Monthly accounts and regulars: credit without the notebook
The baqala monthly account keeps regulars loyal, but a notebook loses money. How to set credit rules and limits, record sales and repayments, and collect at month end.
Appointments for salons, barbers and clinics: from the booking page to the till
A diary at the counter and a phone full of WhatsApp messages work until two customers turn up for the same chair. Bookings gives your shop its own booking page and one calendar, and ends every visit as an ordinary sale at your till.
In most salons, barbershops and small clinics, appointments live in three places: a diary at the counter, the owner's WhatsApp, and the memory of whoever answered the phone. It works until two customers arrive for the same chair at 7 pm on a Thursday, or a regular does not turn up and nobody reminded her. Then the visit is paid at the till, which knows nothing about the booking.
Bookings, in CreekPOS Online, puts the appointments in the same app as the till. It suits salons and barbers, clinics, car washes, studios and trainers, and restaurants that take table reservations.
Your own booking page
Your shop gets a booking page in its own name. Customers open it from a link or a QR code, pick a service, a team member and a time, in their language and on their phone, without an account or an app. While they type their details the slot is held for ten minutes, so nobody else can take it.
- Share the link on Instagram or WhatsApp, print the QR code for the counter, or add a Book now button to your website.
- Switch on only the pages you need: appointments, table reservations, classes.
- Customers get an add-to-calendar link and a link to move or cancel within your rules.
- Limits per phone and per address keep fake bookings out, and a booking can wait as requested until your staff confirm it.
One calendar, never double-booked
The calendar shows the day, week, month or a list, by team member or by room, chair or bay. Each service carries its duration, buffer time and add-ons; each team member has their own hours, breaks and days off. A team member, room or chair holds one booking at a time: two people cannot book the same chair, not even in the same second.
A visit can have several services, one after another or side by side. Holidays and the Ramadan hours you set apply to the slots offered. Recurring visits, such as a weekly physiotherapy session, are placed eight weeks ahead. A today board shows the front desk who is expected, arrived, in service and done.
At the till: Arrived, Start, Check out
On the Sell page, the Bookings button lists today's visits. The flow follows the customer:
- Arrived when she walks in.
- Start when the service begins.
- Check out loads the visit into the cart.
A visit with two team members, say a haircut and a manicure, becomes two carts, one per team member, because each receipt has one seller. Add a shampoo from the shelf, take the payment, and the visit closes by itself. A deposit already paid is taken off the bill.
Walk-ins and the queue
Next available walk-in finds the first free team member for the service and books it in one tap. A printed queue ticket tells the customer their place. Walk-ins work when the internet is down: the till keeps them and sends them when the line is back. If the slot has gone by then, the walk-in is flagged for the front desk instead of overlapping another booking.
When a slot opens, the waitlist can offer it to the next customer for a limited time. Studios and trainers can run classes with a seat count.
Fewer no-shows
Eleven message templates cover confirmed, reminder, moved, cancelled, thanks, birthday and more, with quiet hours and an opt-out. Messages go by e-mail. WhatsApp messages wait in a to-send list and go with one tap from your phone; nothing is sent on WhatsApp or by SMS automatically.
A no-show or late-cancel fee applies only when you switch it on, with a reason. The reports show no-shows and what they cost you, next to utilisation, revenue, new and returning customers, and the busiest hours.
Deposits and packages
A booking that needs a deposit shows your payment instructions and waits as requested. The customer pays at the counter or by the method you gave, and you record the deposit at the till; it is taken off the bill at checkout. There is no online card payment.
Packages and memberships, such as ten sessions or a monthly plan, are sold at the till. Every booking lands on the same customer record your till, credit book and stamp card use: history, favourite team member, notes and intake questions. For clinics, intake notes are general notes, not a medical record.
Restaurants: table reservations
The reservation page asks for the party size first, offers the nearest free times and takes a seating preference and the occasion. The host list picks the smallest table that fits and joins tables only where you said they can be joined. Each party size has its own turn time, and seating a party opens its table order.
Setting it up
- Switch Bookings on in Settings; the set-up steps follow.
- Enter your opening hours, holidays and any Ramadan hours.
- Add your services with their duration and price, then your team and their hours.
- Write your cancellation rules, and check them and your hours before you switch the public page on.
- Share the link and print the QR code for the counter.
Good to know
- No online card payment: deposits are recorded at the till.
- WhatsApp and SMS are not sent automatically; there is no phone code check on bookings.
- There are no gift vouchers or before-and-after photos.
- Bookings is on the Online Restaurant and Chain plans, not in the buy-once desktop program.
See what Bookings does, the Bookings chapter of the manual and the plans.
This article is general information as of its date, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the official source or ask your accountant before acting.
