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HELP CENTRE

What can we
help you with?

From your first booking to a full diary. Find answers and practical steps for running your salon with Covered Beauty.

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Getting started

I've just signed up. What do I do first?
Follow the Welcome wizard that opens the first time you sign in. Five short steps take you from a blank account to a working booking page: set your opening hours, add your first treatment, make your booking page yours with a logo, cover photo or welcome message, connect your bank for payouts, and share your booking link. It takes about ten minutes, and you can skip it for now and finish later.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, your first 7 days are free on either plan. You add a card when you sign up, but nothing is charged until the free trial ends. After that it’s £9 a month for Solo or £19 a month for Salon, with no contract. If it’s not for you, cancel before the trial ends from Billing (click Cancel subscription) and you won’t be charged.
I'm switching from Fresha / Treatwell / Booksy. Can I bring my data?
Yes. On the Data export and import page you’ll find CSV templates for clients and appointments. Export your data from your old system, paste the columns into our templates, and upload them. The clients importer matches people by email, so re-running it is safe. Coming from Acuity Scheduling? Upload Acuity’s schedule export as it is. We recognise it and bring in clients, appointments and deposits in one go. Any treatments we don’t recognise are added switched off, so you can check them before they appear on your booking page.

Bookings

Can clients confirm bookings I make and add a card?

Yes. When you book a client in yourself, in the dashboard, as a repeat booking or through an import, their confirmation email and their 3-day and 1-day reminder emails include a secure link to confirm the appointment and save a card with Stripe. Nothing is charged. By adding their card, the client agrees you can charge your no-show fee if they don’t turn up, or the same fee if they cancel late inside your cancellation window. They see the fee before they agree.

To use it, connect Stripe on the Payouts page, then set your no-show fee, a fixed amount or a percentage of the treatment price, in Settings under Card on file for bookings you make. It’s on for every salon, but no links go out until you’ve set a fee. You can switch it off in the same place.

Bookings you mark as Pending don’t send any emails on their own, so use Send card request on the appointment to ask the client to confirm. When they do, the booking changes to Confirmed, they get their usual confirmation email and you get your new-booking alert. The appointment page shows whether they’ve confirmed and what they agreed to, and Send card request emails them the link again at any time. Clients who book online don’t get the link. If they pay a deposit, the card they pay with is saved at checkout instead.

Can I charge a no-show fee?

Yes, as long as the client has a card saved for that booking and your Stripe payments are connected. Cards are saved in two ways: clients who pay a deposit online save the card they pay with and agree when they book that you can charge it later, in line with your terms; and clients you book in yourself can confirm and add a card from the link in their emails.

If someone doesn’t turn up, open the appointment, choose the no-show fee as the reason in the card on file section of the payments panel, and charge the card. The client doesn’t need to be there. For bookings confirmed through the link, the fee they agreed to is filled in for you, the appointment shows exactly what they agreed to, and a no-show or late cancellation charge can’t be more than that fee.

How do I set deposits?
Two layers. In Settings, set a salon-wide Default deposit: a fixed amount (£20), a percentage of the price (20%), or no default deposit. Then on any treatment in Treatments you can use the salon default or pick a fixed amount, a percentage or no deposit, useful for a free consultation that skips the deposit, or a long appointment that takes 50% upfront. Once your bank is connected on the Payouts page, deposits are paid into your own Stripe account. Set your Cancellation window (hours) in Settings too, so clients know how much notice to give.
What happens if a client doesn't finish paying their deposit?
When a client picks a time, it’s held for 10 minutes while they pay. If they don’t finish, the hold is released automatically and the time goes back on your booking page. Unpaid holds don’t show on your calendar, so you only see real bookings. In the rare case that a payment arrives after the time has gone to someone else, we email you so you can refund or rebook the client.
What happens when a client cancels?
Clients can cancel using the link in their confirmation email. The appointment is marked cancelled, the time goes back on your booking page, and the client gets a cancellation email, plus a text if SMS reminders are on. Deposits aren’t refunded automatically: if you want to give one back, open the appointment and refund it. You can change what the cancellation email says in Email and text wording.
What can clients do if the day they want is fully booked?
If there are no times left on a day, your booking page offers Join the waitlist. The client leaves their details and appears on your Waiting list page, so you can get in touch if a space opens up.

