17 years helping British businesses
choose better software
About Booker
Cloud-based online booking, scheduling, point of sale and marketing software - everything you need to make your life easier.
Booker was more user friendly and easy to navigate. What takes 10 steps on Boulevard takes far less on Booker.
Sometimes there's issues with linking packages together to get the packaged price. I have also had problems with booking an appointment on the wrong day because the system backed up to a previous tab.
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Book It!
Pros:
Booker is a godsend for so many salons. It is very user-friendly and they have implemented the use of embedded training videos for all the features; this is a wonderful tool and works very well for people who are visual learners, which most stylists happen to be. For salon managers and owners, Booker offers a variety of tools: time-clock, sales tracking, inventory, tip allocation, expenditures/budgets, etc. Being a web-based software, it's very easy to add a widget or embed a link on your website and/or Facebook page to allow customers to easily schedule themselves for services. In addition, there is a built-in point of sale system that makes it easy to check out clients without needing to switch over to another program and/or system.
Cons:
The downside to being a web-based software: if the server is down or there is an issue with the website, you cannot access your calendar or your point of sale system. Booker has been awesome enough to provide a separate website where they allow you to report issues of the system being down and also announcing known issues. Their customer service makes up for this issue.
Easy appointment management, schedule settings could be improved
Comments: Overall easy set up and navigation. User friendly for clients, however could use some minor upgrades with scheduling customization.
Pros:
They notified you via email for every new appointment, making it easy to keep track of client appointments.
Cons:
Their practitioner scheduling could use some improvement, in terms of making it more customizable. There was no way to have practitioners on a bi-weekly schedule and had to be input manually week by week.
Excessive down time and Booker does not listen to customers
Comments: Lack of responsiveness to customer inquiries and valid concerns with downtime and non-functioning software. Most recently their denial of my subscription cancellation. They do not send a renewal notice or offer a reasonable cancellation window. These are very antiquated, predatory subscription practices.
Pros:
Booker originally seemed to have a robust suite of functionality including marketing.
Cons:
Booker has such excessive downtime that has cost my small business revenue (inability to book clients!) and poor client experience trying to book online. Because of this, I am switching to another platform and Booker will not let me cancel my subscription. Talk about antiquated, predatory subscription practices!
love booking my appointments on the app
Comments: Very good. easiest booking online I've come across as a customer
Pros:
easy to pick my service and schedule with the right person.
Cons:
signs you out if you're not active on the app
Ease of use
Pros:
I like it's ease of use and it's streamlined process in order to schedule.
Cons:
Sometimes the software can be a bit glitchy which can be frustrating and you have to start from square one.
drives me to tears on the regular
Comments: It's hard to argue that it's not nice to have an all-in-one, web-based software that truly does do everything. The problem is that everything it does, it does poorly. It's impossible to teach to new staff, the bugs are frustrating, and the server downtime is unacceptable.
Pros:
Booker is truly all-in-one, it manages employee schedules, hours, bookings, online bookings, services, products, retail management, and point-of-sale.
Cons:
Booker is full of the most confusing bugs (which are never fixed eg. finding the next available appointment auto-fills the last viewed client, you can't add products to $0 services booked online), the servers go down regularly, the mobile app is terrible, the integration with our payment processor is shoddy, is extremely difficult to learn, has a lack of functionalities that are just bizarre (eg. impossible to mark doctor services as non-tippable, adding notes to client tickets, changing the names of service subcategories). Customer service is responsive, but unable to help in any concrete way. I use this software for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and I despise it utterly.
Lots of features, that don't work.
Comments: The system does not work as it is supposed to, I have spent too much time calling support without anything getting resolved. The time an energy spent on using this system is not worth the price.
Pros:
I liked the appointment booking system. Easy to use and works without any problems.
Cons:
I have had booker for over 7 years. The system is really flawed and has a lot of bugs.
A good starting point for a scheduling platform
Comments: Fairly user friendly, easy to learn, and always loved all the details available.
Pros:
I mostly liked all of the details available for us - such as time stamps for appointment details, membership history, and so much more!
Cons:
There were frequent glitches in the system and eventually the platform simply did not have the infrastructure in place for our clientele size.
