To set up an online booking system for a client on Wix Studio, install Wix Bookings, create the client's services, set staff availability, connect online payments and turn on automated reminders. Wix Bookings is built into Wix Studio, so agencies and freelancers can design the booking flow, configure the scheduling rules and hand off a system the client runs on their own.
This guide covers every layer of the setup, from the first install to the policy and handoff details that separate a basic booking page from a professional client experience.
TL;DR: setting up online booking for clients on Wix Studio
Install Wix Bookings from the client site's dashboard or the Wix Studio Editor
Create appointments, classes and courses with prices and durations
Set staff calendars, buffer times and booking windows
Collect full payments or deposits at checkout with Wix Payments
Automate confirmation and reminder emails and SMS notifications
Define cancellation, rescheduling and no-show policies
Sync staff calendars with Google, Microsoft or Apple
Hand off the Bookings dashboard and the Wix app to the client
Why built-in booking matters for agency client sites
Service businesses run on their schedules. When clients still take bookings through phone calls, DMs or email threads, they lose time and they lose customers who won't wait for a reply. An online booking system fixes that in a single project.
Wix Bookings is native to Wix Studio. There's no API key to manage, no separate subscription for the client to track and no webhook to break after an update. Wix Bookings connects directly to the site, the contact list, the payment setup and the client's Wix account, so once you configure it the client owns and operates it without calling you every time they add a service or change their hours.
Booking is one part of a larger build. For the full picture, read our guide on how to build a full-stack client website with Wix Studio and explore the full range of Wix Studio business solutions.
How to add Wix Bookings to a client site
To add Wix Bookings, open the client site's dashboard, go to Add Apps, search for Wix Bookings and install it. You can also add it from the App Market inside the Wix Studio Editor. Installing Wix Bookings adds a booking calendar and a services area to the dashboard and creates a default Book Online page on the site.
From there, style the booking page with Wix Studio's design controls. Match the service layout, colors and typography to the client's brand and check every breakpoint so the booking flow looks as polished on mobile as it does on desktop.
Day-to-day booking management happens in the site dashboard, not in the editor. Plan to walk your client through the dashboard during handoff.
Setting up services: appointments, classes and courses
The service list is the foundation of every booking system. In Wix Bookings, each service gets a name, description, duration, price and image, and each one uses one of three service types:
Appointments are one-on-one sessions such as a 60-minute coaching call, a massage or a haircut.
Classes let several customers book the same session, up to a maximum number of participants.
Courses are multi-session programs that customers sign up for as a whole, such as an eight-week workshop series.
For clients with regular customers, add packages and memberships so customers can prepay for a bundle of sessions. Our guide on setting up pricing plans and memberships in Wix Studio covers how to structure those tiers.
Configuring staff calendars and availability
For a client with one staff member, availability is quick to set up: add working hours, add buffer time between sessions and choose how far in advance customers can book.
Multi-staff businesses need a few more layers. Each staff member gets a profile with a name, photo, bio and the services they offer, which matters for salons and studios where customers prefer a specific provider. Each staff member's working days, hours and breaks are set separately.
You can also set booking lead times (how much notice is required) and booking cutoffs (how close to a session customers can still book). These rules prevent last-minute surprises for the client's team.
Scope this carefully on larger projects. A solo practitioner with simple hours takes about an hour to configure, but a business with several staff members across multiple locations needs each person's rules mapped out before you build them. Getting this right up front prevents double bookings and customer-facing errors after launch.
Collecting payments at booking
Wix Bookings works with Wix Payments, so the client can accept credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout without setting up a separate processor. You can require full payment up front or take a deposit and collect the balance in person. Online payments require a site plan that supports booking features.
Wix Studio sites can also use third-party providers such as Stripe and PayPal where they're supported. Our guide on accepting payments on client websites built with Wix Studio walks through each option.
Each service can then be set as paid online, paid in person or free, which works well for consultations and intro sessions. For package and membership customers, payment happens at purchase and Wix Bookings checks their remaining sessions each time they book.
Automating confirmations and reminders
Missed appointments cost service businesses real money. Wix Bookings sends a confirmation email as soon as a customer books and can send reminder emails before each session.
You can customize these emails with the client's branding and add details such as the service name, staff member, location and preparation instructions. For medical, legal and other regulated businesses, check that the wording meets the client's compliance requirements.
SMS notifications are also available on site plans that support booking features. Wix Bookings can text customers a booking confirmation, a cancellation notice and a reminder 24 hours before the session, which helps cut no-shows for time-sensitive services.
