Online booking: a link, a QR code and Telegram

How the booking link works

When you sign up, your salon gets its own page; you choose the end of the address yourself, usually a short form of the business name. Put the link in your Instagram bio, on your Google Business Profile or in your WhatsApp status. A client taps it, picks a service, a stylist (or "no preference") and a time, adds their name and phone number, and the appointment is made.

Free slots are worked out, not typed in. Makastam looks at each stylist's working hours, days off and existing appointments, plus the length of the chosen services, so a long colour is never squeezed into a gap it won't fit and nobody is double-booked.

1. 1

   Choose a service

   The client picks one or more services and sees a rough total for time and cost.

2. 2

   Choose a stylist

   Only staff who offer those services appear, or "no preference".

3. 3

   Day and time

   Only open days and free times are shown. Days you're closed simply can't be picked.

4. 4

   Details and confirmation

   Name, phone number and an optional note, such as a colour preference. Data consent is required; marketing consent is optional.

You set the rules

You decide how far ahead clients can book and the minimum notice you need, which cuts surprise bookings for half an hour's time and appointments made months ahead and forgotten. You also choose which staff and services are bookable online, so a bridal package or colour correction that needs a chat first can stay offline.

Online bookings can be confirmed automatically. Prefer to check them? Switch auto-confirm off and new bookings arrive as "Pending" until you approve them. You can add a short notice such as "Closed on Sundays", or switch the whole page off with one button and back on later.

A QR code by the mirror or in the window

Download your booking page's QR code from the settings and print it. Stick it by the till, on a mirror or in the window, and a client who is paying can book their next visit before they've put their coat on.

Booking through Telegram

Your salon also has a Telegram booking link and QR code that open your salon in the Makastam Telegram bot. Clients book inside Telegram with the same choices as the web page, see what's coming up under "My appointments" and can cancel before the cut-off you've set, which frees the slot for someone else.

Anything a client writes to the bot lands in your Inbox, where you reply, link the chat to their profile or turn it into an appointment. Clients who connect to Telegram also get their confirmation and reminder there, free of charge; see Telegram reminders for the details.

Phone and walk-in bookings in the same diary

Phone bookings and walk-ins go into the same diary. In day view every stylist has their own column, so you see at a glance who is busy and when. When the client arrives you mark the appointment as "Arrived"; if they don't turn up it's recorded as a no-show and builds up on their client profile. Open a ticket from the appointment and the services are already on it.

Who is it for?

• Solo barbers: take bookings without answering the phone mid-fade.
• Multi-chair salons: each stylist has their own column, with no double bookings.
• Beauty salons: short and long treatments land in gaps of the right length.
• Clients who message late at night: bookings come in while you're closed.