Enhance Your Salon's Success with Booker's Integrated Business Management Platform
Comments: Although I did not actively work in salon management during my internship at the university in pharmaceutical product development and research, I did get the chance to learn more about Booker's features and functionality. Booker was a useful tool for improving our scheduling procedures and keeping client information as a member of a small team in charge of planning events and appointments. Smooth transactions and inventory management were made possible by the software's user-friendly interface and integrated point-of-sale system. Despite the fact that my knowledge of Booker was limited, it gave me a peek of what it might do as a whole salon management system.
Pros:
A wide range of features provided by Booker simplify salon and spa operations. Its user-friendly interface makes staff organization, client administration, and appointment scheduling easier. The software's integrated point-of-sale system allows for easy inventory management and transaction processing. Automated email campaigns and loyalty programs are only two of the marketing techniques that Booker uses to draw in new customers and keep the ones it already has. The reporting and analytics tools enable data-driven decision-making and offer insightful information about business performance. Booker gives salon professionals and owners the tools they need to streamline their business operations and improve client satisfaction with the help of its configurable features and mobile app.
Cons:
One drawback of Booker is its somewhat expensive cost, which could be problematic for independent or smaller salon businesses with tight funds. Some users could first have a steep learning curve that makes it difficult to become skilled in using all the capabilities. Although Booker provides a wide range of functions, some specialized or niche salon businesses could need more modification or integration with specialized software. There have been sporadic reports of technical issues or system slowdowns, which could affect how effectively salon operations run and how the user experience is.
Decent platform for business management and booking appointments!
Comments: I found it an average platform for providing a decent appointment scheduling service to our customers.
Pros:
Convenient to use and make online appointments. Integration is easy and its mobile application is also very user-friendly. Its loyalty point feature is also very useful in attracting customers.
Cons:
Interface can be improved. Very frustrating to use due to its frequent down-time. Additional features of adding samples or images can be an added advantage.
Not my first choice
Pros:
It was recommended to us by our franchise partner, nothing to like about it
Cons:
It crashes and freezes frequently, appointments just disappear
Best booking app for Nail Tech
Pros:
I love how easy it is to allow people to set up online booking without my intervention.
Cons:
The reminders are great, when they work. Sometimes I don't always get notifications about an appointment.
Booker has been a life changer for me and my Therapeutic Massage Practice.
Comments: The ease and functionality for my clients to have my app on their phone for scheduling wherever they are, no matter what time of day or night it is. It's also a reminder for them to schedule when they see my app At a glance! The reminder notifications allows me to focus on servicing my clients instead of scheduling appts, and making confirmations calls every day.
Pros:
I love the way Booker works directly with my web page. My clients and potential clients can book right from my web site, purchase gift certificates from the comfort of their homes or offices, and print them or email them right from their computer without having to come to my office. I am often in service with a client and don't have a lot of time to answer or return calls during my work day let alone meet people to hand deliver gift certificates. I don't have a receptionist or assistant to assist in these matters. I love the fact that I have my very own App to give to my clients so they can save ME to their phones and book on line any time of the day or night, without having to try to find me first. I'm just a click away. The best part is that after you set up your booker to work with your website, it just makes scheduling my clients appts soooo much easier. They get an email notification with Appt details and directions. Then an appt reminder 24 hrs before their Appt so they can click the confirm button, so I don't have to make confirmation calls the day before, then a text reminder notification 3 hours before their Appt which cuts down on no shows, and late cancellations. I love it!!
Cons:
I have 2 locations and Booker does not have a place to differentiate either location. So when my clients book on line, there is no way of telling them which days I am at one location and which days I am at the other. So when they are looking at my open appts, they don't know which location they are booking for. This kind of takes my 5 star Status and brings it down to a 3 because this causes my clients much confusion when trying to book, and me soooo much stress, because what good is it if I always have to call them anyway when they are trying to schedule on line?? This defeats the whole purpose of online scheduling. This needs to be fixed and upgraded. Another thing. The mobile app is limited to its back of the house functionality. It's very easy to schedule appts, but looking up Gift Certificate numbers and entering them for payment after a client redeems them is time consuming and not user friendly. I also wish I had Email/ text Marketing built in so I could send my clients daily, weekly and monthly specials. There are days that I would love to send out a quick text telling my clients what time slots I have available. This would be soooooo easy since all of their contact info is already in the system. I would also like to see yearly reports and just imagine how great it would be if the accounting software was built right in! All in one place! Now that would make Booker the leader in the industry!
