Bookings · How-to
What clients see when they book online
How a client books from your page, which messages they get, how they change or cancel with their link, how they join your waitlist, and what can stop an online booking.
They open your page
Your booking link opens the place's page: your services with online booking on, your team, reviews, opening hours and the other sections you chose. It works in any browser, so clients install nothing. Inside Telegram the same page opens in the chat itself, with Telegram's own buttons, and a client who opened it there sees a visit's code to show at the desk and pays a deposit on your gateway's page or by bank transfer with your QR code.
They choose, one step at a time
The client picks the services, then a person or “Anyone” (the first person free), then a day and a time. Only times inside a published shift that fit the whole visit are offered. Off-peak times show their discount, and times inside an emergency window stay hidden until shortly before.
When nothing fits, they join the waitlist
If you let clients join the waitlist online on Bookings › Settings, a day with no free times says “No free times this day. Join the waitlist”, and other days show “Nothing fits? Join the waitlist” under the times. The client chooses the days under “From” and “To”, two weeks at most, and gives a name and a phone number; the entry is for the first service they chose, and nothing is sent to them yet. When a time frees up, they get a message saying it is held for them, with a link to a page where they press “Book this time” or “Take me off the list”. That page asks for no name or phone, only they can book the time, and a deposit or a card on file is asked for as on your booking page.
They leave their details
They give a name and a phone number, usually an email, choose whether they want reminders, agree to any consent forms the services need, and can type a promo code. A deposit the visit needs is shown before they book. A deposit is paid on your gateway’s page, or by bank transfer to the account in your payment details (Integrations › Payments); with both, the client chooses. The transfer step shows the amount, your details to copy and a short reference to add to the purpose; then your code to scan with a bank app, and for a hryvnia account a button that opens the bank app on the phone with the transfer filled in. If the service needs a card on file, they are given a link to your gateway's form, which opens in a new tab; once the card is saved they confirm the booking again. The summary beside the form is what the booking charges: each service at the chosen person’s price, the off-peak discount, then a promo code on what remains, the total, the deposit now and what is left to pay at the salon. With the unpaid-deposit hold on, the line above the button says how many minutes they have to pay it. When a service is booked for a child, a pet or a vehicle, they also say which one: a client who is signed in picks from the ones you keep under them, and anybody else types the name, which finds the same record next time.
They get a confirmation
The visit lands in your diary and the person doing it is notified. The client is sent a message on Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber or SMS, whichever reaches them, and, if they gave an email address, an email with the details, a calendar file and a link to change or cancel. The email can also offer reminders on Telegram. The email wears your booking page’s name, logo and colours and shows the visit code, each service with its price, “Add to calendar”, “Reschedule”, “Cancel booking” and directions. While a deposit is due it asks for it first, and the client gets the email again once it is paid.
They are reminded
Reminders go out before the visit at the hours set on the service, 24 and 2 hours by default, by email and by message, unless the client switched them off when booking. The reminder email carries the link to change or cancel. On Telegram, the reminder carries “I’ll be there”, which marks the visit confirmed in your diary, and “Reschedule” and “Cancel”, which open the booking’s own page. A seat in a group class is reminded the same way, with its own link.
They change or cancel
The link in the confirmation lets the client move or cancel the visit until it starts. A paid deposit is refunded if they cancel before your free-cancellation window and kept inside it. One paid by bank transfer is not sent back by itself: the owners are told to return it from the bank, and the client is told your salon will return it. A seat in a group class can be cancelled but not moved. If you cancel or move a visit yourself, the client is told.
While a deposit is unpaid and there is a link to pay it, the same page shows “Pay the deposit” — or the transfer step, or both to choose from; inside the widget on your own site, the payment opens in a new tab. A cancelled visit’s page says who cancelled it: the client, your salon, with the reason you wrote, or the place closing. When you cancel, the email offers up to three free times for the same services, with the same person first; each opens your booking page with that time chosen.
What can stop a booking
Online booking is refused for a client you blocked, for a guest whose phone number already has as many open bookings as you allow, once the day's online limit is reached, and at a place that has stopped taking bookings. The limits are on Bookings › Settings.
