How to set up your salon & beauty business on Opraly (step-by-step)

Switching booking systems — or setting one up for the first time — can feel like a project you never have time for. It is not. This guide walks you through getting a salon, barbershop, spa or nail studio fully live on Opraly in one focused sitting, so customers can book you online by tonight. Follow the steps in order and you will finish with a branded booking page, a working calendar, and payments ready to take.

Before you start: what to have handy

You will move faster if these are within reach:

• Your services list with rough durations and prices.
• The names of your staff and what each person does.
• Your opening hours, including any split shifts or days off.
• A way to take payment (your card processor details, if you charge online).

That is it. You do not need a developer, a designer, or a free weekend.

Step 1 — Open your account

Head to the sign-up page and create your business. Opraly is a multi-vertical platform, so you will pick the kind of business you run — choose Appointments for a salon, barber, spa or nail studio. This quietly tailors everything that follows: the calendar, the booking page, and the language your customers see all assume an appointment-based business, so you are not fighting defaults built for a restaurant or a gym.

Add your business name, logo and brand colours next. This is what powers your branded booking page — customers book under your name, not a marketplace, from the very first appointment.

Step 2 — Build your services menu

Your services are the backbone of everything. For each one, set:

• Name — what the customer recognises (“Cut & finish”, “Gel manicure”, “60-min facial”).
• Duration — how long it actually takes, so the calendar blocks the right slot.
• Price — what you charge.
• Category — group services (Hair, Colour, Nails, Skin) so the booking page stays scannable.

Tips that save you headaches later

• Be honest about duration. A service set to 30 minutes that really takes 50 will quietly wreck your day. Padding for clean-up and consultation is fine.
• Split a “transformation” service into its real parts if pricing varies — you can attach different deposit rules to a quick trim versus a four-hour colour later.
• If a service needs a specific room or piece of equipment, note it now; you will assign it as a resource in the next step.

Step 3 — Add staff and resources

Add each team member and mark which services they perform. This matters for two reasons: customers can book a specific stylist, and the calendar will never offer a slot to someone who does not do that service.

Set staff roles and permissions while you are here. A front-desk role might manage the calendar and take payments but not see full reporting; a senior stylist might manage only their own column. You decide who sees what.

If your work depends on physical resources — a colour station, a spa room, a pedicure chair — add them too. Opraly treats a resource like a bookable thing, so it will not double-book the one facial room even if two therapists are free.

Step 4 — Set your hours

Enter your opening hours and each person’s working pattern. Handle the real-world stuff up front:

• Split shifts and staggered starts.
• Individual days off and holidays.
• Buffer time between appointments if you need to reset a station.

Your availability is simply your hours minus what is already booked, so getting this right means the booking page only ever offers slots you can actually staff.

Step 5 — Turn on online booking

Now publish your online booking page. Customers can self-serve 24/7: pick a service, choose a stylist (or “anyone”), see a real-time slot, and confirm. Share the link everywhere your customers already are:

• Your Instagram and Facebook bio.
• Your Google Business Profile.
• A “Book now” button on your website.
• Your email signature and text replies.

Behind the scenes it all lands on one calendar with day, week and month views and drag-to-reschedule, so a booking made online at 2am sits right beside the walk-in you added by hand.

Step 6 — Set up payments and your no-show policy

Connect payments so you can take deposits, tips and card-on-file. For a beauty business, two settings earn their keep immediately:

• Card-on-file — the customer saves a card at booking; nothing is charged up front, but your policy can capture a no-show fee if they ghost or cancel late.
• Deposits on high-demand services — take a portion up front for long colour or treatment slots.

Opraly lets you choose the capture timing per service:

We go deeper on getting the policy right — fair cancellation windows that protect your calendar without scaring people off — in how to grow your salon & beauty business with Opraly.

Step 7 — Add reminders and forms, then go live

Two final touches before you open the doors:

• Turn on appointment reminders plus reschedule and cancel notices. Most no-shows are just forgotten appointments; a timely reminder with a one-tap reschedule link fixes most of them. With 2-way messaging, clients can reply to ask a question or shift a time.
• If you offer treatments that need a consent or intake form — waxing, peels, certain spa services — attach it to the service so it is completed before the visit, not at the chair.

Then make a test booking yourself, end to end. Confirm the reminder fires, the deposit captures, and the appointment shows on your calendar. When it does, you are live.

Your first-day checklist

• Account created and Appointments vertical selected
• Logo and brand colours on the booking page
• Services with honest durations and prices
• Staff, roles and any resources added
• Hours and days off set
• Online booking link published everywhere
• Payments, deposits and card-on-file connected
• Reminders and any consent forms switched on
• One real test booking completed

What comes next

Setup gets you taking bookings. The next job is filling the calendar and growing revenue — using deposits, memberships, the walk-in queue, reviews and reporting. That is exactly what we cover in how to grow your salon & beauty business with Opraly. You can also see how the whole platform fits a salon, barber, spa or nail studio on the beauty industry page.

Ready to take your first booking? Start free and have your booking page live today.