists: booking home massage visits around shifts

If you work in a spa and want your own clients too, open home massage slots only on your days off or free evenings, and make each slot long enough for setting up the table, the massage and packing away. Say in the description which areas you cover, what space you need and what the client should tell you before the visit. Clients book online at times you're really free, your spa shifts stay untouched, and every home visit starts with the information you need.

On Book, slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date. Match the end date to your spa rota and open the next period when the new rota is out; if your shifts change every week, open single slots one or two weeks ahead. Check your employment contract allows outside clients, and never approach the spa's clients for your own business.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. Each slot covers the massage plus about fifteen minutes to set up and fifteen to pack away. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page.

Say in each description which towns or districts you cover, and whether there's a travel supplement further out. Leave travel time between slots. If you cover two areas on different days, one service per area, such as "Massage at home, north side", lets you open each one only on its days.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the client's calendar file. Ask in the description for:

Keep detailed health questions for a short form or conversation at the start of the visit, rather than the booking note, since the note appears in the calendar file.

A couple may want a massage each at home. Book it as one longer slot with one place, booked by one partner, and massage them one after the other. Say in the description whether you bring a second therapist; your booking page has no staff field, so agree it before you confirm.

Working alone in clients' homes, keep someone informed of your visits for the day; your bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars, so you can share the day with a trusted person. Say in the description that the massage is therapeutic and that you'll end a visit if you feel unsafe or a request is inappropriate.

Keep a packed kit: folding table, face cradle, fresh linen, oils, a small speaker and a bag for used towels. Check it the evening before against the next day's bookings in your bookings list.

Share your booking link with friends, family and people who ask for you outside the spa, and put it on your personal social profile. A short page with three or four massages and clear areas is easier to share than a long menu, and clients see straight away whether you come to them.

When a client wants a monthly massage, book the next one before you leave and enter their email so they receive a confirmation with a calendar file. Book doesn't send reminders, so that date in their calendar is what brings you back. Clients can't move bookings online: they contact you, and you move the visit from your bookings list and confirm it yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book doesn't take payments, so say how and when clients pay. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.