Salon software features for Canada, and how they work together
A list of features tells you little about whether software will survive a Saturday. This page walks through what Slotora does for a salon in English-speaking Canada — from the first online booking to the cash count at closing — with a page of its own for each part, and an honest word on what is not here yet.
Start a 14-day trialOne salon day, from booking to closing
The day starts the night before. A client finds you on Instagram at eleven, taps the link in your bio and books a balayage for Saturday without messaging anyone; if you ask for a deposit, she pays it in Canadian dollars through your own Stripe account. Her confirmation arrives by email, and so does the reminder before her visit.
In the morning you open the app and see the day: who is booked with whom, the new client flagged as first-time, the consultation form she already filled in and signed on her phone, and a short list of regulars who are past their usual return date. A cancellation at ten turns into a Facebook post offering that exact hour, if you switched that on, and the post comes down when someone books it.
At the counter, the booking already shows the balance after the deposit and any gift card. She taps an Interac card on the reader, adds a tip, and her receipt is in her inbox before she reaches the door. The colour you mixed comes off the stock list when you mark the visit complete. At closing, the day lists itself by payment method and by stylist, and the drawer count shows any difference the moment you type it in.
None of those steps needed a second system, and none of them took a commission. That is the whole idea: one diary that everything else reads from, so nothing has to be typed twice.
The seven parts, and where to read more
Each part links to a page written for Canadian salons. The full list is at the bottom of this page.
Booking and the diary
Online booking from Instagram, Google or your website; reminders by email; calendar sync with the calendar on your phone; filling cancellations. Province by province, statutory holidays close online booking when you close.
Clients and their records
Visit history and notes, digital consultation and consent forms with an on-screen signature, review requests after real visits, and a loyalty program that counts visits or spend.
Money
Deposits and no-show protection, payment at the counter with Interac, gift cards and series passes, receipts, invoices through Xero or QuickBooks, and stock that knows what each service uses.
Marketing that follows CASL
Email campaigns and automations that leave out anyone outside the two-year business relationship, sign every message with your mailing address, and honour an unsubscribe at once.
The team and the app
Every bookable person keeps their own hours, breaks and services; staff scheduling sits beside the diary; the Slotora app for iPhone and Android runs the whole day from a phone.
AI, priced honestly
Free no-show risk scores and a booking-page assistant; posts and pictures paid per use in credits priced in Canadian dollars. Nothing reaches a client without you.
Your website and social media
A booking widget for WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or Shopify, a booking link for your Facebook Page and Instagram bio, and posts published from Slotora.
What is set up for Canada rather than translated
Your postal code tells Slotora your province, and the things that differ by province follow from it: the statutory holidays offered on your opening-hours screen for the next 18 months, and the time zone your diary runs in, including Newfoundland's half hour and Saskatchewan's clocks that never change.
Money is in Canadian dollars throughout: your service menu, deposits, the subscription and credit packs. At the counter, Interac debit is taken beside the credit card networks, with the network's own rules respected — an in-person Interac payment can only be refunded in person, and a contactless tap above C$100 wants the card inserted with a PIN.
Your marketing to clients follows Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation without you doing the arithmetic: a campaign reaches only clients with a visit in the last two years or express consent, and each one carries your business name, your mailing address and an unsubscribe link. Your data is stored in London, in the United Kingdom, which the privacy notice for Canada states plainly.
Not here yet, or not for everyone
Said on the hub so nobody finds it on page three of the settings.
- No text reminders yet
- Texts to Canadian numbers are not switched on while our toll-free number waits for carrier verification. Reminders and confirmations go by email, included in the subscription.
- No AI phone receptionist
- The assistant that answers a salon's phone line is not offered in Canada. Nita answers guests on your booking page instead.
- Québec, and French
- Salons in Québec cannot sign up yet, and the booking page has no French version, which matters for bilingual salons elsewhere too.
- Tap to Pay, one salon at a time
- Taking cards on a phone is switched on salon by salon after testing with Canadian cards. A Stripe reader or the QR code works from day one.
- No GST/HST on receipts
- The emailed receipt shows no sales tax line. A tax breakdown comes from an invoice in your own Xero or QuickBooks.
Where to start in your first week
You do not have to switch everything on. Most salons get the most from the first three things: the service menu with real lengths and prices, the opening hours with your province's holidays ticked, and the booking link pasted into your Instagram bio and Google profile. That alone takes bookings while you work.
In the second week, bring your client list across from a spreadsheet or your old system's export, decide whether you want deposits, and set up the counter. Campaigns, stock and the AI tools can wait until the diary is running — they work better with a few weeks of bookings behind them.
The trial lasts 14 days with everything open and no card needed to start. After that it is one monthly subscription in Canadian dollars for the whole team, with no commission on any booking or payment.
Questions about Slotora's features in Canada
Are all these features in the subscription?
Yes, apart from what is paid per use: AI posts and pictures in credits, and card fees, which Stripe charges directly. There are no add-on modules to buy.
Does Slotora take a commission in Canada?
No. Not on bookings, deposits, gift cards, passes or payments at the counter. Card payments go to your own Stripe account.
Can I run everything from my phone?
The diary, bookings, clients, the counter, stock counts and Nita are all in the Slotora app for iPhone and Android. Connecting an accounting system is easier on a computer.
Which provinces can use Slotora?
Every province and territory except Québec, which is waiting for a French version and its own privacy assessment.
Is anything switched on without my say?
Booking confirmations and reminders, yes, because clients expect them. Posting to social media, marketing emails and the booking-page assistant all start off until you choose them.
See it with your own services
Set up your menu and hours, share your link, and watch the first bookings arrive in the diary that everything else runs on.