Getting started as a spa or massage studio

This walkthrough takes a spa or massage studio from a new account to a booked day, with every treatment holding its room. Follow it in order.

1. Create the business

1. Choose Start free on BookNovi's site, or Create an account on the sign-in page, and make your account. The guided setup starts on its own.
2. Type the spa's name under The business’s name, pick Day spa or Massage therapy under Wellness, and choose Next. It fills in a starter menu of treatments, the rooms, and an intake form, a treatment consent and a treatment note, yours to keep or delete; a therapist, a treatment and a room are what the booking page calls things.
3. Check the Time zone, type the address and phone (or leave them for later), and choose Next.
4. Under What do you sell and book?: say yes to rooms (each treatment needs a free room), to forms (intake and consent), to gift cards, packages or memberships if you sell them, and to selling products if you sell retail. Choose Next.
5. Say how many people work there, how you heard of us and, if a rep or a partner gave you a code, type it in. Choose Start my business.

Treatment notes are on for every spa.

The business opens with What to do next: the steps of this walkthrough as a list that ticks itself as each gets done, under the top bar and in your menu at the top right. Your free trial starts the same day; see Plans and billing.

2. Set up the business

1. Open Settings, Business. Set the Time zone, the calendar's hours and Time slots.
2. Under What You Call Things, pick Fill from… if you would rather say Guests and Therapists. Choose Save.
3. Under Location and Tax, type the address and the sales tax, and choose Save.

3. Add your treatment rooms

1. Open Resources (or Rooms) and choose Add group: Treatment rooms, Couples suite.
2. Add each room to its group, with a description the team should know (how it is set up, what is in it).

On the calendar, the Day view can show a column per room instead of per person.

4. Make the menu

1. Open Services and add categories: Massage, Facials, Body.
2. Add each treatment. For a massage sold in 60 and 90 minutes, use Add an option for each length and price.
3. Tick the room group under What it needs. Booking it then holds a free room for its whole length.
4. Switch on Has buffer time for turnover between guests: the room and the therapist stay blocked for it.

5. Add your therapists

Open Staff, choose Add staff member for each therapist, tick their treatments on the Services tab, and set their Work hours. See Your team and their schedules.

6. Intake forms and treatment notes

1. Open Settings, Records. Under Forms, start from a ready-made intake or consent form, or write your own.
2. When a guest arrives for the first time, open them in Clients, choose Forms, and hand them the tablet.
3. After the treatment, open the Notes tab, pick Treatment notes, and choose Add a treatment note. It starts with four lines to fill in: what they said, what you found, what you did, and the plan.

Their Notes and Preferences (pressure, allergies, oils to avoid) show on every appointment.

7. Packages, gift cards and memberships

At the register, open Offers to set them up: a package of visits paid up front, a membership with a standing discount, and gift cards sold and spent at checkout. See Offers, packages, gift cards and loyalty.

8. Online booking, cards and reminders

1. Settings, Online booking: switch on Take bookings online. Online booking offers only times when a therapist and a room are both free.
2. Settings, Card payments: an owner chooses Set up card payments.
3. Settings, Messages: switch on the confirmation and the Reminder.

Best practices

• Always tie a treatment to its rooms with What it needs. Double-booked rooms are the one mistake guests notice at once.
• Use buffer time rather than longer services, so the price and the length guests see stay true.
• Fill in the intake form before the first treatment, every time. Keep the signed copy; it is kept as it was worded that day.
• Write the treatment note while the session is fresh. The plan line is what makes the next visit better.
• Sell gift cards online in December (see The online store).