Your calendar

How do I reschedule an appointment?
Open the appointment, click Reschedule and pick a new date and time, or drag the appointment to a new time on the calendar. The client gets a “your appointment has moved” email, plus a text if you send text reminders. If the new time clashes with another appointment, you’ll see what’s in the way and can choose Reschedule anyway if you can fit both in.
What stops two clients booking the same slot?
Your booking page only offers free times, and we check again at the moment of booking. If two people go for the same time at once, only one gets it and the other is asked to pick another time. Completed appointments still count as busy. With more than one practitioner, each has their own diary, so two clients can book the same time with different people. When you book someone in yourself and the time clashes, you’ll see what’s in the way and can choose Book it anyway.
Can I change the treatment on an appointment?
Yes. Open the appointment and click Change treatment. Pick the new treatment: its length and price fill in, and you can adjust both before saving. The start time, client, practitioner and any payments stay as they are. If the longer appointment runs into another booking, you’ll see what’s in the way and can save anyway. Tick the email box at the bottom if you want the client to know.
Can I leave a gap between appointments?
Yes. On Treatments, set Gap between appointments to the minutes you want kept free after each appointment, then click Apply to all treatments. To give one treatment a different gap, open it and change Gap after (min). Clients booking online can’t start an appointment inside a gap, including after appointments already in your calendar, but the last appointment of the day can still finish at closing time. Clients see their treatment’s real length, and you can still book clients in yourself at any time.
I marked an appointment by mistake. Can I change it back?
Yes. Open the appointment: a cancelled or no-show booking has a Reinstate button, and a completed one has Reopen. Both put it back to confirmed.
Can I set up a repeat booking?
Yes. Open the appointment and choose Make this a recurring booking. Pick how often it repeats (every 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks) and, if you like, stop it after a number of visits or on an end date, then click Start series. Each booking is created automatically 14 days before it’s due, and the client gets their usual confirmation and reminders. You can Pause series, Resume series or End series from any appointment in it, bookings already created stay as they are. If the time is already taken when a visit comes due, that visit is skipped, so check the series now and then.
How do I close for a holiday or stop last-minute bookings?
Go to Opening hours. Under Closures and holidays, add a closure for the dates you’re away. It covers the whole day unless you set specific hours for a partial day, and those times disappear from your booking page. To stop short-notice bookings, set Minimum booking notice (in hours) with your weekly hours, and online slots inside that window won’t show. You can still book clients in yourself during a closure; you’ll just see a warning first. To change a closure’s dates or times later, click it in your list of closures and save your changes.
How far ahead can clients book?
As far ahead as they like, unless you set a limit. On Opening hours, under How far ahead clients can book, pick a number of days, weeks or months, or leave it on No limit. It rolls forward, so each new day opens up another day at the far end. It covers treatments and tanning sessions booked online; appointments already in your diary stay where they are, and you and your team can still book further ahead yourselves.
Can I see my bookings in my phone's calendar?
Yes. In Settings, scroll to Sync to your phone calendar and subscribe to the link in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or another calendar app. On iPhone, open it in Safari and tap Subscribe. New bookings and changes then show up automatically. Client notes are left out to keep health information private. If the link is ever shared by mistake, click Reset link and subscribe again.

Treatments and prices

How do I change my prices from a future date?

On the Treatments page, open Schedule a price change and pick the day the new prices start. Then either change the treatments you tick by a percentage or a set amount (up or down, with the option to round to the nearest £1), or type a new price for each treatment. Free treatments aren’t ticked for you.

New prices start at midnight UK time on that day. Anyone booking an appointment on or after it automatically pays the new price, even if they book today, and your booking page shows the new price and the date it starts. Appointments before that date keep today’s price. Each treatment can have one scheduled change at a time, so cancel the existing change before setting a different one.

What happens to bookings already made when I change my prices?

They don’t change on their own. After you schedule a change, a pop-up lists bookings already made for dates on or after the start date. Ones still at the old price are ticked; ones booked at a different price are listed unticked, showing what they were booked at. Tick the ones to move to the new price, or keep their current prices. If you’d rather decide later, you can review them from the Treatments page at any time, even after the new prices have started. Updating a booking doesn’t send the client anything, and deposits already paid stay the same.

You can cancel a scheduled change before it starts. You’ll be asked to confirm, and you can move any bookings already made at the new price back to the current price.

Can I hide a treatment or choose who does it?
Yes, edit the treatment on the Treatments page. Untick Active to hide it from your booking page (your reports keep its history). Tick Staff only to keep it off your booking page while you can still book it in yourself. Featured pins it to the top of your booking page. If you have a team, Practitioners who can do this sets who clients can book it with.
Can I work from more than one place?