Setting cancellation, rescheduling and no-show policies
The cancellation policy is easy to overlook during setup, but it has a direct impact on the client's revenue. Wix Bookings lets you define a cancellation window, for example allowing free cancellations up to 24 hours before a session.
You can also decide whether customers can reschedule on their own. When self-service rescheduling is on, customers can move a booking within the rules you set.
Requiring payment or a deposit at booking is the simplest no-show protection. Document every policy for your client before handoff so they can explain it to their customers and issue refunds from the dashboard when needed.
Managing customers and syncing calendars
Every booking in Wix Bookings creates or updates a contact in the site's built-in CRM, so your client can see each customer's booking history, notes and messages in one place. Our guide to Wix Studio's built-in CRM tools explains how to put that data to work.
Wix Bookings also syncs with Google, Microsoft (Outlook or Office 365) and Apple calendars. With Google Calendar the sync runs both ways: new bookings appear in the staff member's calendar and personal events block off their availability in Wix Bookings. Each staff member connects their own calendar, and calendar sync requires an upgraded site plan.
Managing bookings from the Wix app
Once the booking system is live, your client can run their schedule from the Wix app on their phone. They can view the day's sessions, add bookings manually, message customers and update attendance.
Show this during handoff. Many service business owners spend the day with customers, not at a desk, and knowing they can check tomorrow's schedule or reply to a customer from their phone makes the whole system feel manageable.
Real-world example: Upside Aerial
Michelle Spurlock opened Upside Aerial, an aerial fitness studio in Burlington, North Carolina, in March 2020 and had to close five days later when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Instead of shutting down, she offered alternative classes, kept her community engaged online and rebuilt momentum when in-person sessions returned. Upside Aerial became one of the only aerial fitness studios in the region to stay open through the pandemic, and it now draws students from across the state.
Online booking made that continuity possible. When the schedule changed again and again, students could see updated availability in real time, sign up for new class formats and stay connected to the studio.
"I never thought, 'Oh, I'm gonna start my own business.' That was never on the radar. It was more like, 'I have this thing that I really love, and I want to keep doing it. How can I keep doing it?'" Michelle Spurlock, founder of Upside Aerial
When you configure Wix Bookings for a service business, you're not just adding a scheduling feature. You're building the operating foundation that lets a business like Upside Aerial adapt and keep running when conditions change.
Why reliable infrastructure matters for booking sites
Agencies choose Wix Studio for its design tools, but the infrastructure underneath matters just as much for booking sites. If a booking page goes down during peak traffic or a payment fails, the cost is lost revenue and lost trust.
Keren Friedlander, Product Manager at Wix, explains why infrastructure belongs in every platform evaluation:
"What often gets forgotten when talking about choosing a website builder is the capabilities of the infrastructure that's promised to you: the reliability of the hosting, the level of security in place to protect your visitors' data and, of course, your site's speed. Even if infrastructure is not the first thought that comes to mind when creating a website, if it's not robust enough, it can cause major headaches for website owners when trying to scale a website later on." Keren Friedlander, Product Manager at Wix
For a booking-dependent business, this matters every day. Wix Studio sites run on Wix's managed hosting with automatic SSL and built-in security, so client booking pages stay fast and available as the business grows.
Handing off the booking system to your client
Before launch, confirm the services, staff rules, payment settings, notifications and policies with the client, then give them the right roles and permissions in the dashboard. Wix Studio's management tools make it easy to keep access organized across every client site you manage. For a complete checklist, see these best practices for a smooth website handover.
Online booking on Wix Studio FAQ
How do I set up an online booking system for a client's website?
Install Wix Bookings on the client's Wix Studio site, create services, set staff availability, connect payments, turn on notifications and set booking policies. Then style the booking page in the Wix Studio Editor and hand off the dashboard to the client.
How much does an online booking system cost on Wix Studio?
Wix Bookings is free to install. Online payments, SMS notifications and calendar sync require a site plan that supports booking features, so include the plan in the client's project budget.
Can Wix Bookings sync with Google Calendar?
Yes. Each staff member can connect a Google, Microsoft or Apple calendar. Google Calendar syncs both ways, so personal events block off booking availability.
Can Wix Bookings take deposits?
Yes. You can require full payment or a deposit at booking and collect the remaining balance in person.
Build booking systems your clients can run on their own
An online booking system is one of the most tangible ways to show value as an agency. Your client uses it every day, and when the services, staff rules, payments and notifications are set up well, it runs without you.
Wix Studio gives you the native tools to do it right: Wix Bookings built into the platform, full design control over every booking page and a clean handoff your clients can manage themselves.
Ready to build your next client booking site? Start creating on Wix Studio today →
