← Integrations · Appointment bookings
Take bookings on your own site. Keep your customer list.
We connect your booking system to your website, or help you choose one: services, staff, opening hours, deposits and reminders, on your own pages and under your own brand. Your customer books with you, so the customer is yours, not Fresha's or Booksy's.
The economics
What you are actually paying Fresha / Booksy, and what it costs you.
The booking platforms all claim to be "free for businesses". They make money on payment processing fees, marketplace commission on new clients, and tiered subscriptions for advanced features. The actual cost depends on your volume and whether you take payments through the platform, but the realistic monthly figure for a busy salon is well into three digits, and the bigger cost is that your customer list is theirs, not yours.
For a salon doing £15,000/month in services:
| Platform | Subscription | Their cut | Who owns the customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresha (UK) | £0 base | ~£428 (2.85% + 20p on £15k) + 20% on new clients | Fresha |
| Booksy | £25/mo | 2.49% via Stripe Connect | Booksy |
| Acuity Scheduling | £25/mo | Stripe direct (1.5% + 20p) | You |
A booking system on your own site moves the last column to you. What the system itself costs depends on the one you choose, so before you commit we set it against your volume, next to what the marketplace takes today.
The bigger story is not actually the fees, it is customer ownership. Fresha's marketplace surfaces your competitors to your own customers ("People who booked with you also liked…"). Booksy charges 50% commission on the first booking of any "new client" they claim to have brought you. Both have terms that make exporting your customer list deliberately hard. With bookings on your own site, the customer list is exportable from day one and the only relationship is between you and your client.
The checklist
What to look for in a booking system.
Whether you already have one or you are choosing, these are the points we check a booking system against.
- Services and durations, each service with its own length, price and optional deposit, and rules for who can do it (a podiatry assessment only with a podiatrist, say).
- Staff calendars, one per practitioner, stylist or consultant, with their own hours, breaks and time off. Customers see combined availability, or pick a person.
- Deposits and cancellation rules, a deposit or a card on file, with a cancellation window you set. It is the most effective tool there is against no-shows.
- Reminders, text and email reminders before the appointment, with a link to reschedule that does not need a phone call.
- Your brand and your address, an embed for your own pages, or a booking page that can sit on your own web address, so customers do not leave you for a marketplace listing.
- Payments to your own account, you are the merchant, and deposits settle to your bank, not into a platform's holding account.
- An export you can actually use, your customer list and booking history as a CSV, any time, so you can change system without starting again.
- Calendar sync, a feed into Google, Apple or Outlook calendars, so a personal appointment blocks the slot.
- A way in for us, embed code, an API or webhooks, so a new booking can reach the rest of your setup.
How it joins your site
Three ways in, chosen by what your system supports.
Embedded on your pages. Many booking systems give you a widget or a snippet of code. We place it on your booking page, and a Book button on every page opens it, matched to your brand as far as the system allows. A booking calendar is genuinely interactive, so this is usually the right pattern for bookings.
A booking page on your own address. Where the system supports its own domain, we set it up on an address like book.yourbusiness.co.uk, so the address bar stays yours from the first click to the confirmation.
A straight link. The simplest route, and it works with almost any system: your Book buttons open the system's booking page. The trade-off is that the customer leaves your site for the booking step, under the system's branding.
Where the system has an API or webhooks, a new booking can also create the customer's record in your CRM and trigger the reminder texts and review request we run for you. New to these terms? See the glossary.
How it goes
From "I want this" to "first booking taken".
- Run a free audit at /audit, or email us. Tell us what you use for bookings now, if anything.
- If you have a system, we check what it supports. If you need one, we compare a short list against the checklist above, and you choose.
- Your services, staff and hours go into the system, and its payments connect to your own bank account if you take deposits.
- We connect it to your site: the Book button on every page, and the booking step matched to your brand where the system allows.
- We test it end to end: a real booking, a deposit if you take them, a reminder and a cancellation. Then it goes live, and your existing customers can be told they can now book online.
How long it takes depends on the system and what it supports. Connecting it is scoped into the quote for your build.
Common questions
What people ask before moving bookings to their own site.
Which booking system should I use?
The one that fits how you work: one chair or ten, deposits or not, appointments or classes. We do not sell booking systems and we do not push one. We set what you need against the checklist on this page, compare a short list, and you choose.
I already use Fresha or Booksy. Can I keep it?
Yes. We can wire every Book button on your site to your existing booking page. The trade-off is that the customer books on the platform's page, under its brand, and the platform keeps the relationship. When you want bookings on your own site instead, we help you move.
Can I bring my existing bookings and customer list across?
Usually, yes. Booking platforms generally let you export your customer records, and many let you export upcoming bookings too. We help you bring them into the system you choose, so going live is not a standing start.
What about my Fresha or Booksy reviews?
Reviews on a third-party platform stay there; that is the cost of a platform that owns the customer relationship. Going forward, a review request after each appointment can send happy customers to your Google profile, where the reviews build your own reputation.
Will customers actually book online instead of calling?
It depends on your customers. Where clients are used to booking online, the online flow quickly takes a big share of new appointments. For clinics or older customer bases, phone bookings stay strong, and the online flow is a useful addition rather than a replacement. Either way, an online calendar is an asset.
What about no-shows?
A deposit or a card on file is the most effective tool, and reminders help too. Choose a system that lets you set deposits per service: a larger deposit for a long, high-value appointment, none for a quick one where a reminder text is enough.
Do you take a cut of my bookings?
No. We charge for building and looking after your website, quoted to your business. What the booking system costs is between you and its supplier, which is why pricing is on the checklist: avoid a system that takes commission on the clients you bring in yourself.
Get this on your site
Your site, your system, your customer.
It starts with a free audit. Tell us which booking system you use now, or that you need one, and we will scope connecting it into the quote for your build and website management.