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Booker Logo

Spa and Salon Business Management Software

Last updated: October 2024

Booker Features

Features Summary

Functionality

3.9

/5

980

Total features

84

13 categories

Booker features

API
Access Controls/Permissions
Activity Dashboard
Alerts/Notifications
Appointment Management
Appointment Scheduling
Attendance Management
Automated Scheduling

Common features of Scheduling software

API
Access Controls/Permissions
Activity Tracking
Alerts/Notifications
Appointment Scheduling
Automated Scheduling
Availability Management
Booking Management

Price starts from

139

Per month

Flat Rate

Pricing options
Free plan
Subscription
Free trial

Screenshots

Contenders comparison

Functionality

3.9

/5

980

Price starts from

139

Per month

Total Features

84

Unique features

  • Financial Management

  • Before & After Pictures

  • Vacation/Leave Tracking

  • Loyalty Program

Functionality

4.7

/5

5.6K

Price starts from

20

Per month

Total Features

121

Features in Common

45

Unique features

  • Communication Management

  • Customer Support

  • Accounting Integration

  • Data Security

Functionality

4.5

/5

5.4K

Price starts from

0

Total Features

56

Features in Common

22

Unique features

  • Event Ticketing

  • Kiosk Ticketing

  • Volunteer Management

  • Print-at-Home

Common Booker comparisons

Reviewers who mentioned features said:

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Janet O.

Cosmetics, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 1-2 years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Get booked!

Reviewed 6 years ago

After using for over a year, I have grown accustomed to this software and probably will stay with it in the foreseeable future!

Pros

After using several booking software, this has been my go-to and preferred booking method for my cosmetic business. Sales tracking and inventory management are easy to monitor. The included POS system is easy to use as well and has been convenient!

Cons

Calendar compatibility is a con, however, I enjoy manually tracking within the software.

KP
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Kristen P.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7/10

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Decent but not great

Reviewed 8 years ago

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

Vendor response

Thank you for using Booker Kristin. We'd love to work with you to help with any issues you're having with using the system - reach out to support@booker.com if we can help! Thank you so much for using Booker! - The Booker Team

VR
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Valerie R.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Look elsewhere for scheduling & business software

Reviewed 2 years ago

disappointed

Pros

can access schedule from mobile devices || clients can book appointments via web link

Cons

unreliable , inconsistent, lack of ownership when software not working, lack of ownership when they add services to our list that we don't offer, no report is accurate

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Abhishek S.

Market Research, 51-200 employees

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend6/10

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Decent platform for business management and booking appointments!

Reviewed 2 years ago

I found it an average platform for providing a decent appointment scheduling service to our customers.

Pros

Convenient to use and make online appointments. Integration is easy and its mobile application is also very user-friendly. Its loyalty point feature is also very useful in attracting customers.

Cons

Interface can be improved. Very frustrating to use due to its frequent down-time. Additional features of adding samples or images can be an added advantage.

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Layleth M.

11-50 employees

Used daily for 6-12 months

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Fantastic experience, the software is amazing, Its very user friendly

Reviewed 6 years ago

The sofware helped our business in a great way, it has helped us expand our business that are great for small studios.

Pros

the system has amazing features and reports that make running your business very easy because you have inmiate access to your information and database.

Cons

It's a little bit hard to get the reports and see the customers previous payments and visits, but once you get the software it is easy.

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Paul B.

Information Technology and Services,

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Great App

Reviewed 10 years ago

We have been using Booker for two and a half years now and we are extremely satisfied with the product. This is a full featured system that supports managing appointments, point of sale, gift card sales and the use of series or memberships. The system tracks employee pay reasonably well. It also provides a fair number of reports to help manage the business. This is so much better than having to track appointments in one place and handling payment in another system. One customer database supports the entire business.

Pros

Being one fully integrated system is fantastic. Online booking and instant gift certificates are terrific features. We also enjoy being able to define specials that can easily be applied. I have found the customer service people to be very helpful.

Cons

Booker still struggles with the bugs in their releases, although things have improved greatly in the last couple of releases. The product would benefit from an ad hoc reporting tool to enable customers to define their own reports.

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Jeffrey N.