Mindbody Response
7 years ago
Denise - Thank you for your review and the detail on why it's working so well for you and your clients. We'll share your feedback with the product team and if there's anything we can do to help, contact [email protected]. We love hearing that you've cut down on cancellations and no shows! You rock! - The Booker Team
A Very Useful Tool for Every Business
Comments: I use Booker as our point of sale system in a number of locations since everything is in one place, simplifying our work. I've tried seven other point-of-sale programs, including Salon Iris, Square, Micros, and others, but none of them compare to Booker as a POS program for salons.
Pros:
Staff scheduling and operating hours are simple to do and follow to.There are so many options for categories to pick from, and I appreciate that you can create your own, so it's easy to add and remove services from our menu.
Cons:
Too many errors and issues with making appointments. Sometimes it will state there is no personnel on duty or the service won't appear on the menu. Refreshing the page and logging out and back in again won't always work.
Booker is cool
Pros:
It was easy to check appointments and see when your client has arrived.
Cons:
I thought that it wasnt innovative or modern at the time of use.
Complete Program
Comments: I love using Booker because it truly does everything I need it to. Not only is all your customer tracking in one place, I can easily override a schedule, track inventory, check my estheticians clock-in and out times, but all the merchant services and marketing with Frederick is also build in to make it a complete system. If I ever have a question, there are so many way to easily get it answered. Usually if I'm wondering, someone else has been too- so I can find it in the community boards, but if its truly technical, the chat is a quick and convenient way that I can still answer the phone as it rings, because the help line isn't tying up the phones or my hands. Frederick tracks emails, so if a client says they never got a reminder, I can double check that the system did indeed send one and with texts working better, more clients are loving the frequent reminders. Having the app option allows me to track the schedule from home also. Truly, I've looked at other software programs, but they just can't stand up to what Booker is able to do. Booker is just faster, easier, sleeker, and more intelligent.
Pros:
Integration of scheduling, merchant services, marketing, reporting. Everything I need in one place to run the business. I don't have to import or export information to run reports or go through multiple programs to send out reminder texts, ring up a client to check out, and check hours worked by employees.
Cons:
There are a few things that the system just doesn't do intelligently where I have to override certain scheduling rules (Example: if an appointment was scheduled in room 2 with one girl, and i want to change it to another girl, it will not automatically switch it to room one. It will just say it isn't available.) So I have to go through round-about ways to override it to get it done, but those are just nit-picking.
Mindbody Response
8 years ago
Thank you for your detailed feedback Lindsey. We appreciate it and are so happy that Booker is working well for you and your business. You rock! Thank you for using Booker! - The Booker Team
Could not do without it
Comments: The pro's definitely outweigh whatever problems or frustrations I have with Booker, so I'm overall a happy customer and will continue working with them. I honestly could not do without this software and look forward to them making more improvements to make it an even better products.
Pros:
I appreciate that my clients can book online and purchase gift certificates when I'm too busy to answer the phone. It's also super easy checking out clients, but best of all is that I'm able to manage our calendar for both therapists and clients, and reschedule with ease. I love that I am also able to track client history and their progress. As we get busier and our client base grows, it can become more challenging to manage paper files and this has helped us cut down on paperwork, thank goodness!
Cons:
There is definitely a learning curve with Booker and there have been times when I've been unsure of how to do something, and have had to contact their support team. One of the glitches that annoys me, is that when I add a new staff member, it adds or populates their name in the calendar even before their official start date! It can be confusing. The same happens when I terminate a staff member or switch them to 'inactive' - then their name and client appointmentss that day, all disappear from view. This is probably one of the more frustrating things for me. I also wish I could do a bit of my own customization like removing things from a drop down table that do not able to me.
