Request-to-book or instant booking: which to switch on

BeautyZilla has two booking modes and every plan uses one of them. On Free, a client sends a request and you confirm it. On Core, Grow and Pro, a client picks a slot and it is confirmed immediately. Neither is the "right" one — they suit different salons, and the plan you are on decides which you have.

What request-to-book does

A client chooses a service and a time on your booking page and sends it as a request. The appointment sits as requested until you confirm it, and the client gets an email once you do. Nothing is promised until you say so.

That suits a salon where the diary is personal. A one-chair salon that likes to check who is asking before saying yes. A clinic whose starter pack begins with a consultation, where the treatment cannot be booked until the consultation has happened. A stylist who colour-matches over the phone before committing a three-hour balayage slot. Request mode gives you that pause without a phone call.

What instant booking does

A client picks a slot and it is theirs. The confirmation goes out at once, the calendar blocks the time, and the client can manage the booking from the link in that email. If the service carries a deposit, the booking is held as pending until the deposit clears, then confirmed — the client sees your cancellation terms before they pay.

That suits a salon where the slot is the product. A barber doing a 30-minute haircut at £20 does not want to approve twenty of them a day. A nail bar with three technicians and a walk-in queue wants the online diary to fill itself. Instant mode also does the thing clients quietly rank you on: a booking at 22:40 on a Sunday is confirmed at 22:40 on a Sunday, not at 9:15 on Monday when you open the app.

The marketplace badge

Your free marketplace listing exists on every plan. On Core and Grow it carries an instant-book badge, and on Pro it also gets priority placement. A client comparing two salons in search results can see which one will confirm them now and which one will confirm them later, so the mode you are on is visible before anyone clicks.

Which to choose

In our experience the salons who stay on request mode longest are the ones who never had to approve more than a handful of bookings a day. Once approving becomes a chore you do at lunch, instant mode is cheaper than the chore.

How to switch

Settings › Billing›Choose Core, Grow or Pro›Confirm — instant booking is on from the next booking

Moving plan changes the mode; nothing else moves. Your booking page keeps its address, your services keep their prices, your clients keep their history. Downgrading to Free later puts you back on request mode, with the 1-staff and 10-service limits Free carries.