Retail, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 1-2 years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend1/10

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More disappointed than impressed

Reviewed 3 years ago

Poor experience. Sure, extra stuff was neat, but that's not what I got Booker for. We need a R E L I A B L E system. Not one that I have to always complain about. Oh, on that note, customer service wasn't helpful, but rather sarcastic and unprofessional. Extremely unhappy. The only time I actually had a decent experience was when I was cancelling. That was the most painless experience I had. The irony there.

Pros

The email marketing functionality and the reporting was great.

Cons

Beyond the email marketing functionality/analytical reporting, I am very disappointed. There is so much down-time with the software - unreliable. As a high volume, high end nail salon, we need to make sure that this cloud-based software is up 99% of the time, which was also their guarantee. During the busy summer months, the software would go down every other day. Absolutely unreliable. The user interface (UI) is so ugly compared to other modern softwares. There's a lag during the appointment bookings. Easy-of-use is a fail. Difficult to use as the software wasn't logically built. They probably need to rebuild from the ground up.

LT
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Lindsey T.

Consumer Services, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Complete Program

Reviewed 8 years ago

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.

Vendor response

Thank you for your detailed feedback Lindsey. We appreciate it and are so happy that Booker is working well for you and your business. You rock! Thank you for using Booker! - The Booker Team

PC
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Paul C.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 6-12 months

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Horrendous. Terrible Experience. Bad Platform. Bad Support.

Reviewed 7 years ago

zero. only pain and anguish and wasted money. I can't even get the reps to respond to my emails about a refund. I would strongly recommend against using Booker.

Pros

I liked the notion of what they "sell" to you. not what they actually deliver. I guess I like that it's a cloud based system, which you can't say for Millennium.

Cons

Booker is going more towards a multi-industry platform & removed many of its spa related functionality. No longer can you create spa packages, for example. Much of the customization they sell you on doesn't exist at all. It used to on their old platform, but new customers don't get to use that anymore, so your gift card site & the online booking site will look like a Kindergartner designed it in an extracurricular activity. You don't have the ability to customize categories for your services/products. For example, if you do hydrotherapy, there isn't a category for things like vichy showers. You do have auto repair available though... so congrats. If you're looking to have a smooth experience with onboarding, you'll be disappointed. The data "expert" we worked with missed his deadline by 4 weeks and then just disappeared. We had to start completely over and then the new "expert" imported the wrong data and we had to start over again. We worked with onboarding for almost 5 months and never got live. There's no ecommerce capabilities, even though their web site promotes it and their sales people promote it. At this point, it's a flat out lie. Doesn't exist. You have to work with a 3rd party for your POS system (Clover). We signed up for a special and were supposed to get 2 set ups for free, but they came back to us after we signed up and said "nope, sorry, we were wrong, you can only have one." And, then they sent us 2, except one was incompatible with Booker.

Vendor response

Paul, We're sad to hear about the experience you had during your short time with Booker. This is not the experience we work to deliver, and we are sorry that we couldn¿t deliver something of value to you and your Spa. If you're still having issues getting a response, please contact support@booker.com and we'll make sure we get back to you ASAP. Thank you, - The Booker Team

AJ
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Allison J.

Retail, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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WISH I COULD GIVE 0 STARS