Poor Customer Service
Pros:
It did give you a tracking method for services & products sold. It generated a monthly sales tax report
Cons:
Booker charged us a "marketing" fee for months on end. Apparently the marketing product was not what we were sold - that is the ability to generate marketing campaigns to a specific demographics. Instead, it was an "automatic discount" offered to patients that motivated them to wait for follow up services so that they got them for a deeply discounted fee. Booker took credit for selling these services due to their discount program. In the end all they did was to sell price not quality. Quality should be what spa services are all about! If price is the final objection then it should be in the hands of the provider to decide what discount is appropriate. In order to sell more than one unit of Botox, we had to pick from an assortment of quantities of Botox to equal todays purchase. The software is not user friendly and the predefined reports are weak at best. It was not a management tool! Worse it did a horrible job of taking the place of our former hosted spa services software. When it came time to leave, they stole our data, gave us a few excel files and redacted them after a few months. I would neither recommend the product nor would I EVER purchase from this vendor again.
Too many maintenance days per month
Comments: I would give it a 5/10 or less for the reasons above, but also it is constantly shutting down for maintenance. The amount of times I would go and book in a Patient, to have the site shut down, made it very difficult to reply only on booker.
Pros:
I like that Booker has a very clean look, and it is quite easy to block time and schedule in Patients/clients. You can leave check-in or check-out alerts for an individual. I also like that when you go to book an appointment, if the client has been in previously, their name will pop up.
Cons:
If I did wish to book multiple recurrent appointments with a Patient, I couldn't do that with a click of a button, I would have to go to each date and book it separately. If an employee has two rooms they are using for the day, you have to have it on seperate columns... i.e. bill 1 and bill 2, which can get complicated for reporting. There is no charting option with the software.
Pretty good, need a more affordable tier for solo practitioners
Comments: In general I already covered the benefits....but one thing I forgot to complain about is the difficulty in moving a client with multiple treatments!!! I may have a client booked for 3-4 treatments lasting 2-3 hours, and say the opportunity comes up for them to come in an hour earlier. I can't just move the whole appt up! I have to edit each item one by one, updating the appt after each adjustment!!! or just cancel the whole damned-able thing and reenter it?!
Pros:
Seems to be everything I need, like that it's cloud-based, like that it tracks inventory and gives me reports, allows me to keep great notes....I do think it provides all that's needed.
Cons:
Problems with SPEED this past year! Especially if you are in minimum itier. I will say that I'm seriously interested in switching to another company. mindbody offers ASCP/ABMP members a program. It doesn't have as much capability as booker, I think I wouldn't be able to sell products online, etc., but that's not something I use very much anyway.
Mindbody Response
7 years ago
Hi Jennifer - Thank you for your feedback. We've made a lot of in speed/stability this year so you should continue to see improvements there. We'll share your feedback with our product team regarding appointments as well. We're always working to make Booker better and take your suggestions very seriously. Thank you for sharing and for using Booker. - The Booker Team
Better than others
Comments: I hope they put the document management settings back on the brand level, so our new employees don't have to log into both locations on different browsers in order to upload documents.
Pros:
It is pretty simple to use, and they work on improving it often. We were able to edit our membership even though when I called, they told me it could not be done.
Cons:
They have taken some features away that make it very inconvenient. The Brand level is separate from the location levels, so we have to change locations on our screen when we need to do certain things. Also, their customer support is not very good. They prefer you email them, which works in some cases, but most of the time you need more than an email to convey the issue. Second, I have called more than once to find out how to do something, and they were wrong. Last time, I called to see if we could edit our membership to include more than just one service that the benefits could be used for. He told me no, unfortunately I'd have to cancel all of our memberships, make a new one, and then resell all of them. This would take far too long. I did some digging and found the solution on my own, and it was not only possible, but really not that hard. They also update during our open hours. Since we're 6 hours different, it's not surprising but it is very inconvenient to have our system down during that last hour or two of our day.
overall has been good, sometimes tough to get questions answered or get a CSR
Comments: Easy on line booking, easy pos, easy scheduling,
Pros:
I like how easy it is for people to book appointments, how it keeps track of room usage, payroll and other functions. Great that is can be used on smartphones for booking appointments on the fly, notifications via text and email!
