Likelihood to Recommend Booker is very user friendly with videos to help our staff who are setting up schedules. It has very robust features that our school district didn't really need when we piloted it. It has a great option for widgets to be added to websites, whether district or school site. We find that the more widgets are available, the more appreciative our parents are. This is definitely a product that is used in the business world and not in the school district world so it doesn't really have the personalization we need as a school district or a school sites. Should the site change its potential customers, it would be a great fit for us because scheduling is very challenging in a large school district, be it at the district level or at individual school sites
Read full review Square is absolutely brilliant if you are just starting out and your business has both an in-person and an online component to it, as Square will solve both in-person POS and online booking/billing. Square also offers the option to create a free website for your company, though it is a very basic site, if you don't have a website yet, this is a VERY helpful option, as it takes away a huge cost. Square allowed us to be up and running in no time, taking away the need to worry about an expensive appointment-setting add-on from our current website provider (Square integrates quite nicely with our current site). Square is probably less ideal for more advanced users or companies with a need for more detailed inventory/service management. But even then, Square will more than likely be able to get the job done!
Read full review Pros Booker does very well as a point of sale program. From front desk check out to back end report generation, Booker gives us an accurate daily picture of business activity. Booker is very good at tracking gift certificate activity. We have a large number of gift certificates and are able to find, edit and void with ease. We are also able to look at the history for each individual certificate or series which helps in troubleshooting. I do not work with scheduling myself but staffers have found Booker to be a valuable tool for managing rooms and therapists. Read full review Sales pipeline Customer engagement Marketing Read full review Cons Booker has had some system failures recently that have caused a hard time for us. Sometimes Booker updates reset certain features which cause us to have to reset everything. The Booker app does not have the same features as the full site which sometimes does not make it easy for us. Read full review Some of the build quality on the peripherals could feel a bit better. Have more options for businesses with more credit card transactions such as monthly or discounted per transaction once a certain number is reached. Have functionality to allow for a typed card number without the higher fee if the software verifies there is a hardware/read error with the card. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Because I'm so familiar with it. I'll definitely reconsider.
Read full review Usability It gets the job done but is overly detailed and has many steps to do a simple task. Reports are continuously being archived and discontinued. As soon as I get used to one it is no longer available
Read full review The user interface is easy to navigate - that's not always the case for some software! I look for something that is intuitive, easy to use, and doesn't take a ton of training to get up and running quickly.
Read full review Support Rating Booker is not always that quick to respond however, I will say, they do research the problem before getting back to you which I do like. Overall, they are kind and helpful in their responses. Though one big concern is that when there is a larger issue, they are not the best at circling back and contacting us to let us know if or how it has been resolved.
Read full review Square is mostly focused on FAQs and online support, and they do a very good job creating a rich knowledge base. But, if you are not very tech savvy, it could be easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. I would recommend that they add a direct line or chat feature to call, rather than email or Knowledge base first. This might be due to staffing issues at Square, so perhaps it is the best they can do for now.
Read full review Implementation Rating As far as I know, implementing Booker into our business was fairly easy.
Read full review Alternatives Considered When we tried Micros, though it has robust hardware and software, It is not meant for salons. Square again the same thing, it is meant for small non salon and non service oriented businesses. Booker is by far the best of all salon softwares we have used.
Read full review Read full review Return on Investment Notifications are a great way that communicates to the customer their appointment confirmation, and appointment reminders. Increased employee / staff communication, they can now log in and see their schedules. Entering credit card at time of appointment reservation is helpful to us since we have a cancellation policy and keeps the client accountable if they are a no show or cancel last minute. Read full review This has allowed me to accept credit / debit transactions without having to have a monthly subscription to a service and lose money on times of no to little use, allowing me to have a broader customer range as checks are risky. All of my initial equipment was free and there were no startup costs so my return was immediate. The small fee taken out of the transaction is very much worth the ability to accept nearly all plastic transactions. Read full review ScreenShots