Reviewed 8 years ago

I have had Booker since May, 2015. At first, minor glitches were sparse. An interruption in our day, but we were able to keep going. Recently, the interruptions have been more of an occurrence and lasting longer. I run a company and this is absolutely absurd. I can not do business if my main computer booking program is down. We constantly have pop ups on "We are working on it", "We are currently seeing slowness". On two separate occasions, their entire website was DOWN. Like, they forgot to pay and it was taken down. Ummmm... that is your business. How can that happen? And being a faithful client for two years, you think that you would give us a heads up if you are taking it down DURING PEEK HOURS. Today, on a Saturday of all days (Saturdays are BUSY for salons) we have the good ol' standby of "An Internal Server Error Has Occurred". This has lasted about two hours now. So, I can not ring people out, I can't check them in, I can't see our schedules.... I CAN'T RUN MY BUSINESS. Anytime you call customer service, it'll ring twice and go to a busy tone, OR they prompt you to leave a message after one minute for NO ONE to call you back. THEY ARE NEVER AVAILABLE. Customer service???? Give me a BREAK! They have the worst customer service ever. Oh, and my sales rep, the nicest guy ever. Who told me I could call him anytime... well.... he won't return my calls, or my emails. OR ANYTHING. I'll get a generic email from The CEO of the company that all of their clients have been BCC'd on about their recent issues and what they are doing to fix it. Meanwhile putting the blame on anyone or anything else other than themselves. I'm so beyond frustrated with this company, their lack of accountability, their "customer service", their whole being. They have lost me SO MUCH MONEY. The great customer service I am able to give my clients, leaves me looking stupid when I don't know they have an appointment, or when I'm struggling to ring them out on a 1980s credit card machine. We look pathetic. People don't want to come back to us and also, I'm left giving free services or discounts for the inconvenience to try and keep my clients happy. I will be taking my business elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, Booker owes me $ for the past 5 months of terrible service (we will give them a break on the other 19 months). They also owe me probably $ in LOST WAGES.

Pros

Right now, nothing. I'm so beyond frustrated. NOBODY IS N EVER AVAILABLE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!

Cons

IT NEVER WORKS AT ALL!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NEVER THERE TO HELP! DO NOT USE!!

Vendor response

Dear Allison, The downtime issues in April '17 were upsetting for all of us. We know that Booker is the backbone of your business and we take this very seriously. We've invested significantly in improving our servers so this won't happen again in the future. This investment of engineering resources and updated equipment has resulted in greater stability and faster speed, and we intend to continue the improvements. Sorry to hear you've had a difficult experience. We'd love to discuss this further with you if you have time. We thank you for using Booker and for your feedback. Thank you, The Booker Team

AB
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Angelica B.

Pharmaceuticals, 501-1,000 employees

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Enhance Your Salon's Success with Booker's Integrated Business Management Platform

Reviewed a year ago

Although I did not actively work in salon management during my internship at the university in pharmaceutical product development and research, I did get the chance to learn more about Booker's features and functionality. Booker was a useful tool for improving our scheduling procedures and keeping client information as a member of a small team in charge of planning events and appointments. Smooth transactions and inventory management were made possible by the software's user-friendly interface and integrated point-of-sale system. Despite the fact that my knowledge of Booker was limited, it gave me a peek of what it might do as a whole salon management system.

Pros

A wide range of features provided by Booker simplify salon and spa operations. Its user-friendly interface makes staff organization, client administration, and appointment scheduling easier. The software's integrated point-of-sale system allows for easy inventory management and transaction processing. Automated email campaigns and loyalty programs are only two of the marketing techniques that Booker uses to draw in new customers and keep the ones it already has. The reporting and analytics tools enable data-driven decision-making and offer insightful information about business performance. Booker gives salon professionals and owners the tools they need to streamline their business operations and improve client satisfaction with the help of its configurable features and mobile app.

Cons

One drawback of Booker is its somewhat expensive cost, which could be problematic for independent or smaller salon businesses with tight funds. Some users could first have a steep learning curve that makes it difficult to become skilled in using all the capabilities. Although Booker provides a wide range of functions, some specialized or niche salon businesses could need more modification or integration with specialized software. There have been sporadic reports of technical issues or system slowdowns, which could affect how effectively salon operations run and how the user experience is.

PM
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Pamela M.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend9/10

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Could not do without it

Reviewed 5 years ago

The pro's definitely outweigh whatever problems or frustrations I have with Booker, so I'm overall a happy customer and will continue working with them. I honestly could not do without this software and look forward to them making more improvements to make it an even better products.

Pros

I appreciate that my clients can book online and purchase gift certificates when I'm too busy to answer the phone. It's also super easy checking out clients, but best of all is that I'm able to manage our calendar for both therapists and clients, and reschedule with ease. I love that I am also able to track client history and their progress. As we get busier and our client base grows, it can become more challenging to manage paper files and this has helped us cut down on paperwork, thank goodness!

