A calendar per staff member: let clients book the right person

Why does one shared calendar go wrong?

While you work alone, one calendar is enough. When a colleague joins, people often just add a name: 10am, Ann, colour. That works for a while. Until a client picks a slot online when Ann is not in. Or books a colour with a colleague who only cuts.

A shared calendar has no idea who works when, or who does what. You know, but your client does not. Three problems follow.

• Double bookings. Two clients at the same time, with only one person free.
• The wrong person. A client books a treatment with someone who does not offer it, and you have to call to move it.
• Gaps in the day. A colleague sits idle for an hour because her free slots never showed up online.

What should a calendar per staff member do?

A calendar per staff member is more than a colour per person. This is what matters.

With that in place, clients can book themselves without you checking every booking. That is the whole point of online booking, and it is what frees up your evenings.

How do you set it up, step by step?

1. 1List your team. For each person: which days, which hours, and when the break falls.
2. 2Write down who does what. Not everyone does everything. For each treatment, note who performs it.
3. 3Add planned holidays now. Then nobody books into someone's week off by mistake.
4. 4Decide how clients choose. Let them pick a person for each treatment, so regulars keep their usual person.
5. 5Test it yourself. Book with each staff member on your phone, the way a client would.
6. 6Bring the team in. Everyone sees their own day, and you see all of them.

Should clients be able to choose who they book with?

In most salons and clinics, yes. A client who has seen the same hairdresser for years does not want to end up with someone else. A patient who started a course of treatment with one physio wants to finish it with the same person.

There are cases where it matters less. A short treatment everyone does, such as a wash and blow dry or a quick pedicure, can go to whoever is free. If in doubt, ask your regulars. They will tell you.

Whatever you decide, say it clearly on your booking page. A client who knows they can choose feels taken seriously. And when a regular sees that their usual person is fully booked, they can decide for themselves whether to wait a week or try a colleague, instead of you having to make that call for them over the phone.

What does a calendar per staff member cost?

Booking systems charge in different ways. Some charge per calendar or per user, others ask one price for the whole team. Here is a comparison using prices we checked on 21 October 2026 on the websites of two Belgian providers, excluding VAT and per year.

Afsprakenagenda.be charges €219.99 a year for the first calendar and €109.99 for each extra one. Posworld charges monthly by number of users: Basic for two users €45, Standard for up to four €59, Extended for five to nine €89. Posworld also includes a till, the other two do not. Bookable Praktijk costs from €49 a month when paid yearly, however many staff you have.

For a team of two, a price per calendar is often cheaper. As the team grows, a flat price becomes more attractive. More detail in Afsprakenagenda.be or Bookable and Posworld or Bookable.

How do you avoid double bookings between online and phone?

The biggest source of double bookings is not the online calendar, it is the one next to it. An appointment scribbled on a sticky note during a call is invisible to clients booking online.

• Enter every appointment straight into the same calendar, including phone and front desk bookings.
• Do not keep a second paper diary running alongside, however familiar it is.
• Agree who on the team can move appointments, and how.
• Block time for admin, training or cleaning so it cannot be booked online.

Let clients who want to move an appointment do it online too. Their old slot frees up straight away for someone else. See rescheduling and cancelling appointments.

What do you do when a staff member is ill?

An ill colleague means a day of appointments that cannot go ahead. With a calendar per staff member you see at once which clients are affected. You then have two options: move them to a colleague who does the same treatment, or to another day.

Let clients know as soon as possible, with a concrete offer. A message such as Sofie is ill, Tom can see you at 2pm, or pick a new time via this link works far better than we have to cancel your appointment. You will find wording in cancelling a client appointment.

How do you share new clients fairly?

Regulars pick their usual person. New clients often pick the first name or the first free slot. After a few months one colleague is fully booked and another has gaps. That is bad for morale and for turnover.

• Add a short line for each staff member about what they do best, so clients choose on substance rather than order.
• Look at bookings per person each month and talk about big differences together.
• Give a new colleague the short treatments everyone does at first, so clients get to know her.

Checklist for your team

• Days and hours entered for each staff member, as they really are.
• Breaks and planned holidays blocked.
• Each treatment linked to the people who do it.
• Decided whether clients choose a staff member.
• Agreed that every appointment goes into the same calendar.
• Made a test booking yourself with each staff member.

How Bookable handles it

On the Praktijk plan, every staff member gets their own calendar, hours and treatments. Clients choose who they book with. You also get a waiting list when a slot is full, your own questions on the booking form, extras with their own price and time, and clients moving their own appointment within your rules.

WhatsApp and email reminders, Bancontact deposits and your mini website are included. Praktijk costs from €49 a month when paid yearly or from €58 a month, with no setup costs and no charge per staff member. Try it free for 14 days, no card needed. Full details are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions