Booker reviews

Excellent for booking appointments for guests. Easy to pull up upcoming and past bookings with names and dates.

This is a wonderful program that hasn't failed us yet. We have our employees using this program with no issues at all.

When I first signed with Booker, I liked the merchant services fees were better than Mindbody Online. Also, I liked that I locked in a significantly cheaper monthly rate as opposed to Mindbody.

The automatic emails at the time, could not be turned off. It didn't work with my type of business. Also, I hated the company that handled their merchant services. They put my account on hold after trying to cancel their services. A ridiculous customer service representative froze my account so then no deposits could go through affecting my payroll. No one told me that canceling my services with Booker would affect the merchant services or my ability to receive deposits. Absolute jerks.

Admin backend is solid and reliable.
Lots of options to customize. Too many at times since finding just the right setting can take 15-20 minutes or require a phone call to customer service.

Customer front end is weak and confusing. Booker does not allow certain booking options (CF2) to be used in iFrames. This forces you to send customers to a 3rd party website (not yours) to make appointments. Fixes and feature requests come slowly if at all.
If you are interested in using Booker be sure you know what you are getting into before you commit. It is very difficult to get 100, 500, or thousands of customers to move to a new appointment system if you later decide Booker is not what you expected. Get used to what Booker looks like now and be okay with that for the long haul. Don't plan on being able to add a feature of even getting Booker to fix bugs. Booker will show you a long list of "fixes" and revision numbers of updated software. I have never known any of these updates to address a bug of concern we had with the SaaS. Customer requests are ignored and bugs are described as features. Yes, they really are! For example, in some places staff names are sorted by first name and in other places they are sorted by last name. This does make it feel like you are using different software products and will infuriate you at times.
Different interfaces all work differently. In other words, they all feel like different products. We use the admin interface, the Booker iOS app, the Booker customer app, CF1, and Facebook app. That seems like lots of great options until you realize how disjointed and different they all are. You are not merely learning one software package, you really have to learn them all.

Staff scheduling and operating hours are simple to do and follow to.There are so many options for categories to pick from, and I appreciate that you can create your own, so it's easy to add and remove services from our menu.

Too many errors and issues with making appointments. Sometimes it will state there is no personnel on duty or the service won't appear on the menu. Refreshing the page and logging out and back in again won't always work.

I liked the ease of integrating new specials or services we were offering. It was generally easy to navigate and was also integrated with our website which was convenient and allowed guests to easily book online.

At the time I was using Booker, I experienced many times where the program would freeze out would have really slow load times which made it difficult during high volume times at the spa.

Convenient to use and make online appointments. Integration is easy and its mobile application is also very user-friendly. Its loyalty point feature is also very useful in attracting customers.

Interface can be improved. Very frustrating to use due to its frequent down-time. Additional features of adding samples or images can be an added advantage.

Stock was easy to navigate staff schedule was in two week block which we loved so we could to alternate schedules

NOt able to do repeat bookings, Not contactless pay

the system has amazing features and reports that make running your business very easy because you have inmiate access to your information and database.

It's a little bit hard to get the reports and see the customers previous payments and visits, but once you get the software it is easy.

I like that it keeps me on track with scheduling of my clients.

I couldn't find any complaints about the software at all.

I love how easy it is to allow people to set up online booking without my intervention.

The reminders are great, when they work. Sometimes I don't always get notifications about an appointment.

running payroll reports there is pretty much nothing else.

It is impossible to get it set up appropriately, after 4 months of phone calls, I still never got the appropriate credit cards to run internally. I was able to set up an acct with their third party processing but could never actually link that to closing appointments. It was a full time job to communicate with customer service and after 4 months this was never rectified.
Their rates doubled from when I signed on and are now even with mindbody yet the service and function is not as good. I am open seasonally and so when I signed on I very clearly asked if I would not be charged for the months I am closed and was very clearly told that I would not be charged. When I went to put my account on vacation mode I was told this is not an option.

Integration of scheduling, merchant services, marketing, reporting. Everything I need in one place to run the business. I don't have to import or export information to run reports or go through multiple programs to send out reminder texts, ring up a client to check out, and check hours worked by employees.