Cons

There is definitely a learning curve with Booker and there have been times when I've been unsure of how to do something, and have had to contact their support team. One of the glitches that annoys me, is that when I add a new staff member, it adds or populates their name in the calendar even before their official start date! It can be confusing. The same happens when I terminate a staff member or switch them to 'inactive' - then their name and client appointmentss that day, all disappear from view. This is probably one of the more frustrating things for me. I also wish I could do a bit of my own customization like removing things from a drop down table that do not able to me.

VR
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Valerie R.

Individual & Family Services, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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False marketing

Reviewed 5 years ago

Frustrating

Pros

I needed A cloud based software. I was on a desktop

Cons

Demo is great but the live version is full of glitches resulting in inaccurate reports, incorrect pay stubs for employees, incorrect year end financials for the business. Wrong service and product history for clients that can never be corrected. Financial transactions that regularly crash.

KH
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Katherine H.

Medical Practice, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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drives me to tears on the regular

Reviewed a year ago

It's hard to argue that it's not nice to have an all-in-one, web-based software that truly does do everything. The problem is that everything it does, it does poorly. It's impossible to teach to new staff, the bugs are frustrating, and the server downtime is unacceptable.

Pros

Booker is truly all-in-one, it manages employee schedules, hours, bookings, online bookings, services, products, retail management, and point-of-sale.

Cons

Booker is full of the most confusing bugs (which are never fixed eg. finding the next available appointment auto-fills the last viewed client, you can't add products to $0 services booked online), the servers go down regularly, the mobile app is terrible, the integration with our payment processor is shoddy, is extremely difficult to learn, has a lack of functionalities that are just bizarre (eg. impossible to mark doctor services as non-tippable, adding notes to client tickets, changing the names of service subcategories). Customer service is responsive, but unable to help in any concrete way. I use this software for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and I despise it utterly.

SS
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Summer S.

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Terrible customer service

Reviewed 9 years ago

I purchased this product under the guidance of one representative who basically went MIA the moment my card was charged. He set up a training appt at the wrong time from a previously agreed upon time. He also told me my "sign up fee" was a "set up fee" which made me think I was going to at least be assisted in setting up my acct. I tried several times (email and calls to his direct line) to reach him the moment I received the confirmation email for my training time, never received a response back. At that point I attempted the main number but couldn't get through for days. Your wait time is 2 minutes is what I heard for several calls totaling in over 30 min +. I finally reached someone (6 days after initial purchase) and I had decided to cancel my acct. due to my experience with poor customer service. I was told then that my investment, in what I thought was a set up fee, cannot be refunded as sign up fees are nonrefundable. On top of it all they charged my acct a prorated amount for 8 days of service (assuming 8 bc they were slow in canceling). So now after not receiving any training or set up assistance with many hours sitting on hold they are still keeping my money. I do not recommend this product to anyone at all! Stay away!

Pros

No pros were added to this review

Cons

I purchased this product under the guidance of one representative who basically went MIA the moment my card was charged. He set up a training appt at the wrong time from a previously agreed upon time. He also told me my "sign up fee" was a "set up fee" which made me think I was going to at least be assisted in setting up my acct. I tried several times (email and calls to his direct line) to reach him the moment I received the confirmation email for my training time, never received a response back. At that point I attempted the main number but couldn't get through for days. Your wait time is 2 minutes is what I heard for several calls totaling in over 30 min +. I finally reached someone (6 days after initial purchase) and I had decided to cancel my acct. due to my experience with poor customer service. I was told then that my investment, in what I thought was a set up fee, cannot be refunded as sign up fees are nonrefundable. On top of it all they charged my acct a prorated amount for 8 days of service (assuming 8 bc they were slow in canceling). So now after not receiving any training or set up assistance with many hours sitting on hold they are still keeping my money. I do not recommend this product to anyone at all! Stay away!

EC
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Emily C.

Cosmetics, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Scheduling, moving, canceling, and changing appointments is easy.

Reviewed 7 years ago

We are able to schedule, complete orders, keep up with client profiles, and take inventory with ease. It gets the job done for our spa and we rely on it completely! It was a great software choice for us. We would not use anything else.

Pros

I love the client profile. You can look back and see everything he/she has bought, what services they got, and you can also make notes about the client if they are allergic to anything or have any preferences during their appointment! With this feature, we can see everything we need to know about the client's appointment when we print out the itinerary for the day. This way, we have all of the up-to-date info for the client and mistakes are less likely to be made. I love that.

