New and Improved

Overall, it is a great booking website and it is a very easy system to learn. We recently added a brand login through this company as we are adding additional sites and it has been a very easy process.

Pros

I love that they have created many updates for this software over the last few months. It has been really nice not experiencing any lag or issues with the booking features like we were having just a few months ago. I love that you can choose how far in advance the confirmation emails are sent out and I really love that the clients can confirm the appointment through the email. Another AMAZING tool is that you can now see when a client is booking an appointment online that way you are not trying to compete with anyone online trying to book. I hated in the past where I would be booking a client at the desk and right when I went to book, it said that I was not able to. Come to find out when I refreshed the page it was because someone else had booked it online. It truly makes a huge difference with these little improvements that they made.

Cons

One thing at the moment that I am not liking about the software is that sometimes the confirmation emails do not send even when the emails box is checked, this also happens when I book re-occurring appointments for an entire year where these clients of all clients should receive all the emails. Another thing that gets frustrating from time to time is that the clients future appointments is not showing up on their account under the appropriate tab therefore some clients have not showed up for their appointment and we can't charge if they can prove they didn't see it online. I try to see if they have duplicate accounts as well but they do not. And lastly, every now and again Booker will give us booking issues while trying to book for any of our services, it will state that the appointment cannot book because no equipment is available however, I know that is not the case. That is frustrating because we have to then just create a block out on the schedule with the client's service along with their information but they don't receive any emails through the system when it is booked that way.

Booker has been a life changer for me and my Therapeutic Massage Practice.

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!

Complete Program

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.

Gregory O - Superb Customer Service Experience

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.

Talk to Technicians, not just salesmen

Overall, interacting with several people there were only two I had significant issues with. Their customer service is helpful if only slightly fragmented. My companies stake holders were not impressed by the service and went elsewhere. However, I still would recommend at least investigating their services to assist your company.

Pros

Salesmen are very attentive, attempt to find questions to any answers and are quick to return calls. Software is very clean and easy to use as long as you stay within their realm of "basics".

Cons

Unfortunately, if you have any type of development background this software will not allow you to utilize it unless you upgrade to the API. Prior to purchase we were told we would have Full Access to all features and everything was 100% customize-able. However, there are areas of customization you still need to have a "Super User" (call in to tech support + talk to a manager) to change. Example: Accepting cash in office.

The second issue I had is their merchant processing. They don't have syncing with Amazon Pay (primary issue we were told could be done with this software), PayPal or Square. You are charged additionally to use their merchant processing (and with companies my accounting had never heard of/didn't want to use). Again, while promised we would be able to find a work around, eventually it was found even with upgrading to a higher tier with API access, there was an extremely slim chance that different integration methods was possible.

Third: The price. Please understand if you desire to let one company manage everything then this software is helpful. However, if you don't then per month charge is rather high when other simple services are free or offer nearly every feature Booker does for 1/5th the price. So, do your research and speak with both Sales force and Tech support before making a decision.

Booker Review

We love Booker here at our spa. I love the features we use for creating yoga classes and memberships as well. It's very easy to use in that aspect. Scheduling appointments is a breeze and checking customers out couldn't be easier. I do wish there was a way to put notes onto gift card codes or under a customer's name so that if there is any confusion with an order or if someone gave their gift card to someone else, we could go back and see who they gave permission to use that gift card. Another thing that would be a great feature to add to Booker is the use of storing a client intake form on a client's file in the system. If we were able to take a photo of a signed client consent form with all of their information on it and upload it to Booker as a PDF file, it would be truly magical. Paper piles up... we would love to go digital :)

Pros

The ease of scheduling. It is simple to teach new people and services just pop up when you start typing them. I like that.

Cons

Sometimes the system can be a little bit slow. It is truly only difficult when there are lots of people waiting on you.

So far - so good!

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).

overall has been good, sometimes tough to get questions answered or get a CSR

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.