Cons:
System slow downs have been awful the last few months, we have had intermittent notification glitches (ie people not getting notified of appointments), problems with people thinking they booked appointments but for some reason it didn't go through this needs to be better - customers are unaware that it didn't go through because of missing information on their end - a tiny red star doesn't really cut it for people to see. Should say somewhere - at the end if you do not get a pop up saying Thank you for your appointment - you are missing information or your selection didn't go through. I wish there was a more integrated system for marketing that allows target marketing, I didn't like having to purchase yet another system like Mail Chimp and now HireFredrick. Really gets very expensive.
Mindbody Response
7 years ago
Thank you for using Booker and for your thoughtful feedback. We've put a lot of effort into helping the system run faster with greater stability so hopefully you're seeing those improvements. Happy to hear that it's working so well for you overall! - The Booker Team
Gregory O - Superb Customer Service Experience
Comments: I want to sincerely thank Booker for the excellent service provided by Gregory O, during several recent requests we made; He has gone above and beyond, even supplying me with a level of data and assistance I was previously told would not be possible to get. He did it in an extremely expeditious and efficient manner and again affirms our confidence that Booker is the leading platform in our industry. Thanks again for providing such a great business tool and we look forward to using booker for many years to come.
Pros:
The "all in one nature" of the platform but also the ability to have an online store that links to our actual inventory and pricing levels in real time. The confirmation email for appointments are a great asset to in terms of revenue loss prevention and saves time for our staff, not to mention our clients love the convenience. The pre-authorization of credit cards is a great function again for loss prevention.
Cons:
1, There have been times recently were the downtime or stability (slowness) of the platform has not been acceptable. 2, The ip lock function only works with v4 ip addresses (most ISP's are now using v6's rendering the function useless unless you pay extra for static IP's.
Mindbody Response
8 years ago
Tom - thank you for the great review and feedback on how we can improve Booker. I'll be sure to pass this along to our product team. Thanks! - Jason
So far - so good!
Comments: I've worked with the Booker system for 8 months now, and I've definitely enjoyed my experiences with it. We receive near live updates whenever there is an issue with the system - instead of being left to guess, as with other Spa software systems. I've found it to be clean, well designed, aesthetically pleasing, simple to understand, and full of hidden abilities that I have found to be extremely helpful in the management of our organization. Although there are a few capabilities I wish it could offer, Booker is genius at what it does already.
Pros:
- Ease of use - Mobile application - Partnership with Frederick - Easy to book online - Aesthetically pleasing - Easy access to customer service (with real people!)
Cons:
There are certain limitations to the software that I don't quite endorse, and would love to have more accessibility to customize the features inherent in the system. For instance, we would love to be able to format, on our own, the infrastructure of the Administrator, Reservationist, and Staff roles to allow for certain levels of access to information. Although we have found a way to "Macguyver" the system, we'd love for there to be a more direct system for integrating digital SOAP notes, as well as intake form and profile management by the client when they log in to book an appointment. There have been other, very slight issues, which have caused some annoyance to our clients - such as the automatic CC authorization process when opening orders, or when clients are unable to cancel upcoming appointments online at their convenience (so long as it does not violate our 24-hour policy).
Frustrating and inconsistent
Comments: The ability to serve multiple locations and the ability to book appointments and sell retail simultaneously.
Pros:
I like the fact that Booker can be used for multiple locations and is helpful with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly statistics. I can use the data to determine what I need to do differently regarding sales, promotions, etc. I can also use the data to determine what services, promotions, etc. are going well and should definitely be continued.
Cons:
The customer support is lacking. It has been so frustrating to speak to so many different reps. The notes they take and calls they log has been very inconsistent, making follow-through to a resolution impossible. Even when issues have been pushed through to technical support or the development team, we have gotten little to no helpful feedback. I feel the software could use some updating to improve on the ease of use. Mostly, I feel customer support reps should be trained to actually offer "support," rather than offer a "pat" answer and such as, "This is not a Booker issue," or "I can't really tell you why that is happening, call us again if the problem reoccurs." Overall, our experience has been frustrating. In all fairness, our particular "case," which includes many different issues has been escalated to someone in management, but this has taken several months.