Cons

I would love to see the "document storage" feature to become compatible with tablets and phones. I would like to see our service providers be able to look at their phone or tablet and see their clients profile before they perform their service. I love that we have gone paperless and have stored all of our Client Intake Forms on Booker, but I would like to see easier access to them.

JS
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Jaime S.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7/10

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Booker for a Massage practice

Reviewed 8 years ago

So overall I enjoy Booker and customer support however everything needs its tweaks. I do not like that you have to use their merchant provider and can't negotiate fees much, also lately people are able to book online with a credit card that we later on find out is declined..usually when they're a no show and our hands are tied. Customer service used to be great, now it's good and I don't always end with a resolution. Sometimes setting up codes for discounts is confusing and certain reports. On the positive side it works great for scheduling especially once you know the little tweaks in the system and it's great that it sends out emails for confirmation and reminders to the staff and guests. However, lately my staff isn't getting all notifications. This can be very problematic, I'm rebooking clients for free and not receiving payments on no shows due to the system only lately. If this were fixed I'd go back to loving the product.

Pros

Reminders and organization of multiple therapists

Cons

Issues with notifications, payments and codes

Vendor response

Thank you for your feedback Jamie. We'd love to chat with you about the issues you're describing so we can improve your experience using Booker. We'll reach out and please contact support@booker.com if you need anything. Thank you for using Booker! - The Booker Team

CN
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Chris N.

Consumer Services, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend2/10

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Know the Limitations of Booker

Reviewed 6 months ago

Negative. They really have a confusing business model. Booker vs Mindbody. Seems really obvious that they need to combine the two. Booker seemed like an afterthought. They upgraded it regularly when I started, then it became apparent that the upgrades were few and far between and really meaningless. The cancellation experience was nothing short of a nightmare. I can't believe how they treated a company that had been with them for over 3 years. You know these companies are in trouble when they try to hold you to a policy that says if you say nothing, your contract auto-renews for one year. Very deceitful. I don't recommend Booker, there are many better options out there.

Pros

It was far more capable than our previous scheduling software. It is fairly integrated solution that does client management, scheduling and POS.

Cons

Dealing with Booker reps. They are not genuine and you get the runaround a lot. There is a lot of turnover in the company. They are very pushy with their acquisitions like Reach and Classpass. Neither are worth your time.

CB
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Charles B.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Are the Other Reviewers Using the same Booker as Myself: Terrible App

Reviewed 2 years ago

I can't believe that 956 people left a review on this website and the average is 4.10! My best guess is you are only using the software as a glorified version of paper schedule book. If you are using more than just the most very basic functions of this software you would know just how bad it is. Again not boasting, but I have multiple IT related degrees and various certifications plus 25+ years experience in various IT roles. I say that to tell you that we would be spending a fortune on tech support to help us, hours on the phone with Booker and without a doubt we would have already switched to another brand of software by now. If I had the time, I would research other products and switch tomorrow. Unfortunately I wear MANY hats at this business and also have my own online marketing and analytics business, so I'm resigned to make the most of it for now. One last thing, I was told that Mindbody bought Booker to use it solely for hair salons, spa, barbers and similar types of businesses. I notice quite a few reviews on here that aren't remotely related to the Beauty industry. I can also tell you that the software still has categories like Transportation, Swimming, Soccer, Auto Repair, Floral, Electronics repair and many more when setting it and the services up.

Pros

It's hard to list any pros when there are so many cons to this App.

Cons

Too many issues to list. There are literally options on the App and on the web version that do not work. I mean I have literally called Booker support to discuss an option I am looking at to find out it doesn't currently work. The least they could do is remove the option to save people from wasting their time. There are options that are available that have not worked in the nearly 3 years we have been using the software. I've sent trouble tickets to support and received replies that were not even related to the question I asked. I'm not boasting, being sarcastic, etc, but I guarantee you that I know more about the Booker software than their Level 1 Techs and probably more than some Level 2 techs.