Yes. On Settings → Venues add each place you work from, your own salon, a room you rent in someone else’s, a clinic you visit on Saturdays. Give each one an address and the days and hours you’re there. Leave a venue’s hours blank and it uses your usual opening hours.

Then edit a treatment on the Treatments page and tick the venues you do it at. Clients booking that treatment pick where they’d like to come, and only see times that venue is open. If a treatment is only done at one venue, there’s nothing to pick. The venue’s address is what they see on their confirmation and in their email, and it’s on the appointment in your calendar.

You can’t be booked at two venues at the same time. The one exception is a venue another person runs. Tick Someone else runs this venue and its diary is kept separate, so a colleague can be treating someone there while you’re at your own place.

If you work from one place, you don’t need any of this. Leave Venues empty and everything works as it always has.

Can I run a discount or special offer?

Yes. Open Offers (next to Treatments), give the offer a name your clients will see, and choose how much off: a percentage, or an amount in pounds. Then pick the dates it runs and whether it’s for all your treatments or just some.

Your booking page shows the offer on the treatments it covers, with the usual price crossed out while it’s on. Any booking for an appointment on those dates is priced with it, whether the client books online or you book them in yourself, and the deposit is worked out on the offer price. The appointment shows which offer it got and how much it saved.

Bookings made before you set the offer up keep their price, and so do bookings you move to another day. You can change an offer or stop it early at any time.

Money

Who pays the card-processing fees?
You do, but it comes out of each payment, not your Covered Beauty subscription. Card payments are taken on your own Stripe account, so Stripe deducts its standard UK processing fee before the money lands in your bank. We don’t add anything on top or take a cut, and refunds come out of your Stripe balance too.
When do deposits hit my bank account?
Stripe pays out daily by default, so most owners see deposits in their bank within a few working days of the booking. You can change this to weekly or monthly in your Stripe dashboard. Go to Payouts and click Open Stripe dashboard. The Payouts page also shows which Stripe account you’re connected to.
How do I refund a client?
Open the appointment, find the card payment in its payments list and click Refund, then confirm. This refunds whatever’s left of that payment in full, back to the original card, and usually reaches the client within 5–10 working days. It comes out of your Stripe balance. For a partial refund, use your Stripe dashboard (from the Payouts page) and it’ll show on the appointment once Stripe confirms it. To record a cash or bank transfer refund, add it as a manual payment on the appointment and choose Refund.
What does my Covered Beauty subscription include?
Solo (£9/mo) covers a single team member. Salon (£19/mo) covers up to five, each with their own login. New salons start with a free trial. Both plans include unlimited bookings, deposits, email reminders, 50 free texts a month, medical forms, gift vouchers, loyalty points, reports, a free directory listing and email support. There’s no per-booking fee or commission. Stripe’s payment processing fees still apply. The only optional extra is buying more texts if you need them.
How do gift vouchers work?

Once your bank is connected on the Payouts page, anyone can buy a voucher from the Gift Cards link on your booking page: £25, £50, £75, £100, £150 or any amount from £5 to £1,000. The money goes to your Stripe account, and the code is emailed to the buyer, and to the person it’s for, if the buyer adds their email. The Gift vouchers page lists every voucher, gives you a buy link to share, and lets you issue a complimentary voucher.

Clients can use a code when paying their deposit online: if it covers the deposit, no card is needed, and if not, they pay the difference by card. At the salon, open the appointment and enter the code under Got a voucher?. Each voucher is used in full on one booking, and any value left over isn’t kept for later.

How does the loyalty programme work?
It’s off until you switch it on in Settings → Loyalty programme. Choose how many points clients earn per £1 spent, what to call the points, and your redemption rule, for example, spend 100 points for £10 off. Points are added automatically when you mark an appointment completed. When a client has enough, open their appointment and use the redeem button in the payments panel to take the discount off.

Messages and reminders

Do you send text reminders?

Yes. Every salon gets 50 free texts a month, which reset on the 1st. Switch reminders on in Settings → Text reminders and choose when they go out: 1 hour, 3 hours, 24 hours or 2 days before. With reminders on, clients also get a text when their booking is confirmed, moved or cancelled.

