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.

Using it for our Med Spa

Booker does what we need, support has always been responsive and it is easy to use.

Pros

Ease of use so, easy to train. In the Day Spa industry front desk turnover is frequent so it is nice to be able to quickly show a new gal how to use the system.

Cons

We were previously Salon Iris customers and I am a programmer. With access to the database on that system I could run queries on anything in the database. Booker does not provide access to the SQL database so that is not possible. I do however have all of the reports that I need. Also, it would be nice to have the ability to set access a little more granular. For example, if I give a gal access to look at gift card balances, I will also have given her access to modify gift card balances.

Booker Provides the Right Details

We had several manual processes and workarounds to track and fix our data, but the auditing capabilities and ease of use make this system worthwhile!

Pros

Booker makes it easy to book clients, review accurate data, see clients shared to a membership, easily manage gift cards and online certs, easily view status changes of a membership, provide great auditing capabilities...

Cons

The customer support is extremely lacking. We also couldn’t get all the reports we needed and had to use a custom developed Stage 1 reporting system that was insanely slow. Our franchise switched systems to a MUCH inferior system due to the poor customer service. The Booker company doesn’t seem interested to work to improve the system based on the client needs. It’s got a great core but there were several bugs that would go on for years and the typical response would be a time consuming workaround, rather than addressing this issue and providing timelines.

Decent but not great

I like using Booker for its ease of use. It can get confusing since there are multiple ways to do the same task, though. However, with different learning styles, it is a pretty easy system to teach to people. It is very beneficial as well to allow all therapists to be able to check schedules from home. Our clients like the email and text appointment reminders. We also like the hire Frederick program. It is an easy way to market and bring back old customers or get new ones to rebook. The email they receive after their services is also beneficial for us to understand customer satisfaction and we can immediately respond to negative feedback, grow, learn and maintain customer relations. Their customer service is very good. They are always very prompt with responding to an issue. My problems with Booker are they have a tendency to glitch often or significantly slow down the system so we have had to resort to either trying a mobile device or handwriting credit slips on occasion. We have also had issues with the online booking and how one picks a therapist which makes things confusing and doesn't always work in our favor so a lot of client education comes into play. By this, I mean that even if a client picks no therapist preference at the beginning they still must choose at the end. Or sometimes they pick a therapist and it doesn't show as a request. I am currently finding out that the credit card processing linked to their service does not have the best rates but it would be more expensive to use another processing system and have to pay Booker's fees. Finally, we have learned the hard way that if a client pays in advance and you do not block out the time slot then another client can book in that same slot.

Pros

Ease of use can be accessed remotely by all therapists, no additional cost per therapist for use, HireFrederick program

Cons

Online booking inconsistency with picking a therapist and it not being a request vs no preference and still having to choose a therapist. Glitchiness! Slowness! Taking payment in advance opens time slot for others to book in. Feeling stuck with their credit card processing or high fees to use another one with better rates

Booker is awesome compared to other software options

Very good experience

Pros

Definitely go with booker, I used the software for 5 years. It’s cheaper than most competitors for the great performance it has, booker is more user friendly and has multiple different pathways to solve the same problem to offer multiple routes of action. So like I said I worked with booker for a long time and loved it, however the corporate branch of our company has recently forced the rest of us franchises to transition to another software that is not booker. Honestly I’m sad because booker was so much better than this new software is and there’s nothing we can really do. This is software is terrible as it has made the user experience of our employees and clients much more difficult, both of which were aspects that booker excelled in.

Cons

Honestly nothing bad to say about booker