You’ve lost count of the empty chairs on a Saturday morning. The client who booked your senior stylist for a full balayage? Gone. No call, no text. That’s three hours and $400 you’ll never get back, and it’s happening more often than it should.
No-shows and last-minute cancellations don’t just wreck your schedule. They cost you real money, stress out your team, and leave you scrambling to fill prime slots. So we’ve taken booking deposits one step further.

What’s new

Until now, you could only request a booking deposit through online booking, and only as an all-or-nothing rule for every online client. That left a big gap.
Following the launch of ShortcutsPay (our fully integrated payments platform powered by Stripe), we’re closing it. You can now request a deposit from any appointment, no matter how it was booked: phone bookings, walk-ins, in person, the lot.
It all happens from the Touch Tip, the quick-action panel that opens when you tap an appointment in your Appointment Book. The redesigned Touch Tip now lets you:

• • Request a deposit from any appointment in a couple of taps
  • See at a glance whether a deposit is paid or still outstanding
  • Send a reminder, and see how many have already gone out, without leaving the screen

No more all-or-nothing. No more hunting through emails. Every booking protected, every channel covered.

Stop leaving money on the table

Here’s the reality: most of your bookings don’t come through online booking at all. Across the industry, only around 15-20% of salon appointments are booked online. The other 75-80% come through the phone, the front desk, or a walk-in. Until now, that majority of your appointments couldn’t be secured with a deposit at all.
Now they can. With this enhancement you can finally:

• • Secure a deposit upfront for every appointment: phone bookings, walk-ins, the lot.
  • Keep cash flow moving: even through quiet weeks.
  • Decide what happens to each deposit: apply it as credit, keep it as a cancellation fee, or refund it when you choose.
  • Capture every payment through a simple, secure, PCI-compliant workflow.

And here’s the bonus: salons report up to a 30% higher average spend when clients pay a deposit. When someone’s already financially committed, they’re far more likely to say yes to that treatment upgrade or add-on.

Your revenue is protected, no matter how clients book.

Cut no-shows by up to 70%

Let’s be honest: some clients are repeat offenders. They book, they cancel, they rebook. It’s exhausting, and it’s expensive.

Deposits change the game. Salons using them report cutting no-shows by up to 70%. That means:

• • Fewer awkward conversations about missed appointments
  • A team that stays busy and happy instead of waiting around
  • You stay covered even when someone doesn’t show: the deposit is yours.

You can even request deposits from specific clients only, right as you build the appointment. Three no-shows from the same person? Next time, they pay upfront.

Cut no-shows by up to 70%, and fill those chairs instead.

A consistent, professional experience for your clients

Ever felt awkward asking for a deposit over the phone, or worried about seeming “too pushy” with a walk-in? When deposits are built into your process, it stops being personal. It’s simply how your salon works.

• • Send automated reminders: so clients never “forget” their deposit.
  • Customise the messaging: so it sounds like your salon, not a robot.
  • Show clients exactly what they’re paying and why: building trust instead of tension.

Whether a deposit was requested online or in person, your clients get the same clear, professional experience, and you get clear salon policies that set expectations from the start.
Professional, transparent, and consistent for every client.

Be strategic about when and who pays

You don’t need a deposit on every single haircut. But that bridal party booked for six hours on a Saturday in December? Absolutely.
You’re in control:

• • Charge deposits during your busiest periods (hello, Christmas and wedding season).
  • Protect appointments with your most in-demand stylists
  • Require upfront payment from first-timers or clients with a history of cancellations
  • Set a custom amount and adjust it any time to suit a seasonal promo, a peak period, or a new client.

Your salon, your rules. Deposits work the way you need them to.

Even better together with ShortcutsPay terminal

Bring the checkout to the chair with a wireless terminal, tap or insert, wherever the service happens.

Booking deposits and ShortcutsPay are built to work hand in hand.

ShortcutsPay (powered by Stripe) brings all your payments, online and in person, into one integrated platform, with next-business-day settlement and reconciliation that takes care of itself. Pair it with booking deposits and you get a genuinely seamless journey from booking to bank: the deposit, the in-person payment, and the end-of-day reconciliation all flow through one connected system, with everything tracked in one place.

Already on ShortcutsPay? Your deposits slot straight into the same unified reporting as the rest of your takings, with no disconnected systems and no manual matching.
Not on ShortcutsPay yet? No problem. You can start using booking deposits today without opting into ShortcutsPay. The feature works perfectly well on its own. ShortcutsPay simply makes a great thing even smoother whenever you’re ready.

Protect your revenue before the rush hits

The busy season is coming. Don’t let no-shows and last-minute cancellations cost you thousands in lost revenue.
Setting up deposits takes minutes, and our team can walk you through it. Start capturing deposits in person, over the phone, and online today, and take back control of your calendar.

Setting up deposits takes minutes, and our team can walk you through it. Start capturing deposits in person, over the phone, and online today, and take back control of your calendar.

→ Set up deposits in a few steps: see the Knowledge Base
→ Prefer a hand? Talk to our team
→ New to deposits? Learn how it works