Texts go to UK mobile numbers and are kept to one message (160 characters). You can change the reminder wording in Email and text wording, send a one-off message from an appointment with Text this client, and try it on your own phone with Send test SMS (a test uses one of your texts). Email reminders are included on every plan and don’t use your texts.

What happens when I run out of texts?
Texts use your free monthly allowance first, then any texts you’ve bought. When both run out, texts pause until you top up or your free texts reset on the 1st, so there are never any surprise charges. We email you when you’re down to your last 5 texts, and again if they pause. To top up, go to Settings → Text reminders and click Buy more texts: 150 texts for £6.50, charged to the card on your subscription. Bought texts never expire, and email reminders keep going either way.
Which emails do clients get, and can I change them?
As standard, clients get a booking confirmation, reminders 3 days before, the day before and 2 hours before, a cancellation email if their booking is cancelled, and a review request the morning after their visit. If you use medical forms, they’re reminded 48 hours before if their form isn’t done. You can edit or switch off any of them in Email and text wording , open an email to change its subject and wording, or untick Enabled to stop it. Emails are sent in your salon’s name, and if you add an email under Booking notifications in Settings, client replies go straight to it.
How do aftercare emails work?
They’re off until you switch them on. On the Aftercare page, tick Send aftercare emails, choose how many hours after the appointment ends they go out, and write the email every client gets. If some treatments need their own advice, open that category further down, tick the box to send different notes and write them. Clients who had a treatment in that category get that version instead. Only clients who actually attended are sent aftercare.
Can I send a text to lots of clients at once?
Yes, with Campaigns. Start a new campaign and write your message. Choose who gets it: everyone, lapsed clients, birthdays this month or your top spenders. Then send it now or schedule it. Campaigns only go to clients who have agreed to marketing and have a UK mobile, and every text includes an unsubscribe link. Clients can opt in with the optional marketing tick box when they book online. Campaign texts use your free monthly texts first, then any you’ve bought.
How do I get clients to come back?
Smart rebooking works out when each client is likely due their next visit and lists them, so you can nudge them yourself or let the automatic email go out each morning. Each client gets one nudge, not one per treatment. To use a fixed gap for a treatment, set Rebook every (days) on it in Treatments. For clients who’ve drifted away, the Win back tab on Clients shows everyone who hasn’t visited in the last 30, 60, 90 or 180 days.
How do reviews work?
The morning after a visit, clients get an email asking how it went. Their rating and comment show on your booking page with just their first name. If you add your Google review URL in Settings, clients who give 4 or 5 stars are also invited to review you on Google. You can edit or switch off the review request in Email and text wording.

Clients

Can I change a client's name, email or phone number?
Yes. Open the client from Clients, click Edit details under their name, and change their name, email, mobile or date of birth, handy for a misspelt name or a new surname. Their bookings, notes and history stay attached, and if they have a card saved, Stripe is updated to match. Each client needs their own email address, so two clients can’t share one.
How do consent / medical forms work?

Build your forms on the Medical forms page and choose which treatments each one applies to. When a client books one of those treatments, their confirmation email includes a secure link to complete the form before they arrive, and they’re reminded 48 hours before if it’s still not done. If they arrive without it, use Hand to client so they can fill it in on your tablet. Set a kiosk PIN in Settings → Kiosk PIN first: while your client has the device it shows only their form, until someone from your team enters the PIN. Forms are version-pinned, so a regulator years later can see exactly what questions were asked at the time.

Don’t need forms, for example, as a hair salon? Switch off Require medical forms on the same page and clients won’t be asked. We treat health information as UK GDPR Article 9 special-category data and only collect it with explicit consent. Staff need the Forms permission to see clients’ answers.

Can clients add their appointment to their calendar or phone wallet?
Yes. The confirmation page lets clients add the booking to their calendar, or subscribe once so every future booking, change and cancellation with you shows up automatically in Apple or Google Calendar. Where available, the confirmation page and email also offer Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet. Notes about their treatment are never included.
A client has asked me to delete their data. How do I do that under GDPR?
On the client’s profile, click Erase client data, then Confirm erasure. Their name, email, phone and notes are anonymised immediately and their form answers are cleared, while financial and appointment records are kept without their personal details for 7 years, as HMRC requires. The erasure is logged in the audit trail. If a client asks for a copy of their data instead, use Export all data (JSON) on the same profile.