LB
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Laurie B.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend1/10

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Booker wants you to use endless work arounds because they can't get it right

Reviewed 4 years ago

I am stuck in Booker because I have been using it since 2014. My client data base and content are huge, they have been purchased by mindbody and I had hoped for an improvement, but its worse. Do not get stuck with this software, purchase something else. They require you to do work arounds because the software does not function properly. The reporting is shite. Please do your self a favor and look else where. I have tow spas and they are on different versions of booker. I have asked multiple times to be placed on one version or the other.

Pros

It has a lot of useful features, sadly very few of them work as expected. - membership processing - gift certificates - embedded special codes for marketing - pixels for marketing - cancellation policy implementation - customer service availability - appointment scheduling - sales reporting - freezing memberships - mail campaigns and marketing

Cons

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING with this software requires a work around. -I have lost members because the software randomly double and triple charges them each month and doesn't represent it in the recent orders tab so it looks as if it hasn't - freezing members is great, but then booker charges them for ALL the months they have been frozen - you cannot put special deals on for the holidays on gift certificates = no holiday gift certificate promos - special codes for marketing do not auto populate for orders and cannot be found from within the order - pixels for marketing from their marketing tools do not work - cancellation policy is great but if the person does not have a cc on file then you cannot close the order which makes it impossible to close the drawer at the end of the night - groups often book under the same name , booker requires you to CANCEl that appt rather than just changing the name - ridiculous -sales reporting is not customizable, past membership reporting cannot be done. it only shows current numbers regardless of the date you enter. kind of hard to measure growth -members may freeze their monthly billing, no benefits are accrued but when you take the freeze off it autocharges all previous unpaid months - customer service is available - but they are often unknowledgeable and can only submit requests to development and they take months even years before they fix your problem. - the marketing tab does not load on my booker if im running from chrome.

EK
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Ella K.

Retail, 1-10 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

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Frustrated user of six years

Reviewed 5 years ago

I’ve been using this software for six years the features seem promising but the reality of them are not easy to use and implement or take too long for customer service. It is not customizable for a large scale salon and that is not what bothers me the most, it’s when you call Support and they have no solutions except we don’t do that. And I mean repeatedly that is what I get from their Support team.

Pros

All the features they supposedly offer.

Cons

No customer support, terrible training, and my staff does not feel like it’s easy to use. It takes forever to track and check people out. The reports are confusing and make no sense and their payroll is not customizable so I still have to outsource and pay more. They seem to be prompt when they’re selling you something to add cost to your service but not when you need help. And their support has no solutions or work around options.

JS
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Jill S.

Events Services, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 1-2 years

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Booker is a scam!!!!!

Reviewed 5 years ago

Nothing that I needed support with and is standard expectations were attended to nor problems resolved.

Pros

running payroll reports there is pretty much nothing else.

Cons

It is impossible to get it set up appropriately, after 4 months of phone calls, I still never got the appropriate credit cards to run internally. I was able to set up an acct with their third party processing but could never actually link that to closing appointments. It was a full time job to communicate with customer service and after 4 months this was never rectified. Their rates doubled from when I signed on and are now even with mindbody yet the service and function is not as good. I am open seasonally and so when I signed on I very clearly asked if I would not be charged for the months I am closed and was very clearly told that I would not be charged. When I went to put my account on vacation mode I was told this is not an option.

Vendor response

Hi Jill- Thank you for sharing your experience with us - we are sorry to hear that our software and service did not meet your expectations. We wish your business the best, and hope that you were able to find a business management solution that fits your needs as a seasonal business.

MC
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Michael C.

Medical Practice, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

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  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Using it for our Med Spa

Reviewed 5 years ago

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.

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Verified reviewer

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

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HORRIBLE FOR CLIENT PRIVACY WITH OTHERS USING THE SYSTEM with restricted STAFF PRIVLAGES

Reviewed 6 years ago

Very Unhappy -Open access for everyone to see all history, private information on a client. If they see a screen with appointments they can see anything for the client with a few clicks. Other than no privacy Booker works pretty well considering. Im over the customer service answer is - if its a staff they cant see anything- really hire people that know your system and figure out how to add privacy.

Pros

Easy to navigate and use. Easy to teach new employees how to book appointments - keeps inventory accurate, and payroll is easy access.