There are a few things that the system just doesn't do intelligently where I have to override certain scheduling rules (Example: if an appointment was scheduled in room 2 with one girl, and i want to change it to another girl, it will not automatically switch it to room one. It will just say it isn't available.) So I have to go through round-about ways to override it to get it done, but those are just nit-picking.

I liked the notion of what they "sell" to you. not what they actually deliver. I guess I like that it's a cloud based system, which you can't say for Millennium.

Booker is going more towards a multi-industry platform & removed many of its spa related functionality. No longer can you create spa packages, for example.

Much of the customization they sell you on doesn't exist at all. It used to on their old platform, but new customers don't get to use that anymore, so your gift card site & the online booking site will look like a Kindergartner designed it in an extracurricular activity.

You don't have the ability to customize categories for your services/products. For example, if you do hydrotherapy, there isn't a category for things like vichy showers. You do have auto repair available though... so congrats.

If you're looking to have a smooth experience with onboarding, you'll be disappointed. The data "expert" we worked with missed his deadline by 4 weeks and then just disappeared. We had to start completely over and then the new "expert" imported the wrong data and we had to start over again. We worked with onboarding for almost 5 months and never got live.

There's no ecommerce capabilities, even though their web site promotes it and their sales people promote it. At this point, it's a flat out lie. Doesn't exist.

You have to work with a 3rd party for your POS system (Clover). We signed up for a special and were supposed to get 2 set ups for free, but they came back to us after we signed up and said "nope, sorry, we were wrong, you can only have one." And, then they sent us 2, except one was incompatible with Booker.

Ease of use can be accessed remotely by all therapists, no additional cost per therapist for use, HireFrederick program

Online booking inconsistency with picking a therapist and it not being a request vs no preference and still having to choose a therapist. Glitchiness! Slowness! Taking payment in advance opens time slot for others to book in. Feeling stuck with their credit card processing or high fees to use another one with better rates

Salesmen are very attentive, attempt to find questions to any answers and are quick to return calls. Software is very clean and easy to use as long as you stay within their realm of "basics".

Unfortunately, if you have any type of development background this software will not allow you to utilize it unless you upgrade to the API. Prior to purchase we were told we would have Full Access to all features and everything was 100% customize-able. However, there are areas of customization you still need to have a "Super User" (call in to tech support + talk to a manager) to change. Example: Accepting cash in office.

The second issue I had is their merchant processing. They don't have syncing with Amazon Pay (primary issue we were told could be done with this software), PayPal or Square. You are charged additionally to use their merchant processing (and with companies my accounting had never heard of/didn't want to use). Again, while promised we would be able to find a work around, eventually it was found even with upgrading to a higher tier with API access, there was an extremely slim chance that different integration methods was possible.

Third: The price. Please understand if you desire to let one company manage everything then this software is helpful. However, if you don't then per month charge is rather high when other simple services are free or offer nearly every feature Booker does for 1/5th the price. So, do your research and speak with both Sales force and Tech support before making a decision.

I needed A cloud based software. I was on a desktop

Demo is great but the live version is full of glitches resulting in inaccurate reports, incorrect pay stubs for employees, incorrect year end financials for the business. Wrong service and product history for clients that can never be corrected. Financial transactions that regularly crash.

It did give you a tracking method for services & products sold. It generated a monthly sales tax report

Booker charged us a "marketing" fee for months on end. Apparently the marketing product was not what we were sold - that is the ability to generate marketing campaigns to a specific demographics. Instead, it was an "automatic discount" offered to patients that motivated them to wait for follow up services so that they got them for a deeply discounted fee. Booker took credit for selling these services due to their discount program. In the end all they did was to sell price not quality. Quality should be what spa services are all about! If price is the final objection then it should be in the hands of the provider to decide what discount is appropriate. In order to sell more than one unit of Botox, we had to pick from an assortment of quantities of Botox to equal todays purchase. The software is not user friendly and the predefined reports are weak at best. It was not a management tool! Worse it did a horrible job of taking the place of our former hosted spa services software. When it came time to leave, they stole our data, gave us a few excel files and redacted them after a few months. I would neither recommend the product nor would I EVER purchase from this vendor again.

