Booking & Scheduling
Manage your salon's appointment book — create and reschedule bookings, configure availability, handle waitlists, and reduce no-shows with automated reminders.
Overview
DramPulse's Booking & Scheduling module is the operational core of the salon. It gives your front desk and staff a real-time appointment calendar, online booking for clients, and automated reminders that reduce no-shows without requiring any manual follow-up.
Key Concepts
Appointment — A booking linking a client, one or more services, a staff member, and a time slot.
Availability — The set of hours during which a staff member can be booked. Availability is configured per-staff and respects business hours, blocked time, and time-off requests.
Online Booking — A client-facing scheduling page hosted at your DramPulse booking link. Clients pick their service, preferred staff, and time without calling in.
Booking Window — How far in advance clients can book online. Configurable from 1 day to 12 months. Also controls the minimum notice required before a same-day booking.
Buffer Time — A gap automatically inserted after each appointment, giving staff time to clean up and prepare before the next client.
How It Works
Viewing the Calendar
Go to Calendar from the left navigation. The calendar defaults to the current week in a staff-column layout — each column represents one staff member and each row represents a time slot. Use the view switcher in the top-right to toggle between Day, Week, and Month views.
Click any appointment to see the full booking details, client profile link, service notes, and action buttons (Check In, No Show, Reschedule, Cancel).
Creating an Appointment
- Click any open slot on the calendar, or click New Appointment.
- Search for an existing client or create a new one.
- Select one or more services. Duration and price populate automatically from the services catalog.
- Assign to a staff member (defaults to the column you clicked).
- Confirm the date and time.
- Add any internal notes.
- Click Book. The client receives a confirmation SMS and/or email based on their communication preferences.
Rescheduling and Cancellations
Open any appointment and click Reschedule to pick a new time, or Cancel to remove it. Cancelled appointments prompt you to specify a cancellation reason (tracked for reporting). Clients receive a notification of the change automatically.
Configuring Online Booking
Go to Settings > Online Booking to:
- Enable or disable the public booking page
- Set your booking link URL (e.g., pulse.dramwell.ai/book/your-salon)
- Configure which services are bookable online
- Set the booking window and minimum advance notice
- Require a credit card hold or deposit to confirm bookings
Share the booking link in your social media profiles, email signature, or via the built-in booking widget you can embed on your own website.
Automated Reminders
Go to Settings > Reminders. DramPulse sends reminders at configurable intervals before each appointment. Default configuration:
- 48 hours before: SMS + email confirmation request
- 2 hours before: SMS reminder
Clients can confirm, reschedule, or cancel directly from the reminder SMS without calling in. Responses update the appointment status in real time.
Waitlists
When all slots for a service are booked, clients can join the waitlist. If a cancellation occurs, DramPulse notifies the next waitlisted client automatically and holds the slot for 30 minutes while they confirm.
Tips
- Set buffer time per service type rather than per staff member — a haircut may need 10 minutes of cleanup while a color treatment needs 20.
- Review the No-Show Rate report monthly. If it exceeds 10%, consider enabling the credit card hold requirement for online bookings.
- Use the Blocked Time feature on the staff calendar (right-click any slot) to prevent online bookings during staff meetings or lunch breaks without removing those hours from availability.
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