Hair, beauty & barbering
The AI receptionist for salons, for when both your hands are busy.
The phone goes while you have both hands in someone's colour. You genuinely cannot stop, and the client in the chair is watching you not answer it. ORLA answers instead — in your salon's name.
Hear it before you read another word. Ring 020 4538 1650, describe your problem the way one of your customers would, and try to catch it out. That is a working line answered by the same system a client’s callers reach.
The call salons and barbers lose
A booking enquiry mid-appointment. A cancellation at 19:10 that leaves a hole in tomorrow's column. A new client who found you on Instagram and will ring exactly once.
What it costs when it goes
A booking that goes to the salon down the road, and a gap in the column that stays a gap. Salon economics are column economics: an unfilled hour is not recoverable, and the client who could not get through does not usually try twice.
What ORLA does with it instead
Answers, says it is an AI receptionist, then takes the service they want, the stylist if they have asked for one, when they are free, and a number. So you fill the gap between clients rather than discovering it at nine at night.
What ORLA asks on the call
These are the questions ORLA is set up to ask salons and barbers. They are yours to change — this is the starting point, not the ceiling.
- Which service — cut, colour, balayage, treatment, barbering, a specific beauty treatment from your list.
- Which stylist, if they ask for one by name, because that changes what is even bookable.
- New client or returning, which is what decides whether a consultation or a skin test is needed.
- When they can come, with a real second choice, so you are not ringing back to negotiate.
- A mobile number for the confirmation.
When the calls actually arrive
Salon calls arrive during appointments — that is the definition of the problem. The second peak is the hour after closing, when clients finally have their own phone in their hand, and there is nobody in the salon to answer.
What ORLA will not do for salons and barbers
This part matters more than the list above. A receptionist you cannot predict is worse than a voicemail, so here are the refusals that bite hardest in your trade. The full list is on its own page.
It will not quote a colour price it cannot know
Colour prices depend on hair, length and what is already on it. ORLA reads your price list for what is on it, and for anything else it says the salon will confirm at consultation. It does not guess a number you would have to honour in the chair.
It will not skip your skin-test rule
If your rule is that a new colour client needs a patch test 48 hours ahead, ORLA says so on the call and books accordingly. It does not quietly put someone in a chair they are not cleared for.
It will not double-book a stylist
It offers only what the diary has confirmed. If a stylist is full, it says they are full and offers the alternatives you have allowed, rather than promising a slot to end the call pleasantly.
What it costs
Starter, £69 a month — 150 answered minutes included. Pro, £129 a month — 400 minutes. Front Desk, £349 a month — 1,500 minutes, managed for you, with a £299 setup fee that applies to that plan only. No VAT is added to any of them, so the number you see is the number you pay. No minimum contract. A 7-day free trial runs before anything is charged.
The full breakdown, including what happens if you go over your minutes, is on the pricing page, and the market context — what everyone else charges, and what a human receptionist really costs — is in our guide to what an AI receptionist costs in the UK.
Questions salons and barbers ask
We already use an online booking system. Why would we need this?
Because a large share of salon clients still ring, especially the older and higher-spending ones, and especially for colour. Online booking catches the people who were always going to self-serve. ORLA catches the people who ring, get no answer, and book somewhere else.
Can it take a deposit?
No. ORLA never takes card or bank details, from anyone, for anything. Deposits stay in your existing process — ORLA can tell the client a deposit is required and that a link or a call will follow.
Will it know our services and prices?
It reads from the price list you give it. Anything on that list it can quote; anything not on it, it says the salon will confirm. That boundary is deliberate and it is not adjustable, because an invented price becomes an argument at the till.
How much does it cost for a small salon?
£69 a month on Starter with 150 answered minutes included — salon calls are typically short, so that goes a long way. No VAT is added, there is no setup fee on Starter or Pro, and there is a 7-day free trial first.