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Introduction

Your online booking page lets clients book with you themselves, around the clock — no phone calls, no back-and-forth. This page explains what a client actually sees and does when they book, so you can set it up the way that suits your business. You control how much choice clients get: whether they pick a specific team member or let you decide, whether a deposit or card on file is required, and how far ahead they can book. The steps below describe the default experience; the sections after that show which settings change it.

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Can a client pick a time first, then the team member?

Effectively, yes — and it’s the default. You don’t have to make clients choose a person before they can see times.
  • Leave team-member choice on (the default). A client who doesn’t mind who they see picks Any team member, and on the time step each available time shows the team members free at that slot (their photo and first name). So the client browses by time and sees who’s available — they’re choosing the time first and the person comes with it.
  • Turn team-member choice off. The team-member step disappears entirely. The client just picks a service and a time, and Bella assigns the best-matched available team member automatically.
Either way, a client never has to commit to a specific person just to see what times are open.

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The booking steps

A client moves through these steps on your booking page:
  1. Services — the client chooses one or more services or bundles (and any add-ons or variants you offer). For a group-enabled service, a How many people? stepper appears so a couple or small party can be booked together in one go.
  2. Team member (optional) — choose Any team member or a specific person. This step is skipped automatically when it doesn’t apply (see Choosing a team member).
  3. Time — pick a date, then a time. Times are grouped into Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Days with no availability are greyed out, with a shortcut to the next available date.
  4. Review & confirm — the client checks the details, signs in with their phone number, pays a deposit or adds a card if required, and confirms.
Clients who are signed in can also book for a family member they’ve added — a For step appears first so they can choose who the appointment is for. Booking never asks for a date of birth. Once a client has booked, the confirmation screen may invite them to add one — that invitation only appears when you’re actually using birthdays, and never otherwise. See Birthday reward for exactly when it shows.

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Choosing a team member

On the team-member step, clients see an Any team member option (labelled “Best available match”) alongside a card for each team member who can perform the selected services.
Online booking team-member step showing an 'Any team member — Best available match' option next to individual team members

The team-member step — 'Any team member' (best available match) alongside each available team member.

To change whether clients choose at all:
  • For the whole business: Settings → Online booking → Booking options (the same toggle also appears under Booking policies) — turn Allow clients to choose team member on or off. It’s on by default.
  • Per service: each service has its own Allow clients to choose team member option, which overrides the business setting for that service. See Service catalogue.
When the step is skipped automatically:
  • Every selected service is resource-only (assigned to a room or piece of equipment rather than a person).
  • You’ve turned off client choice (business-wide or for a selected service).
  • The booking is a parallel bundle (services performed at the same time by different team members) — Bella assigns the team automatically.
In all of these cases the client goes straight from Services to Time, and Bella assigns the team member.

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Picking a time — and seeing who’s free

When a client books with Any team member, every time slot shows the team members available at that time (up to two photos and first names). This is the heart of the time-first experience: the client scans the times that suit them and can see who they’d be with.
Online booking time step showing each available time with the team members free at that slot displayed beneath it

With 'Any team member', every time shows who's free at that slot — so a client can browse by time and still see who they'd be with.

When a client has chosen a specific team member, the slots show only that person’s available times. If a chosen team member has nothing free on a date, the client is nudged to try any available team member for more options, or to pick the suggested next available date.

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Deposits and cards on file

If your booking policy asks for a deposit or a card on file, the client handles it at the Review step before the booking is confirmed:
  • Deposit required: the cart shows a Due today amount and the remaining balance. On confirming, the client is taken to a secure Stripe page to pay the deposit; the appointment confirms once payment succeeds.
  • Card on file required: the client adds a card to confirm the booking — they are not charged at the time of booking. The card is only used later if a late-cancellation or no-show fee applies under your policy.
Set these up under Payments and Booking policies.

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Require approval for online bookings

If you’ve turned on approval for online bookings — either as your location default or for a particular service — a new online booking with no payment step arrives as pending your approval rather than confirming straight away. The client is told their request has been received, and it confirms once you approve it. Bookings that pay a deposit (or save a required card) at booking confirm on payment instead — see Booking policies.

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Joining the waitlist

If a client picks a date that’s fully booked and you’ve enabled the waitlist, they can join the waitlist instead of leaving empty-handed.
Online booking time step on a fully booked date, showing 'No available slots on this date', a 'Next available' shortcut, and a 'join the waitlist' link

On a fully booked date, the client sees your opening hours, a shortcut to the next available date, and the option to join the waitlist.

  • The waitlist option appears on the time step when the chosen date has no available slots.
  • The client adds up to six preferred date-and-time ranges, with quick presets for Any time, Morning, Afternoon or Evening.
  • Joining the waitlist requires the client to sign in. You’re notified, and the client is told you’ll let them know if a slot opens up.
See Waitlist for how waitlist entries appear to you.

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Adding the appointment to their calendar

Clients can add their appointment to their personal calendar — no setup needed on your side:
  • From their emails: booking confirmations, reminders and reschedule emails include Add to calendar links (Google, Outlook and iCal) under the appointment time.
  • From the booking page: the client’s appointment page shows Google Calendar and Apple / Outlook buttons for upcoming appointments, right up until the appointment finishes.
The calendar event is created in your business’s timezone and includes your business name and address, so it lands at the right time wherever the client happens to be. If the appointment is rescheduled, the reschedule email carries fresh links with the new time.

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What clients see — prices, hours and your wording

  • Service and category colours: the colours you set on your services and categories now carry through to the booking page. Each category shows a coloured accent on the services step, and each service has a small colour dot (falling back to its category’s colour) — the same colours your team sees on the scheduler, so your booking page feels on-brand and easy to scan.
  • Hide prices: you can hide prices on the booking page business-wide or per service. With prices hidden, only a price prefix (such as “From”) shows, if you’ve set one.
  • Opening hours: you can choose whether your opening hours appear on the booking page. Hiding them doesn’t change which times are bookable — it only affects what’s displayed.
  • Your wording: the booking page’s headings, button labels and intro text are editable, so the page speaks in your business’s voice. Anything you leave unset falls back to Bella’s default wording. See Online booking appearance.

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Booking window and notice

  • How far ahead clients can book: set a maximum booking window so clients can’t book months out. Dates beyond it are disabled in the date picker.
  • Minimum notice: times that fall inside your minimum-notice window simply don’t appear, so clients can’t book too close to the appointment.
Both are configured under Booking policies.

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The client’s booking portal

Alongside booking, every client gets their own area on your booking page — the booking portal. They sign in with their phone number and a code sent by text, and from there they can:
  • Update their own details on My profile — name, date of birth, address, photo and communication preferences. Whatever they enter flows straight onto their client record, so there’s nothing for you to re-key.
  • Save a card for faster checkout, under Payment methods — the only way a card gets saved, since your team can’t key one in.
  • See My appointments, My forms, My receipts, and any memberships, packages, gift cards or loyalty points they hold.
No booking is required to get in. A client who isn’t signed in is asked for their number first and then continues to the page they were headed for. New clients set up their account at that point; existing clients on your list are recognised from their number, so their details are already filled in. Share the portal from the Online booking page, or invite one client at a time from their ⋯ menu on the Clients page. See Client Booking Portal Link.
Signing in needs a mobile number — the code is sent by text, and there’s no email sign-in. A client with no mobile number on file can’t use the portal until you add one to their record.