How to Run a Salon's Week on One Free System
Most salon owners do not choose their software; they collect it. A booking app, a paper diary for walk-ins, a group chat for the team, a spreadsheet of gift cards and a card machine that knows nothing about any of them. Here is one ordinary week in a four-chair salon — two stylists, a nail tech and an owner who still takes clients — run on one free system instead: what Slotora does at each step, and where it stops.
Sunday evening: set up the week
Each colleague has her own column in the diary with her own working hours. The hours are a weekly template, so Tuesday's late shift repeats without anyone retyping it, and any single date can be changed or closed on its own — the nail tech's dentist appointment on Thursday is a day off for her, not for the salon. If a colleague connects her Google Calendar, her private appointments there block her slots automatically. Team diaries and working hours
- Add everyone, including the apprentice and the Saturday freelancer: there is no staff limit and no charge per person.
- Give each colleague the services she actually does, with her own duration and price where they differ.
- Send each one a login by email invite. A colleague's login works the diary; the client book, settings and money stay with owners and admins.
Monday: clients book themselves
The salon's booking page has its own link and takes bookings at any hour. The real work is putting that link where clients already are. After setup, Slotora opens a page with a separate link for Instagram, Facebook, your Google Business Profile, your website and TikTok, plus a ready-written reply for Messenger and WhatsApp — so when someone asks whether you have space on Friday, the answer is one paste. On a website it can be a button, a small widget or the whole booking page embedded. How online booking works
One honest gap: Google's own Reserve button needs a partner approval Slotora does not have yet, so on Google your booking link sits in the profile as an ordinary link.
Tuesday: the client book does the remembering
Before a regular sits down, her card shows every past visit, what she has spent, notes, tags, her birthday and before-and-after photos. Allergies go in a separate caution field, so they are not lost among the notes. Bringing the book across from another system is a spreadsheet import (.xlsx, .xls or .csv): names, phones, emails, notes and tags. The client book
Wednesday: reminders, and a cancellation that refills itself
Confirmations and reminders go by email at no cost, at the times you choose — a day before, two hours before, or both. SMS is optional and paid from credits, which is worth it for clients who never open email. Automatic reminders
At noon a client cancels her 3 pm cut. Everyone on the waitlist for that service on that day gets an email straight away, and the first to book takes the slot. Nothing is held for anyone, so it is first come, first served — a fair rule, and faster than ringing round.
Thursday: deposits and no-show fees, into your own Stripe
For long or expensive services, ask for a deposit or full prepayment at booking — per service, with the option to waive it for trusted regulars. Set a no-show fee and a late-cancellation fee, and Slotora can charge the card saved at booking. The money goes into the salon's own Stripe account. Slotora takes 0% of it; Stripe charges its own processing fee, as it would anywhere.
Friday: the counter
When a client pays at the desk, the payment is recorded against her booking: cash, a card on your own card machine, or a bank transfer, with the tip kept apart from the bill. A client paying a balance can scan a QR code for a card payment link. A Stripe Terminal reader can be driven from Slotora, and the phone app hands a payment to the SumUp or Square app. At closing, a cash count shows whether the drawer is short or over. Payments at the counter
Tap to Pay on the phone: it works in the Android app (version 1.0.42 or newer) and in the iPhone app (iPhone XS or newer). On an older iPhone you take cards on a card machine or a reader.
Saturday: gift cards, passes, forms and stock
- Gift cards: clients buy them on your booking page, and you can issue them by hand at the desk.
- Passes: a number of sessions of one service for one price, valid 90 days unless you set otherwise.
- Forms: patch-test, medical-history and consent forms go out by email or SMS before the visit and are signed on the client's phone.
- Stock: products a service uses come off the shelf count when the visit is completed, and low stock is flagged before you run out.
Sunday again: the numbers
Reports show money collected against money booked, the no-show and cancellation rates, how full the diary was and how many clients came back — per colleague too, for the last 30 or 90 days or this month. The business app on iOS and Android puts the diary and the numbers on your phone. And everything can leave with you: clients, services and bookings as CSV, or the whole account as one file. The business app
What the week cost
The system itself cost nothing: no monthly fee, no charge per colleague and 0% commission on bookings, deposits and card payments. Three things cost money, and only if you switch them on: SMS credits, what Nita — Slotora's AI — makes for you (a post, a campaign, a picture), charged in credits per use with the price shown before it runs, and the AI phone receptionist, bought as a pack of minutes. Stripe's card fees are Stripe's. What the three extras cost
Where Slotora will not help much yet is finding strangers for you. Salons are listed in the Slotora directory by default, at 0% commission, but the directory is young and brings few new clients so far. Plan on your own channels — your regulars, Instagram, Google — and treat the directory as a bonus. Slotora for salons: the whole working day · Create a free salon account
