Online booking for a hair salon and a barbershop
A three-chair salon is three schedules that must not overlap, three price lists that need not be the same, and one front desk that at 6 pm answers the phone, cuts hair and writes a time into a notebook all at once. An online booking system does not replace the front desk. It takes away what the desk does worst: keeping track of who is free when, and reminding clients that they have a visit tomorrow.
This article is for a hair salon or barbershop with several people on a shift. It says what such a salon needs from a system, how to set Slotsy up in seven steps, and how a barbershop with a queue from the street differs from a salon booked two weeks ahead. For a stylist who works alone at home we wrote a separate article.
We checked the features and prices on 27 September 2026 against the help centre and Slotsy's pricing.
Short answer. A salon with several chairs needs five things: a schedule of its own for each person (hours, breaks, two shifts), services tied to a chair (the colourist does not trim beards), a link and QR code per staff member, so a regular lands straight with her stylist, a walk-in in one click and reminders without the front desk. One person works in Slotsy on the Free plan at 0 zł; a team of up to five on the Start plan at 29 € a month, with a 1% fee on online payments.
Want to see it on your own salon? Create a Free account: the first chair works at once, the rest you add once you have tested it.
What a salon with several chairs needs
Systems "for everyone" have one flaw: they do everything, so you need to know what to look at. For a salon with a team five things matter.
| Need | Why | How it looks in Slotsy |
|---|---|---|
| A schedule per person | Anna works Tue–Sat 10–18, Marek Mon–Fri 12–20 with a break 15–16 | Salon hours by default, a staff member's own schedule on top, breaks, several shifts a day, exceptions for leave |
| Services per person | Not everyone does everything; a client cannot book a balayage with the barber | A service is assigned to the staff who perform it; the client sees only them |
| A link per staff member | A regular does not want to pick from a list, she wants "her" stylist | The Share button: a link and QR to the whole page, to a service or to a person, with her services |
| Walk-in | A barber without bookings, a client "right now" | Walk-in in the new booking window: service, person, time = now |
| Reminders | The front desk does not call everyone | Email 24 hours and 1 hour before; SMS from a package |
Plus two things nobody values until they are missing: the staff role, which sees only its own schedule and visits, not the salon's revenue; and a buffer after a service (5–30 minutes) for cleaning the station, entered once in the service, not counted in your head.
Setting Slotsy up in seven steps
- Account and salon hours. Register with the name; in onboarding you enter opening hours and days off. That is the default schedule for everyone. First Steps.
- Staff. Staff → Add: name, role (Staff sees only their own visits), an email invitation. For everyone who works differently from the salon, set their own schedule: hours, breaks, two shifts, copy a week. Leave goes in as an exception. Staff Schedules.
- Services and assignment. Name as on the price list on the wall, price, duration, a buffer for cleaning. In each service tick who performs it. Service Management.
- A link and QR per person. Share in the header: a separate link and QR code for each stylist, for a business card, the mirror, her Instagram. A client from that link sees only her services and her times. Share your booking page.
- Cancellation rules. The minimum notice (24 or 48 h) and your own wording, which the client accepts before confirming. Cancellation Rules.
- Payments. Stripe, BLIK and cards at booking, or pay on site as before. If you want a deposit for colour work, read what you may keep.
- Catalogue and Google. The salon is visible in the Slotsy catalogue by default; you paste the booking link into your Google Business Profile and your Instagram bio.
Do the first week on one chair, your own. When you see bookings arriving by themselves, add the rest of the team.
The barbershop: a queue from the street and bookings in one schedule
A barbershop lives differently from a colour salon: services of 30–45 minutes, some clients walk in from the street, some want a fixed time every two weeks. Three settings reconcile it:
- Walk-in. A client from the street: New Booking → Walk-in, service, barber, time "now". Client details optional; the visit lands in the schedule and the statistics, and the client booked for 15:00 does not find the chair taken.
- A 5–10 minute buffer after a cut for sweeping and disinfection; without it the online schedule promises 15:30 and the barber finishes at 15:34.
- Approval off. Booking approval mode makes sense in a salon with long treatments; in a barbershop every visit should be confirmed at once, or the client walks on down the street. Booking Approval.
The Receptionist role, creating bookings only, suits the person at the till who should not see revenue.
What the client sees
The booking page in their language: Polish, Ukrainian or English. A list of services with prices and durations, a choice of person (or straight to times if they came from a staff member's link), free slots, a confirmation by email with a link to reschedule. No account needed. They get a reminder the day before and an hour before; they can cancel or reschedule themselves within your window. From their side: How to book.
Five mistakes we see most often
- Everyone on salon hours. A stylist who starts at 12 gets bookings at 10:00 because nobody set her schedule.
- Services without assignment. A client books colour with the barber because the service was "for everyone".
- No buffer. The online schedule sells every minute; the salon never has time to sweep.
- One link for everyone. Regulars pick from a list of names, some land in the wrong place. A link per person fixes it in a minute.
- The owner role for everyone. A staff member sees revenue and other people's visits. The Staff role exists for exactly this.
Frequently asked questions
Can a staff member have their own login? Yes. You invite them by email; with the Staff role they see their schedule and their visits, nothing more.
How many people does the Free plan cover? One, the owner. A salon with a team needs the Start plan (up to 5 people) or Team (up to 10).
Does the client have to choose a stylist? Not if they came from a specific person's link: then they see her times at once. From the general link they choose from the list.
What about clients who phone? The front desk enters them from the panel in a few seconds; the client gets the same confirmation and reminder as those booked online.
Are SMS reminders included? Email ones are. SMS you buy as a package under Add-ons and enable as a channel.
Can I move my clients from Booksy? You import the client list from a CSV file in the setup assistant. Visit history and reviews from Booksy do not move.
Price lists and features checked 27.09.2026. If something has changed, write to us and we will correct it and show the update date.
Start with one chair: create a Free account, set your schedule and services, and add the team once you see the first bookings.