Bookings

Everything in the journal tagged Bookings.

Running the business
Moving counter forms and waivers onto the customer's phone
Registration forms and signed statements on paper slow the busiest hour and bury the records. What changes when customers fill them in on their own phone.
16 September 20265 min read
Being found
Selling the empty days of September
August is full whatever you do. September and October are where a Greek tourism business's year is actually won or lost. Why the shoulder season needs its own page, its own message and its own guests.
18 August 20263 min read
Running the business
Ski rental fleets are planned in August, not December
The decisions that shape a ski shop's winter — which skis to buy, which to retire, which sizes ran out — are made in summer. They are only as good as last season's records.
6 August 20263 min read
Building software
August is not the month to change your booking system
For a seasonal business, when a new system goes live matters as much as what it does. Why I push back on mid-season launches, and what a sensible calendar for a software project looks like.
2 July 20263 min read
Running the business
Is the 12th of September free? Enquiries at wedding and christening venues
Venues and caterers answer the same first question hundreds of times a year: is our date free? How to turn it into a booked visit instead of a lost afternoon, mid wedding season.
22 June 20263 min read
Running the business
The withdrawal button: what changes for online shops from 19 June
From tomorrow, EU online shops must let customers withdraw from a purchase with a clearly labelled button. What it has to do, who is exempt, and what to check on your own shop tonight.
18 June 20263 min read
Running the business
Before the guest arrives: the messages that save your reception an hour a day
Most questions a guest asks on arrival could have been answered a week earlier. What a small hotel, holiday let or activity business should send between booking and arrival, and in which languages.
15 May 20263 min read
Running the business
The empty chair: no-shows at salons and beauty studios
A two-hour colour appointment that does not turn up is an afternoon's income gone. How salons and beauty studios can cut no-shows fairly: reminders, clear rules, deposits where they count.
5 May 20263 min read
Building software
Appointment requests or live booking? What suits a private practice
Letting patients pick a slot online sounds obviously better. For many practices it is not. How to choose between a request form and real-time booking, and what each one needs behind it.
24 April 20263 min read
Running the business
Two Easters, one booking calendar
Western Easter fell on 5 April this year and Greek Orthodox Easter falls on 12 April. For tourism businesses that means two weeks of demand, closures and questions.
8 April 20263 min read
Running the business
Class booking for a gym, without the group chat
Small gyms and studios often run class places through a messaging group and a notebook. Why that breaks as the timetable grows, and what self-service booking changes for members and staff.
4 March 20263 min read
Running the business
The table for twelve that never came: reservations and no-shows at a taverna
A seaside taverna in August lives on its tables. A group that does not turn up on a Saturday night costs more than any other mistake. What to do about it without insulting regulars.
3 February 20263 min read
Running the business
When a practice's appointment book lives in one person's head
Small practices run on a diary, a spreadsheet and whoever answers the phone. What that costs when that person is off sick, and what a practice needs instead.
19 January 20263 min read
Running the business
The summer season is decided in January
For a seasonal business, the months when nobody is booking are the only months you can fix how bookings work. A short list of what to do before the first enquiry arrives.
8 January 20263 min read
Running the business
What a booking system actually saves
A dive centre in Mykonos cut no-shows from 23% to 3%. The interesting part is not the software — it is which part of the job it removed.
11 March 20252 min read

Bookings

Moving counter forms and waivers onto the customer's phone

Selling the empty days of September

Ski rental fleets are planned in August, not December

August is not the month to change your booking system

Is the 12th of September free? Enquiries at wedding and christening venues

The withdrawal button: what changes for online shops from 19 June

Before the guest arrives: the messages that save your reception an hour a day

The empty chair: no-shows at salons and beauty studios

Appointment requests or live booking? What suits a private practice

Two Easters, one booking calendar

Class booking for a gym, without the group chat

The table for twelve that never came: reservations and no-shows at a taverna

When a practice's appointment book lives in one person's head

The summer season is decided in January

What a booking system actually saves