Services: How to Set Up Your Service Catalog and Improve Booking Efficiency

The Services section is the foundation of everything in the system. This is where you build the catalog that drives online booking, staff scheduling, and the overall client experience. A poorly structured catalog leads to scheduling confusion, booking errors, and lost revenue. The right setup takes care of all of this at once.

Catalog Structure: Clients Find What They Need Fast #

If a client cannot figure out your service list in a few seconds, they will close the booking form. In Altegio, services are organized into categories: haircuts, coloring, manicure, cosmetology, massage. A clear structure shortens the path from “I want to book” to “booking confirmed” and reduces the load on administrators who no longer need to walk clients through the list.

Assigning Services to Specialists: Clients Reach the Right Master #

In most salons, different masters perform different procedures. When this is not reflected in the system, administrators manually track who does what, and mistakes happen. In Altegio, each service is assigned to specific staff members, so clients only see the specialists who actually perform the chosen service. This eliminates situations where a client books with a master who does not offer that procedure.

Flexible Pricing by Skill Level: A Tool for Growing Average Order Value #

The trainee, master, senior master tier system is standard in service businesses. But if all tiers are priced the same, you are either undercharging for your top masters or pricing out clients at the trainee level.

In Altegio, you can set different prices for the same service depending on the specialist. Clients choose the balance between price and expertise themselves, and you get the right average order value at every level without manual coordination.

For example, a haircut with a trainee costs 15,000 tenge, while a senior master charges 35,000 tenge. Clients see the difference when booking and make their own choice.

Online Booking Controls: You Stay in Charge of Your Schedule #

Not every service needs to be open for online booking at all times. If a specialist is fully booked or there are not enough staff in a shift, you can temporarily turn off online booking for that service.

In Altegio, you can enable or disable online booking for any service at any moment. This is useful when a top master is on vacation, part of the team is unavailable, or you want to limit bookings during peak periods.

For example, before a long holiday weekend, the administrator turns off online booking for coloring because all slots are already taken. New clients do not accidentally end up on a waitlist, and the salon does not take on commitments it cannot fulfill.

Prepayment: Protection Against Cancellations on High-Value Services #

A lengthy procedure with a busy specialist is reserved time that is hard to fill at short notice. If a client cancels on the day of their visit, the slot is simply lost.

For these services, Altegio lets you require prepayment at the time of online booking. This is especially relevant for premium hair treatments and procedures with top masters who have packed schedules. Prepayment does not deter serious clients, but it filters out those who book just in case.

For example, after introducing a 30% prepayment for coloring appointments, same-day cancellations dropped to nearly zero.

Bills of materials: Automatic Inventory Tracking #

If consumables are tracked manually or not tracked at all, your actual stock will not match what the system shows. This leads to unexpected shortages in the middle of a working day.

In Altegio, you can attach a bill of material to any procedure listing the materials required: dye, developer, disposables. Once a visit is completed, the system automatically deducts everything from inventory. Tracking consumables becomes a background process rather than manual work.

Combined Services: Higher Ticket per Visit #

Manicure and pedicure at the same time, a four-hands massage, complex coloring with two masters. These are procedures clients are willing to pay more for because they value their time.

In Altegio, these formats are set up as combined services involving multiple specialists with a dedicated price. You offer a premium experience, and the system handles the workload distribution between masters.

For example, a salon introduces “manicure plus pedicure simultaneously” as a separate service with two masters. The client saves an hour of time and pays more for the combined service than they would for each one separately.

Technical Breaks: Service Quality Without Burnout #

When bookings run back to back with no gaps, masters do not have time to prepare their workstation, and service quality suffers. In Altegio, you can add a technical break after any service — time for sterilizing tools, cleaning up, or preparing equipment. The system factors this into the schedule automatically, and the next booking only starts once everything is ready.

For example, after every manicure the system reserves 10 minutes for tool sterilization. The next client does not wait, and the master is never rushed.

Resources: No More Double-Booked Rooms or Equipment #

In beauty and medical centers, bookings depend not only on specialist availability but also on whether a room or piece of equipment is free. If the system does not track this, two clients can end up in the same room at the same time.

In Altegio, equipment and rooms are attached to services as resources. When a booking is made, the system automatically checks availability and blocks conflicting slots.

For example, if your salon has one tanning bed, attaching it to the service as a resource means the system will never allow two clients to book it at the same time.

Multilingual Catalog: Booking Without Language Barriers #

If your clients speak different languages, the service catalog can be translated: Polish and English, Czech and Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh. Each client sees the services in their own language when booking online. A clear, familiar experience builds trust and increases conversion.

For example, your salon is in Warsaw and some of your clients are Ukrainian speakers. While the catalog is only in Polish, they call the administrator to ask what is included in a service. Once the translation is added, those calls stop and bookings come in directly through the form.

Quick Start: Upload Your Catalog from Excel #

If your service list already exists in another system or spreadsheet, there is no need to recreate it manually. Services can be imported into Altegio via Excel, which is especially convenient when migrating from another platform or setting up a new account.

How to Set Up Services #

To create categories, add services, assign staff, configure prices, translations, and resources, follow the step-by-step guides in the articles within this section. Each step is covered separately, so you can work through them in order or come back to a specific one whenever you need it.