Salons, spas and venues

A salon, a spa or an events venue lives by its diary. Clients book a time with a stylist, a therapist or a space, arrive, are served, pay and come back. Kila keeps the diary, each client’s card, their deposits and packages, and what each stylist earned.

How Kila works for salons, spas and venues

• The main screen is the diary. At the till, the front desk has the diary by stylist beside the cart. Front desk shows the same diary for the managers: “The diary by stylist with who arrives, who waits, who is ready to pay and whom to confirm for tomorrow.”
• Each stylist has My day on their phone: today’s clients with what to know before each one, and what they earned.
• The client’s card keeps their visits, notes, allergies and patch tests, and at a spa their preferences and the consultation form.
• Money before and after the visit. A deposit when they book, a package paid in advance, or the visit charged at the till when it is done, with the stylist’s commission worked out from it.
• The words Kila uses: client and clients for customers, visit and visits for sales, and stylist in a salon or therapist in a spa for staff. An events venue says booking and coordinator.

Kila runs these kinds of business on the diary:

• Salon or barbershop
• Spa & wellness
• Events or venue

An events venue works differently, with spaces in place of stylists and a quote for each event: see Events or venue.

A day at the salon

1. Open. The front desk opens their shift on the till by counting the float: Open a shift.
2. Book clients as they call or message: Book a client. For long services, take a deposit to hold the time: Take a booking deposit.
3. Walk-ins join the queue and see their number on the walk-in screen: Serve walk-ins. Members check in with their number: Check in a member.
4. Clients arrive, are served and pay: Check in and charge a visit. What the stylist needs to know is on the card: Keep notes on a client’s card.
5. Before they leave, book the next visit: Rebook a client before they leave. Sell a card of visits paid in advance: Sell and use a package.
6. In the afternoon, confirm tomorrow’s clients: Confirm tomorrow’s clients.
7. Close. Each person on a till counts the drawer and closes their shift: Close a shift.
8. Watch the day. The owner’s home page shows the front desk now (1), today’s diary (2) and the walk-in queue (3), with the numbers, the day sheet and the sales by stylist. Commission and chair rent: Work out commission and Rent a chair to a stylist.

Zoom

The home page’s cards

Kila arranges an appointments owner’s home page with these cards. Each shows when its feature is on and your role may see it:

• My dayNot for: Events or venue
• The front desk nowNot for: Events or venue
• The numbers: utilisation, rebooking, retention, retailNot for: Events or venue
• Today's diary
• Walk-in queueNot for: Events or venue
• Day sheet
• Sales by staff member; commissions
• Packages expiring this week
• Rebooking rateNot for: Events or venue
• Waitlist, chair renters and birthdaysNot for: Events or venue
• Licences, permits and returns due
• Services due and reminders

Who does what

Role	What Kila says it is for
Owner	Full access to the business, including billing.
General manager	Runs operations across every branch.
Salon manager	Runs the floor: the diary, walk-ins, the waitlist, deposits and no-shows, chair renters’ rent and settlements, and messages to clients who agreed. No settings or users.
Receptionist	Runs the front desk: books, checks clients in, takes walk-ins and payment. Refunds go to approval.
Stylist	Sees their own column, starts and completes their bookings and writes client notes.
Therapist	The same for a spa’s therapists.
Chair renter	A self-employed stylist renting a chair: their own column, bookings and client notes. No other clients’ cards, takings or prices.
Events coordinator	Quotes events, holds spaces, takes deposits and confirms bookings; charges the event at the end. Refunds go to approval.
Cashier	Sells at the till and runs their own shift.
Accountant	Keeps the books, reconciles and pays.

An appointments business has Kila’s standard roles plus Receptionist, with Stylist, Salon manager and Chair renter for a salon, Therapist, Salon manager and Chair renter for a spa, and Events coordinator for a venue. The owner gives each person their roles under Users and roles.

Tasks for salons and spas

• Book a client
• Check in and charge a visit
• Rebook a client before they leave
• Take a booking deposit
• Serve walk-ins
• Confirm tomorrow’s clients
• Keep notes on a client’s card
• Sell and use a package
• Check in a member
• Work out commission
• Rent a chair to a stylist
• For a venue: Quote, confirm and charge an event

The Front desk menu also has the Waitlist, the Day sheet and the Numbers.

Set up a salon or spa

Kila’s set-up list for a new appointments business, in order. Kila ticks each step off from what you record:

1. Business details and KRA PIN
2. Branch and opening hours
3. Services with durations and prices
4. Staff with services, hours and commission
5. Lunch, breaks and days off on the diaryNot for: Events or venue
6. Deposits and no-show rules on servicesNot for: Events or venue
7. Packages or membershipsNot for: Events or venue
8. Chair renters and their rentNot for: Events or venue
9. M-Pesa till or paybill
10. Clients from your old book or phone
11. Retail and back-bar products (switch Stock on)Not for: Events or venue
12. Online booking link
13. First booking

Reports that matter here

Services › Commissions gives what each stylist earned (Work out commission), and the home page’s The numbers: utilisation, rebooking, retention, retail how full the diary was and how many clients came back. The standard reports are under Money › Reports. For a salon or spa, start with these:

Report	What Kila says it shows
Service performance	Bookings, completions, no-shows, staff utilisation and service revenue.
Sales by product or service	What sells: quantity, revenue and cost for every product and service.
Payment method summary	Cash, M-Pesa, card and credit received, and refunds paid out.
Cashier shift reconciliation	Every shift: expected cash, counted cash and the variance.
Branch comparison	This period against another, branch by branch: sales, transactions and margin.

Common questions

Can clients confirm their own booking? Yes, from the link Kila sends them: Confirm tomorrow’s clients.

Does Kila send the reminders by SMS? “SMS is in test mode until a gateway is connected.” Kila notes each reminder, and the client can still confirm from their link.

What does a stylist who rents a chair see? Their own column, bookings and client notes, and what is held for them: Rent a chair to a stylist.

Who sees a spa client’s health answers? “Health answers are seen by managers and the client’s own therapist; the desk sees only that a form is due or flagged.”

Not available yet

Text messages to clients, such as reminders and messages to a group, are in test mode: “SMS is in test mode until a gateway is connected.”

Try it in the demo

Three businesses run on the diary, with made-up data: Glow Studio, a salon and barbershop in Kilimani; Serenity Spa, with spas in Riverside and Karen; and Karen Gardens, an events venue with its own catering. The link fills in the person’s email: add the demo password the Kila team gave you.

• Glow StudioSalon and barbershopSign in as Achieng Odhiambo (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Serenity SpaSpa and wellnessSign in as Nafula Wekesa (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Karen GardensEvents venue and cateringSign in as Catherine Karanja (owner) (opens in a new tab)