Most bookings come in through the public page, with the client picking the slot themselves. But there's always the regular calling on the phone, the walk-in nobody saw coming, or the WhatsApp reschedule. Those bookings you build yourself, by hand, straight from the calendar. In under a minute.
This guide walks you from the first click to a confirmed booking, including the less obvious branches: what the warnings mean, how to put two services under one client, and how the out-of-hours / out-of-shift / day-off warnings actually behave.
Where the buttons are: the calendar at a glance
Before creating your first booking, it pays to know what's on screen. The calendar has three zones that matter:
- Toolbar (top): pick the view and move through time.
- Calendar (centre): bookings and time blocks. In Day view, each column is one employee.
- FAB (bottom-right corner): two round buttons, 'Block' (grey) and 'Book' (green). The 'Book' button is what you click to start a manual booking.
Step by step: building the booking
Click 'Book' (or an empty slot)
The 'Create booking' panel slides in from the right. It has two tabs: 'Booking' (the fields) and 'Info' (the summary plus any warnings).
Pick the client
Toggle between 'Existing' (search the database) or 'New' (type name + phone). Anonymous walk-ins work too, leave 'Existing' empty and the booking is filed under no name.
Set the date and start time
Both are required. The time accepts any minute in 5-minute steps (10:35 is fine). If you came in via a slot click, they're already filled.
Add one or more services
For each service you pick: the employee performing it, the duration (suggested by the service template but editable), the price (pre-filled for fixed-price services). 'Add service' chains another one in the same booking, useful for cut + beard in one sitting.
Optional note
Free text up to 4000 characters. Shows up on the booking card and in detail view. Good for client preferences ('uses scissors only'), products to buy, known allergies.
Confirm
Green 'Create booking' button at the bottom of the panel. If there are conflicts the system surfaces them here (more on that below).
Client: existing, new, or anonymous
For clients already in your book, type 2-3 letters of the name or the last digits of the phone number. The system finds them. The upside: the booking ties to the client history, counts toward total visits and total spent.
For new clients, pick 'New' and fill name + phone in international format (+44..., +351..., +1...). Phone is the unique key, if a client already exists with that number, the system reuses them instead of duplicating.
Several services, several employees
One BookHero booking can hold more than one service, and each service can be performed by a different employee. That covers two everyday cases:
- Bundles in the same chair: haircut + beard with the same barber. Total: 45 min, €25.
- Parallel services: the client does her manicure with Rita while doing pedicure with Sofia. Two lines, two employees, one booking.
Total booking duration is the sum of service durations (or the longest, depending on how you organise the calendar). The total price adds up automatically and is what shows in checkout.
When the system warns you before saving
Right before creating the booking, the system cross-checks your choice against the rest of the calendar and team schedule. There are two flavours of feedback:
| Error (blocks) | Warning (can override) | |
|---|---|---|
| Another booking at the same slot | Hard block. Cancel the other or pick a different time. | - |
| Employee not qualified for the service | - | Warns you. Override with a confirm. |
| Time block (lunch, training) overlap | - | Warns you. Override with a confirm. |
| Outside business hours | - | Warns you. Override with a confirm. |
| Outside the employee's shift | - | Warns you. Override with a confirm. |
| Employee approved time off | - | Warns you. Override with a confirm. |
Common errors and how to fix them
I see 'Employee already has a booking at this time'. How do I fix it?
That's the hard double-booking error. The employee has another booking overlapping. No override is possible. Options: change the time, change the employee, or cancel the existing one (click it on the calendar and use 'Cancel booking').
I see a warning that the employee is 'not qualified' for the service.
It's a warning, not a block, you can confirm and go ahead. It means the service isn't assigned to that employee in the Employees · Services matrix. If it's a one-off, override and move on. If it's permanent (the employee learned the service), go to Employees, open them, and tick the service so the warning stops showing up.
The booking falls outside business hours. Can I still create it?
Yes. That's a warning, not an error. Confirm and the booking saves. Useful for special cases (a VIP client, opening early just this once). Worth knowing: this doesn't open the slot on the public page, only you, internally, can force it.
The suggested duration is wrong for my use case. Can I tweak it once?
Yes. The 'Duration (min)' field is editable per booking. Useful when one client takes longer (long hair, first-visit consultation). The change only affects this booking; the service template stays the same.
Can I create bookings in the past (to log services I've already done)?
Yes. There's no time gate on internally created bookings. Useful when you're migrating from an old system or logging services that happened offline.
What happens after you confirm
- The booking shows up immediately on the calendar, in the employee's colour.
- If the client has an email on file, a confirmation email goes out (if your notifications setting is on).
- The booking is 'Confirmed' from the start. There's no extra approval step.
- It counts toward your monthly booking volume (matters on the Free plan: see below).
Editing, rescheduling, cancelling later
After it's created, just click the booking on the calendar to open the detail panel. From there you can edit the note, jump to checkout, reschedule via 'Book again', or cancel with an automatic notification to the client.
Important note on dragging bookings: BookHero doesn't support drag & drop on the calendar today. To move a booking's time, the recommended path is to open it, use 'Book again' with the new date/time, and the system offers to notify the client. It's a deliberate design call: it forces you through the notification flow rather than letting a silent change slip by.
Day-to-day best practices
- Always create with an identified client when you know the name: the history is worth more than the seconds saved.
- Add a one-liner note on new bookings as a future-you favour: preferred product, allergy, behaviour.
- Trust the warnings. If the system says 'outside shift', there's a 95% chance you forgot something.
- For groups (mother and daughter same time), prefer two separate bookings over one with many services: clearer on the calendar and at checkout.
- Before closing the day, scan the List view to check what actually happened matches what's on the calendar.
Next up in the help centre
Once you're comfortable creating bookings, the next pieces are the ones that touch a booking's whole life. These open naturally next:
- Block time on the calendar: lunch, training, one-off days off.
- Manage clients in BookHero: create, edit, view history and stats.
- Add employees and individual schedules: invite the team, roles, services matrix.
- How to checkout in BookHero: collect payment, products, tips, tax ID, receipt.
- Customize the public booking page: brand colour, logo, cover, service order.
- Read the reports: overview, revenue, bookings, clients, employees.