How to add online booking to your small business website

A booking by phone needs someone to pick up, and it only works while you can answer. With online booking, customers pick a free time on your website when it suits them, and the booking is in your inbox when you look.

This guide covers what a booking page needs, how to add one with frascati, our website and app builder, what it costs, and what its online booking does not do, so you can decide whether it fits your business.

What a booking page needs

• What can be booked: each service with how long it takes, like a 60 minute haircut or a table for two hours. A price next to it helps people choose.
• How many bookings can run at once: one if you work alone, the number of chairs or rooms if there are more, the number of seats for a restaurant.
• When people can book: your opening hours for each weekday, with breaks.
• How far ahead people can book, and how short the notice may be, so nobody books the slot that starts in ten minutes.
• A confirmation by email, ideally with a calendar entry, and a reminder before the appointment.
• A way to cancel, so a slot that is no longer needed goes back to someone else.
• Only times that are really free. Two people should never get the last place.

Add it to your website with frascati

Ask for it in the chat and say what can be booked, when, and how many at once. frascati builds a booking page in the design of your website and sets up the services, the opening hours and the places.

Nobody can book without opening hours, so frascati asks for them when they are missing. Setting it up is a change like any other and uses credits; the bookings themselves use none. Later you change everything in the chat, like “Close at 22 on Sundays” or “Guests can book up to 30 days ahead”.

What you can set

• Up to 30 services, each from 5 minutes to 12 hours long, with a price shown next to it if you like.
• Places: how many bookings run at the same time. For tables, every guest takes a seat, and one booking can be for up to 100 people. A service can also have places of its own, like a second room.
• Opening hours for each weekday, with up to six time ranges a day. A booking always ends before closing time.
• A new start time every 5 to 240 minutes, like every 30 minutes.
• How far ahead: from 1 day to a year.
• The shortest notice: from right away to 14 days.
• Confirmation: automatic, or you confirm each request yourself.
• A phone number: optional, or required with every booking.

Six of the website templates come with booking set up: Restaurant, Hair salon, Yoga studio, Dental practice, Coach and Joinery workshop. Opening a template uses no credits; then you change it to your business in the chat.

What your customers get

• They choose what to book and, for a table, how many people come. Only days and times with a free place are shown.
• They pick a day and a time and give their name and email address, and a phone number if you ask for one.
• Right after, they get an email: a confirmation with a calendar file and a Google Calendar link, or, if you confirm yourself, a note that you will answer the request.
• The day before, they get a reminder, if they booked at least a day ahead.
• The emails have a link to view the booking and cancel it until it starts. They come in your website's name, and a reply goes to you.

The emails are in the language of your website: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch, and in English for any other. frascati locks the day while it saves a booking, so two people never get the last place at the same time.

What you see

• Every booking appears in the Cloud tab of the editor, grouped by day, and you get an email for each new booking, each request and each booking a customer cancels.
• Requests you confirm or decline there, and the customer gets an email either way.
• Close single days, like a holiday, or pause bookings for the whole website. Existing bookings stay, and none of this uses credits.
• Download all bookings as a CSV file, or pass each new booking on to Zapier, Make or n8n.
• Try it in the preview first: bookings made there are marked Test and take no place. The emails still go out, so use your own address.

A hidden field and a time check stop robots. A visitor can book up to 6 times in 10 minutes, one email address up to 5 times a day, and a website takes up to 40 bookings an hour.

What it costs

Online booking is part of every plan, from Starter at $12 a month, and the bookings use no credits. Every plan starts with a free 3-day trial with 20 credits: you add a card and can cancel before the trial ends at no cost. A domain of your own comes with Pro and Business.

What it does not do

• Customers do not pay when they book. A price next to a service is only shown.
• There are no calendars for single staff members. frascati counts free places, so customers cannot pick a particular person, like their hairdresser.
• There is no sync with Google Calendar, Outlook or other calendars. Bookings stay in the Cloud tab, reach you by email and can go on to Zapier, Make or n8n.
• Customers cannot move a booking. They cancel with their link and book again.
• Courses and events on fixed dates are not booked this way. They get a sign-up form that fills a Cloud table.
• Emails only, no text messages.

Already use a booking service such as Calendly, Cal.com, OpenTable, SimplyBook or Doctolib? Ask frascati for a button that opens it. It does not embed other booking widgets, because they break inside the published website.

Frequently asked questions

Does online booking cost extra?

No. It is part of every plan, and bookings use no credits. Setting it up in the chat is billed like any other change.

Can I confirm each booking myself?

Yes. Say so in the chat. The customer first gets a note that the request arrived, and you confirm or decline it in the Cloud tab. The customer gets an email either way.

What happens when a customer cancels?

The place is free again at once, and you get an email. Customers can cancel with the link in their emails until the booking starts.

Can I close the booking for my holidays?

Yes. In the Cloud tab, close single days, or pause bookings for the whole website until you take them again.