Cons

The worst part about Booker is usually you get an experienced person to help although when you really need it you have someone helping doing what you can do , read off their online support. So frustrating! The worst part about this software is that person- such as STAFF should not be able to look at persons full history or personal information . The quick check in box at the top of appointments that is available to everyone allows all access. Just simply type in a name and here you have it . History, address, pros and cons about client likes and dislikes for everyone to see. NO privacy with this app . Therapist can look up past appointments - and its not their clients . There is no privacy with Booker -anyone can see everything no matter what settings you restrict. Cant wait to change this system to something more owner/ (HIPPA complaint- would be nice) friendly, so employees do not have access to private information. Anyone looking to prevent client information access , watch out for this app. Also continues to use other cc on various accounts, blaming it on whatever internet service you use, funny everyone says the same we all use something different- how can it be us- the business. We continuously have to call customers and apologize . Read other reviews same complaints.

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Katie S.

Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees

Used daily for 6-12 months

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Booker initially worked okay, but we are seeing progressively worsened issues with Version 2.

Reviewed 7 years ago
Pros

I do think the UI on the backend is easy and simple to use. I also like the ability to manage payroll, inventory, store CC securely to appointments/client profiles.

Cons

I am in the process of franchising my concept, Mylkbar, and am absolutely livid with the level of customer support and consistent lack of transparency. Coming from an enterprise software sales background, the companies I have worked for always were transparent with product roadmaps, glitches/bugs, and capabilities. Initially, Booker worked okay and we could live with the occasional kinks and glitches. Now, the issues are so bad that I spend 50% of my time dealing with Booker and am vetting other software that I may need to select to replace Booker. The primary concerns are as follows: 1) Poor integration with Clover. Do NOT GO ON BOOKER VERSION 2. It is not fully developed and has too many kinks. If you look at all of their enterprise, multi-location accounts (Drybar, Olive and June, Ten Over Ten, Blushington, etc) they are all on Version 1. Version 2 is riddled with glitches. We constantly have to hit the refresh button and clear the cache to ensure things run smoothly. That is NOT how cloud software is supposed to work. 2) Constant payment glitches. In the past month, we have over 10 instances with payment glitches. We have to then close out the transaction on the Clover and reconcile our books within Booker. This takes up an inordinate amount of time, frustrates my employees, and also costs me time and money if I have to get my bookkeeper involved. 3) Terrible UI for clients booking online. Clients can't select multiple services. They have to add a service to their cart, then go back to main page to select second service. This is also a MAJOR issue with group bookings, which account for a big chunk of our business. The group booking functionality in Version 2 is NONEXISTENT, therefore are phone rings ALL day with people asking how to book more than one person. 4) Version 2 is not supported in the Apple App Store. How did this even happen?! You introduce an app, which should be well vetted and readily available on your "newer" Version and then the app store declines it? Unreal. On top of this, Booker had a lot of Version 2 customers who had paid to develop/access the client facing app (like me) and just waited months with no response. 5) Terrible customer support. Booker's main clientele is the salon industry, yet customer support is not available on weekends?! What a joke. I was told support was available daily when I signed up. Expect 20 minute hold times for chat support. Then, Booker will create an incident ticket and act like you are the only client experiencing that issue and then never follow up. I have unresolved tickets still open from last July, 2017. 6) Total lack of transparency. I may decide to stick with Booker and pay for access to their APIor revert to Version 1 (which is so beyond ridiculous considering Version 2 *should* be better)... I have asked for details on the API and functionality, yet I have to upgrade my account FIRST and sign another contract?! At least the contracts are a 30 day back out... At least I am assuming that is the case. In short, I would not recommend Booker to anyone UNLESS they miraculously address these issues in the short term. My guess is that Booker is understaffed and underfunded. I think Booker bit off more than they could chew with Version 2. Just go and talk to any business using Booker (even those enterprise accounts) and they will happily share their experiences with you. Oh, and I have complained about all of the above to a Director of Product Development and their Director of Customer Support. After I got extremely angry and basically demanded a dedicated support rep, my voice is finally being *somewhat* heard, but I am still not satisfied. We just experienced another major payment glitch today. I am making my review public, so feel free to reach out to me via LinkedIn if you have questions.