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Bookings
Appointments and walk-ins in one calm, live flow
CheckIn manages every scheduled booking and every walk-in in a single live board, moving each client through a clear six-stage lifecycle so your team always knows who is next, who is being served, and what is finished.
Most booking tools pretend walk-ins do not exist
Booking-first software was built around one assumption: a client already has an appointment. A walk-in is the absence of that appointment, so it gets bolted onto the side, scribbled on a clipboard, or lost between two screens that do not talk to each other.
For a busy nail salon or day spa, that split is where the day falls apart. The front desk juggles a paper waitlist for walk-ins and a separate calendar for bookings, double-books a tech, or loses track of who has been waiting longest. Clients feel the friction, and so does your team.
CheckIn closes the gap. Scheduled bookings and walk-ins sit in the same queue, on the same board, with the same status model. There is one source of truth for the day, not two tools fighting over the same chairs.
How bookings move through the day
Every client, scheduled or walk-in, travels the same path from arrival to finished visit.
- 1
A client joins the board
A walk-in checks in at the kiosk or on their phone, or your front desk adds an appointment or phone-in by hand. Either way they land on the same live board with a daily ticket number.
- 2
Waiting, in order
New arrivals sit in the waiting state, ordered fairly so the front desk can see at a glance who has been waiting longest and who is up next.
- 3
Assigned to a staff member
You assign the next client to a specific staff member. Assignment is protected so two people cannot grab the same client at the same moment.
- 4
On the chair
When the service starts, the client moves to the on-chair state. The board shows who is working on whom, so anyone glancing at the screen sees the room in one look.
- 5
Completed
Marking a visit completed closes it out and automatically awards loyalty points for that visit. No separate step, no punch card.
- 6
Cancelled or no-show
If a client cancels or never arrives, you record it with a preset reason, so the board stays accurate and your reporting reflects what really happened.
What the bookings board covers
One queue for walk-ins and appointments
Scheduled bookings and walk-ins live in the same flow, not two disconnected tools. The front desk works one board, not a calendar plus a clipboard.
A six-stage lifecycle
Every booking moves through waiting, assigned, on-chair, and completed, with cancelled and no-show for the visits that do not finish. The status is always explicit.
Per-staff assignment
Assign each client to the right person, and see who is working on whom at a glance. Assignment is guarded so two staff cannot claim the same client at once.
A live view of the day
Calendar views lay out the day so you can see the shape of it: who is booked, who just walked in, and where the gaps are.
Real-time sync across devices
The board updates the instant anything changes. The waiting-room screen, the front desk, and a staff tablet all show the same truth at the same moment, with no refresh.
Cancellation handling with preset reasons
Record cancellations and no-shows against reasons you define once, so the team logs them consistently and the numbers stay clean.
Group check-ins
Add a family or a group of friends arriving together as one party, so a set of clients moves through the board without being split apart.
Loyalty on completion
Completing a visit awards loyalty points automatically, so your rewards program runs off the same board you already use to run the day.
Who it is for
Day spas blending bookings and walk-ins
Spas that take appointments for some services and welcome walk-ins for others get one flow that handles both, instead of two systems and a guess at who is next.
High-volume nail salons
Walk-in-heavy salons keep a fair, ordered line while still honoring booked clients, all on a board the whole team can read at a glance.
Head spas and salons of every kind
Hair, beauty, lash and brow, waxing, blow-dry, and massage and wellness teams run a calm front of house where every visit has a clear, visible status.
Multi-location owners
Each location runs its own live board with its own data, and owners get one account across every shop, cleanly separated and rolled up where it matters.
Questions, answered
Does CheckIn handle both appointments and walk-ins?
Yes. CheckIn puts scheduled bookings and walk-ins in the same live board with the same status model, so there is one source of truth for the day instead of a calendar and a separate paper waitlist.
What are the stages of a booking in CheckIn?
Every booking moves through a six-stage lifecycle: waiting, assigned, on-chair, and completed, plus cancelled and no-show for visits that do not finish. The status is always explicit and visible on the board.
Can two staff members accidentally take the same client?
No. When you assign a client to a staff member, the assignment is protected against two people grabbing the same client at the same moment, so the board stays accurate during a rush.
Does the bookings board update in real time?
Yes. CheckIn is genuinely real-time. Any check-in, assignment, or completion updates every connected screen instantly, so the waiting-room display, the front desk, and a staff tablet always match without anyone hitting refresh.
How are cancellations and no-shows recorded?
You record a cancellation or no-show against a preset reason that you define once. That keeps logging consistent across the team and keeps your reporting honest about what actually happened.
Can I add a phone-in or a walk-in by hand?
Yes. Your front desk can create a booking manually for a phone-in or a walk-in, and it lands on the same board as everything else. You can also check in groups arriving together as one party.
See CheckIn on your own salon’s flow
Book a 20-minute demo and we’ll show you the queue, kiosk and loyalty running on a setup like yours.