New in OpenChair: booking-linked forms and working hours | 1–14 August 2026

Clients can now complete required consultation forms straight after confirming an online booking with your salon. This fortnight, we’ve added that step to OpenChair’s booking flow, made web timesheets easier to review and improved the way colour processing time appears in the calendar.

Consultation forms after online booking#

On Pro, you can attach a required consultation form to a service. During online booking, clients are told about the forms needed before their visit. Once the appointment is confirmed, they can choose Complete form now or I’ll do this later for any outstanding forms.

Clients who start answering can use Save and finish later without losing their draft. The booking stays confirmed, and they can return to outstanding forms through Manage Booking or My Bookings.

For example, a lash and brow studio could attach its consultation form to a first lash appointment. The client can describe their usual look and what they would like to change straight after confirming the appointment, rather than waiting for a separate message from reception. A hair salon could use the same flow to collect recent colour history before a new colour appointment.

Your team can see a Forms required indicator when a booking still needs a current submission. Before the appointment, open the signed response from the client’s Consent archive to review their answers. The completed form is available with their history for a return visit, too.

For venues using Booking Approval Mode, form tasks become available after you accept the request and confirm the appointment.

Read more about keeping consultation forms with the client record.

Approve recorded hours from the timesheet#

The web timesheet now lets reviewers approve pending hours straight from the list. When the entry is correct, you can approve it without opening a separate editing view.

When something needs correcting, open the entry to review its start time, finish time, break and notes. You can save the correction and approve the hours in the same step.

For example, a barber may have entered the right shift times but missed a break. The person reviewing the timesheet can check what happened, add the break and approve the corrected record.

We’ve also made changes during review easier to handle. If someone updates an entry while you are reviewing it, OpenChair asks you to refresh the timesheet and review the latest version before approving.

These controls record and review working hours. Payroll remains a separate process.

See the next client during a colour processing gap#

Colour appointments with processing time are now easier to read in the calendar. Active service stages stay prominent, while the processing span sits behind the schedule. Another client booked during that gap remains visible rather than being covered by the processing block.

For a colour-and-finish appointment, that means you can see the application, the time the colour is developing and the finishing work, alongside any compatible appointment booked during processing. Reception can read the booking in the gap while the colourist can still see the original client’s active stages.

Any service booked into that interval still needs to fit the available time, staff and resource requirements. The Processing Gaps guide explains scheduling around those stages.

Clearer SMS allowance and Wallet notices#

We’ve also clarified SMS allowance and Wallet notices. In Australia and the UK, where OpenChair SMS is available, these notices explain included usage, paid overages and why a non-essential send has paused. Check the displayed allowance and Wallet state before retrying a paused message.

Book an OpenChair walkthrough to see consultation forms, timesheets and appointment timing with your salon’s workflow in mind.