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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?

Clients can see available times without choosing a specific person. The normal flow still puts the team-member step before Time when you allow a choice:
  • Leave team-member choice on (the default). A client who doesn’t mind who they see picks Any team member, then chooses a time. Bella assigns an available, qualified team member when the booking is created.
  • Turn team-member choice off. The team-member step disappears entirely. The client just picks a service and a time, and Bella assigns an available, qualified team member when the booking is created.
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, the client taps the service and sets How many people? in the panel that opens, where each person then picks their own options and add-ons, so a couple or small party can be booked together in one go (a couples-only treatment shows For 2 people on the row and skips the stepper, opening straight to both people’s choices, with the guest’s name optional).
  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 on the month calendar, then a time. Each date carries up to three dots showing whether it has morning, afternoon or evening availability, so a client can see the shape of your week before tapping anything. Tapping a day collapses the calendar to a week strip, and Month opens it again. Times are grouped into Morning, Afternoon and Evening, each headed with how many times it holds and the hours they span, and each can be collapsed. Days with no availability are greyed out, with a shortcut to the next available date.
  4. Products (optional) - when your Product shop is on with reserve-for-appointment fulfilment enabled, clients can add products to collect at their appointment. Whether they pay at the appointment (the default) or online in the same journey follows your Products added during booking setting. The step appears when there are four or more products to show; with one to three, the same products appear as an Add products list on the Review & book step instead. Both are skipped on reschedules and waitlist requests. If you switch to Full payment when booking, they also need your online payments finished setting up - the products are paid in that journey, so they stay hidden rather than offering something that can’t be paid for.
  5. Review & book - a client who isn’t signed in yet is asked to sign in with their phone number on the way here, so the review is built for them: their prices, their packages and anything else on their account. They check the details, agree to your terms and conditions and waiver if you’ve added your own (see Terms, privacy and waiver), give a required date of birth or address their record is missing (see Client details), and tap Book appointment once; a deposit or a card, if you require one, is taken right after.
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. A client who signs in on the way to Review & book sees the same question right after signing in, and keeping the appointment for themselves goes straight on. Booking asks for a date of birth or an address only when you’ve chosen to require or ask for them under Client details: new clients give them when they create their account, and a client whose record is missing a required one is asked on Review & book. Separately, when a client still has no date of birth on file once they have 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. If you use pricing tiers and the price depends on who does it, each card also shows what the selected services cost with that team member, and Any team member shows a “From” price: what the booking is quoted at before it goes to a team member.
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 → Booking policies - set Choose team member under Client display to Allowed or Not allowed. It’s allowed by default.
  • Per service: each service has its own Choose team member option, on its Booking policies tab, 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 or a party booking (services performed at the same time by different team members) - Bella assigns the team automatically.
In these cases the client goes straight from Services to Time. Bella assigns any team members needed; resource-only services have no team member.

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Picking a time

With Any team member, or when client choice is off, the time cards show available times without a provisional team-member name or photo. The cart and Review & book also leave out the generic “Any team member” label. No extra setting is needed, whether you work alone or with a team. Bella assigns available, qualified people when the booking is created, using Schedule gaps where applicable, then the fewest appointment lines that day and your order on Team to break a tie. Parties and parallel bundles get a different person for each simultaneous staffed service. Resource-only services need no person. When a client chooses a specific team member, only that person’s available times are offered and their name stays in the summary. Their name and photo also appear on time cards when Show team members is on. That display setting is separate from whether clients can choose someone. After booking, appointment details show the assigned person with each service. Rescheduling keeps those assignments and shows the saved names, including people no longer offered for new online bookings. A bundle that hides its services keeps its breakdown hidden. 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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Times that clash with the client’s own appointments

A client who is signed in isn’t offered any time that would overlap an appointment they already have that day, because one person can’t be in two places at once. When they book for a family member, times that clash with that family member’s appointments are left out too. A client who isn’t signed in yet sees times without this check. They sign in on the way to Review & book, and if the time they picked clashes with one of their appointments they’re put back on the time step with a notice, their services kept, to pick another time. A clash that only appears by the time they tap Book appointment (an appointment made for them in the meantime) is refused there: they’re told they already have an appointment then, and can pick a new time (or take another time that day in one tap, when one is free). A time another client took first is refused with a plain message, and they pick another time. Testing your own booking page: if you test while signed in as a client who already has bookings, any time that overlaps one of those bookings is hidden for that client only. To see what a new client sees, open your booking page in a private or incognito window.