Your team

How do I invite my staff?
Go to Team and fill in Invite a team member: their email, name and job role, whether it’s a staff or owner account, and the access they start with. Click Send invite and they’ll get an email to set their own password; they show as pending until they sign in. The Solo plan has one seat and Salon has up to five. You can switch plans on Billing.
Can I control what each staff member can see and change?
Yes. Click their name on the Team page. Quick set applies a ready-made level in one click: Full access; Standard (practitioner), who books and sees the whole diary but can only change their own bookings; or Reception (front desk), who runs everyone’s diary but can’t reach settings, money or reports. Or personalise it: choose whether they see all calendars or only their own bookings, whether they can edit everyone’s bookings or only their own, and tick the pages they can use. Removing someone from the team takes their access away straight away.
Can each practitioner have their own hours and treatments?
Yes. On a team member’s page, click Set hours to give them their own working hours. Clients can only book them when the salon is open and they’re working. To choose who does what, edit a treatment on the Treatments page and tick Practitioners who can do this. If you have more than one practitioner, clients can pick who they’d like when they book, or choose Any available.

Sharing your salon

How do clients find my booking page?
Every salon gets a clean URL like your-salon.beauty.covered.technology. Find it on the Share booking page page, along with links to single treatments, ready-written messages and a QR code for your salon window. Share it on Instagram or in your email signature, and follow the Get found on Google steps on the same page to add your booking link to your Google Business Profile.
Can I use my own domain like book.mysalon.co.uk?
Yes. In Settings → Custom domain add your domain, then add the CNAME record we show you (for example on book) with your domain provider. Click Refresh status once it’s done, when it turns green, your booking page is live on your own domain. That’s usually within an hour of the DNS change.
Will my salon show up on Covered Beauty's directory?
Yes, if you choose to. In Settings, under Marketplace listing, tick Show on marketplace and add a short description, your address and your Instagram or website. The /explore page shows every listed salon with their treatments and a “Book” button. It’s free, no listing fee, no commission. If your salon already appears there under More local salons, use the claim link on the listing to sign up.

Your account

Can I get alerts on my phone when someone books?
Yes. If you use the Covered Beauty Salon app on your iPhone, allow notifications when it asks and you’ll get alerts for new bookings, cancellations and 15 minutes before each appointment. Choose which ones you get in Settings → Notifications , these settings are just for you, so each team member picks their own. New bookings are also emailed to you and your team, and you can send a copy to a shared inbox with Send every new booking to this email too in Settings.
Can I add two-factor authentication?
Yes. Visit Settings → Security and two-factor and scan the QR code with any authenticator app (Authy, Google Authenticator, 1Password). After that, signing in needs your password plus the 6-digit code. You’ll also get 10 recovery codes: keep them somewhere safe, and if you lose your phone, choose Use a recovery code when you sign in. We strongly recommend two-factor for owners.
How do I cancel my subscription?
On Billing click Cancel subscription and confirm in Stripe’s secure portal. Your account stays active until the end of the period you’ve already paid for, or the end of your free trial. If you change your mind, you can restart your subscription from Billing. To remove your login and your salon’s data altogether, delete your account instead.
How do I delete my account?
Go to Your account (from Settings, or on a phone tap More, then Manage account). Type DELETE and click Permanently delete my account. It happens straight away and can’t be undone. If you’re the only owner of a salon, the salon is deleted too, all its appointments, clients, treatments, forms and reports, and your subscription is cancelled so you won’t be billed again. If you’re staff, you’re just removed from the salon and its records stay. Want a copy first? Export everything from Data export and import before you delete.

Privacy and security

Where is my data stored?
Your salon’s database is hosted in the UK, and card payments are handled by Stripe in Ireland. Some of the services we rely on, such as web hosting, email and text message delivery, are based outside the UK, with safeguards like standard contractual clauses in place. Our full list of processors, including where each one is based, is on the subprocessors page.
How is my clients' data protected?
We treat client records as sensitive health data under UK GDPR. Each salon is the data controller for their own clients’ data, and Covered Beauty processes it on their behalf. We provide a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) automatically when you sign up, which you can read any time at /dpa. Data is stored in the UK, and our full security practices are documented at /security.
Is something not working? How do I check?
Visit /status , the page probes our database, Stripe, email and background jobs live and shows you exactly which subsystem is having a problem (if any). Page auto-refreshes every minute. If everything’s green but something still looks wrong on your end, email hello@covered.technology.
I've found a security issue. How do I report it?
Email hello@covered.technology. We acknowledge within three working days. Our security.txt is at /.well-known/security.txt.

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