Taking bookings through Chinese New Year in Singapore

For hair salons, beauty salons, nail studios and barbers in Singapore, the run-up to Chinese New Year is the year's busiest stretch. Clients want a fresh cut, new colour, a manicure or a facial before visiting relatives, and many prefer to have it done before the new year begins rather than in its first days. Then the city goes quiet for the public holidays, and business returns over the following week. Each of those three phases needs a different setup.

Open the pre-festive weeks early, and say so

Regulars plan their festive appointment well ahead, and the ones who cannot find a slot often go elsewhere. Open your booking horizon far enough that the last two weeks before the holiday are visible a month or more in advance. In BookAndGo you set how far ahead clients can book, so you can widen it in December and narrow it again afterwards.

Tell your client list before the slots go. An email to the clients who have ticked to hear from you, sent about a month out, is often enough to fill the best evening and weekend times with people who already know your work. Keep it short: the dates you are open, the days you are closed, and a link to your booking page.

Extend hours without breaking your team

Most businesses add late nights and earlier starts in the final fortnight. Rather than changing your normal week, add special hours on the dates that need them, so the extra time appears only where you want it. If each stylist or therapist has their own calendar, set each person's extra hours separately: the colourist who is happy to work until ten and the junior who cannot both show up correctly.

• Add special opening hours on the busy dates rather than editing your usual week.
• Give each team member their own festive hours and days off inside the shop's hours.
• Keep a short buffer between long colour services so a late finish does not cascade.
• Hide services that take too long for the rush, such as complex treatments, using a date window, and bring them back in the new year.

Use the waitlist when the diary is full

In the final week every popular time will be gone. A waitlist turns the disappointed client into a likely booking: when someone cancels or reschedules, you can offer that time to the next person waiting instead of leaving it empty. Before Chinese New Year cancellations are common, as plans shift, so a full waitlist is worth real money.

Close the holiday days properly

Block the days you are closed so nobody books into them by mistake. Many businesses close for the two public holidays and sometimes a day or two around them. Block those dates in advance, and if you reopen for half a day, block only the hours you are away. Clients see the gap and choose another day, rather than booking a time you will not be there for.

Plan the reopening week

The first days back are often slow, then demand picks up as people return from visiting family or travelling. Use the quiet days for the work you could not fit in: staff training, deep cleaning, restocking. Then send a short email inviting clients back, especially those who could not get a slot before the holiday and joined the waitlist.

If a client books the same time every few weeks, a repeat booking keeps them in the diary across the holiday without them having to remember to rebook. Check that repeat bookings landing on a closed day have been moved, and the client knows their new time through the confirmation email.

A simple checklist

• Six to eight weeks before: widen how far ahead clients can book, and plan staff hours.
• Four to five weeks before: email opted-in clients with your festive dates and booking link.
• Two weeks before: add extra hours per person, tighten buffers, keep the waitlist open.
• The week of the holiday: block closed days and half days, and check repeat bookings.
• After the holiday: email clients who missed out, and narrow the booking horizon again.

None of this is complicated, but doing it a month early rather than the week before is what separates a calm festive season from a phone that never stops ringing. When clients can see every available time and book it themselves, the rush works for you instead of against you.