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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 payment page to pay the deposit. With Pay to book the appointment exists only once payment succeeds, and their time is held for 30 minutes meanwhile; with Book now, pay within a window the appointment is booked first and confirms on payment.
  • 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. Whether Card on file is your location’s policy or a service or membership asks for the card, a client with no card saved gets no appointment until they add one: their time is held for 30 minutes meanwhile, and saving the card creates the appointment, already confirmed. A client who already has a saved card books straight through. A booking that also carries products you take full payment for at booking is the one exception: it is created first, and waits as “Awaiting Card” while the single combined payment settles the products and saves the card.
Under the total, the Review step also states your late cancellation or no-show fee for this booking as an amount, and what the deposit does for it. For a $200 colour with a 30% deposit and a fee of 50% of the service price, it reads: "Cancel with less than 1 day's notice, or miss your appointment, and a fee of $100.00 applies. Your $60.00 deposit goes towards it, and the rest may be charged to your card." The last part shows only when the booking saves a card you can charge (a card deposit on Stripe, or Card on file); on Square it ends at "goes towards it." When the fee is smaller than the deposit, say 20% of the service price, it reads "...and a fee of $40.00 applies. It comes out of your $60.00 deposit and the rest is refunded.” With no fee to take, it reads “Free cancellation up to 1 day before your appointment.” 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

When the waitlist is on, a client who can’t find a time that suits can join the waitlist instead of leaving empty-handed. The time step offers it in two places:
  • On a fully booked date, under your opening hours and a shortcut to the next available date.
  • Under the times on any other date, as “Can’t find a time that suits? Join the waitlist”. A client who can only come in the afternoon, on a day with only morning times left, joins for the afternoon.
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 client adds up to six preferred times, each a single date with a time window, with quick presets for Any time, Morning, Afternoon or Evening. The first starts on the date they were looking at.
  • Joining the waitlist requires the client to sign in; they’re asked on the way into the form, and join with one tap once in. You’re notified, and the client is told you’ll let them know if a slot opens up.
  • To send clients straight there, share Straight to the waitlist from the Online booking page: clients choose their services, then go straight to the waitlist form. See Link to your waitlist.
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 time zone and includes the location’s 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.
  • Prices and appointment fees: when a fixed appointment fee is on, each service or bundle card shows an all-in one-service or one-bundle price. The review step itemises the catalogue lines and adds the fee once for the whole appointment, including multi-service and bundle bookings. You can hide catalogue prices business-wide or per service, but the unavoidable fee name and amount still show before confirmation; only a price prefix (such as “From”) remains from the hidden catalogue price.
  • 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 Booking page.
  • Sections: you choose which sections show on your landing page and in what order, and can hide the banner or the footer. A hidden section leaves the menu and the footer’s quick links too. See Showing or hiding parts of your page.
  • Important information: if you’ve added it, a strip with your title sits near the Book now button at the top of your booking page and at the top of the Services step; tapping it opens your images and text. See Important information.

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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.
  • How many appointments a day can take: set a maximum appointments per day and a day that reaches it stops offering times online. Your team can still book that day from the Scheduler.
All three 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. Existing clients on your list are recognised from their number and go straight to the code: their name and email come from their client record. If clients with different names share the number, they type their own details instead (family members, and clients with their own online booking account, don’t count). New clients set up their account at that point, giving their name and any other details you ask for under Client details, which adds them to your Clients list straight away, even if they never book, unless their email address is already on a client record (below). Already on your list under another number? After signing in, a client sees a Connect your appointments line at the top of the page when the email address they gave, or the appointment link they followed, leads to a client record with no online booking account yet. The page works as normal meanwhile. When they tap Connect and then Email me a code, Bella emails a code to the address on that record. Once they enter it and confirm their name, the record is linked to their account, and their mobile number is added to it if it has none and no other client uses it. A note on the record, seen only by your team, says it was connected this way. If none of the names is theirs, they get a client record of their own and the line doesn’t come back. If they close the line, they’re asked again on their next visit. Booking or buying something in the meantime gives them a record of their own instead. 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 whose record has no mobile number can still sign up with theirs and connect the record by its email address, as above. If the record has no email address either, add their mobile number to it first, or they get a second record.