The "all in one nature" of the platform but also the ability to have an online store that links to our actual inventory and pricing levels in real time. The confirmation email for appointments are a great asset to in terms of revenue loss prevention and saves time for our staff, not to mention our clients love the convenience. The pre-authorization of credit cards is a great function again for loss prevention.

1, There have been times recently were the downtime or stability (slowness) of the platform has not been acceptable.
2, The ip lock function only works with v4 ip addresses (most ISP's are now using v6's rendering the function useless unless you pay extra for static IP's.

None.

The entire system.

- Ease of use
- Mobile application
- Partnership with Frederick
- Easy to book online
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Easy access to customer service (with real people!)

There are certain limitations to the software that I don't quite endorse, and would love to have more accessibility to customize the features inherent in the system. For instance, we would love to be able to format, on our own, the infrastructure of the Administrator, Reservationist, and Staff roles to allow for certain levels of access to information. Although we have found a way to "Macguyver" the system, we'd love for there to be a more direct system for integrating digital SOAP notes, as well as intake form and profile management by the client when they log in to book an appointment. There have been other, very slight issues, which have caused some annoyance to our clients - such as the automatic CC authorization process when opening orders, or when clients are unable to cancel upcoming appointments online at their convenience (so long as it does not violate our 24-hour policy).

Online Booking.
Flexibility with using Rooms vs. Employees.
Reporting.
Ability to manage all aspects of clients and employee data.

There's a lack of Sales Funnel Integration with Frederick i.e. There is so much data that is in Booker/Frederick, that should allow us to create customized sales funnels in order to remarket and market to our existing clients.

Frederick is limited into the emails sent, and there should be more control/flexiblity given to the owner.

Currently, i'm using Clickfunnels and other email software to close that loop to create email sales funnels as well as other sales funnels from paid traffic sources.

Digital Marketing is the future of all businesses and a crucial component of that is Sales funnels from organic traffic and paid traffic from FB ads, Youtube Ads, Instagram Ads to enter into Sales Funnels. The power to remarket and retarget those clients from Booker/Frederick Data can really scale each business and should be in the hands of the business owner/marketer.

We have been doing that manually using Clickfunnels and Other Email Software providers.

I love the loyalty points for my clients to be able to earn, I love being able to precharge and charge for no-shows as well as charge premiums for certain days of the week. And all of this happens while I focus on doing hair. I do not have to sit around and do anything but set it up. They give you a training call and help you with the features and setup. I learned it quickly but if I have a question I can simply call and speak with someone promptly.
I did have it once before and cancelled because of the price, then I came back because I found they were going to integrate with the clover mini as I already had one but it still hasn't worked out for that. I'm really waiting for that feature. Its just all around inclusive just somewhat costly.

Wish add-ons were visible to clients and can be set individually to desired service. Also client facing terminal is needed. Hate having to manual input charges outside of the system. I have to have 2 different merchant processors because of the issue with the clover. App works horribly for taking appointments over the phone. Deposits cannot be charged so I have to go into the browser version from my tablet.

Reminders and organization of multiple therapists

Issues with notifications, payments and codes

Easy to use
Online Booking integration easy with website ( but that's common for all softwares now )

Overall Unstable software
Support doesn't RESOLVE anything
Crashes and completely shuts down for hours at random times ( leaving no access to any customer information )

Booker makes it easy to book clients, review accurate data, see clients shared to a membership, easily manage gift cards and online certs, easily view status changes of a membership, provide great auditing capabilities...

The customer support is extremely lacking. We also couldn’t get all the reports we needed and had to use a custom developed Stage 1 reporting system that was insanely slow. Our franchise switched systems to a MUCH inferior system due to the poor customer service. The Booker company doesn’t seem interested to work to improve the system based on the client needs. It’s got a great core but there were several bugs that would go on for years and the typical response would be a time consuming workaround, rather than addressing this issue and providing timelines.