Common questions
- Do clients need an account or an app?
No. A guest books with a name and a phone number, in any browser. A client with an account on setvos.com sees every visit there, guest bookings made with the same email or a confirmed phone included, under Upcoming and History. Client phone apps are coming to the App Store and Google Play.
- Which language are the client's messages in?
Your workspace's language, set with your business details on Settings › General.
- Can a client stop their membership renewing on their card?
Yes. A client who chose renewal by card when buying a membership sees, under “Loyalty” in their account on setvos.com, “Renews on card •••• 4242 on 23 Oct” with “Turn off”; once they turn it off, it reads “Renews by payment link”. In their “Profile”, each saved card says what it is for, “For no-show protection” or “For membership renewals”, and deleting the membership’s card also turns renewal by card off.
- What does a client see when a deposit holds their booking?
Before booking, a line says the deposit must be paid within your minutes. After booking, their confirmation email and their booking page say “Not paid yet — your booking is held until 10:11 today” with a button to pay. If it is not paid in time, the page says the time was released and offers to book again; a payment that comes later is refunded or books the time again, and the page shows which.
- How does booking work in the Setvos app?
The booking sheet follows the same steps and rules as your booking page — services, person, time, details — and a booking link you share opens it with its choices already made. Before booking, the client sees the quote the visit will be charged, with off-peak, a promo and the deposit, signs the consent forms the services need, and, when your unpaid-deposit hold is on, is told how many minutes they have to pay the deposit. The privacy consent is ticked each time.
- How does a client pay from the app?
On your own payment page. The app first says who is being paid, how much and through which gateway, then opens your gateway’s page in the phone’s browser and brings the client back to the app when they finish. There is no in-app payment, and the card number never reaches Setvos. When you take bank transfers, the app shows your details to copy, the reference to add and your code instead — or beside your gateway, and the client chooses — opens the client’s bank app with the transfer filled in for a hryvnia account, and says you mark the payment paid when you see the money in your account. Once booked, the client can add the visit to their calendar, get directions and turn on Telegram reminders.
- What do a client’s Visits show in the app?
The next visit with “Show code” — the check-in code your desk scans or types — its deposit, Reschedule and Cancel; other bookings; and past visits with Rebook and a review. Cancel says what happens to the deposit under your cancellation rule. A visit you cancelled says so, with your reason or note, and how the deposit is being refunded.
- What else does the client app hold?
Wallet keeps, per salon, the points, tier, memberships and saved cards, with a gift card balance check. Me holds the client’s invoices and tickets, Telegram, phone, notifications, language, preferences and favourites, and “Export my data” and deleting the account.
Read next
Design and publish your booking page
Give each place a booking page in your colours, with a hero, photos, team profiles, your links, a promo and the sections you choose, preview it, and publish when it is ready.
Choose your booking settings
Set the clock your diary runs on, the texts clients receive, deposits and the free-cancellation window, limits on online bookings, the waitlist offer, off-peak discounts and emergency windows.
Reach clients on Telegram with @Setvos_bot or your own bot
Send confirmations and reminders to clients on Telegram for free — through @Setvos_bot from the first day, or through your own bot with booking inside the chat.
Messaging: texts, automatic messages and the message log
Text one client or a group, switch on the messages Setvos sends for you, and check what went out, on which account, and why anything did not.
Block a client from booking online
Stop a client booking on your booking page, keep the reason on their card, and lift the block later.
How your clients book and manage visits from their phones
Your clients need no app: they book on your booking page in their phone’s browser, manage the booking from its link, and can keep an account for their visits.
More in Bookings
- Bookings: your diary, staff rota and online booking page
- Find your way around the appointments diary
- Book an appointment for a client
- Check in, finish, move or cancel an appointment
- Take payment for a visit at the till
- Set up your services, prices and categories
- Visits at the client’s address, and prices by size
- Offer group classes, packages and services that need more
- Cut no-shows with deposits and cards on file
- Plan the staff rota and publish it
- Keep a waitlist and offer freed slots
- Book standing appointments and recalls
Open in Setvos
Signed in? This article is also in the Help menu of the app.
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