Four techs, six chairs, a Saturday queue. Stella books into each tech's real availability — including two people at once, side by side — reminds, reschedules and fills the gap when a walk-in doesn't show.
Polish & Co., this is Stella — how can I help you today?
This isn't a booking-app problem. It's a front-desk problem: someone who knows all six chairs at once, and never asks a caller to hold.
Stella finds two techs who are free at the same time and books both — as one thing, so nobody ends up sitting alone.
The universal six, and two that matter when your book is a floor, not a person.
No menus, no “press one”, no hold music, no disclaimer wall. Place, first name, how can I help — in one breath. Then she listens instead of interrogating. And she's there at 7:40 in the morning and 9 at night — when the parent thinks of it, not when you open.
She searches actual availability — who is where, doing what, for how long, in which chair or room — and never double-books. If she offers 2:20, 2:20 is free.
Reminders go out ahead of time. When someone can't make it, she handles the flustered call with warmth and finds the next time without drama.
A cancelled four o'clock is the one slot you can't sell tomorrow. The moment it frees, she offers it — by text — to the people who've said they'd take short notice, who wanted earlier, or who owe a make-up. First yes takes it; nobody else hears about it.
A four o'clock cancels? She asks the five o'clock if they'd like to come earlier. Nobody is obliged, and it cascades — you finish at five, not six.
Someone turns down a 9am; she stops leading with mornings for them. Preferences, never rules — and when she checks, she uses very few words.
Friends, mother and daughter, a bridal party of four: she finds techs free at the same time and books them as one thing. If it can't all fit, she says so and offers the nearest that does.
Chair held for the whole visit; your hands free at the start and the end. She can slot a polish change into the soak — same tech, no double-booking the chair.
She takes the cancellation the moment it comes, whatever the hour — nobody waits for the desk to open. Runway is money: the earlier she knows, the more people she can offer the slot to once your outbound hours open, and the likelier it fills. Your policy — notice period, deposit, fee — is yours; she states it plainly, applies it the same way every time, and stays kind about it.
Everyone on the short-notice list asked to be on it. Nobody is nagged; nobody hears another client's business.
Rain, a burst pipe, a birth, the autoclave, the hall double-booked — the whole block moves, and it's your call, not the client's. You say it once; she works out who's affected, offers each person the right alternative in their own words, waives the fee, logs the reason, and reports back. When it's an overrun rather than a closure she works by who can still act: the people who haven't left home yet get the call and the choice; the people already in the room get the honest ETA and a coffee; nobody further out is touched until the delay is still growing. Nobody hears why; nobody rings the desk.
The landlord's shutting the water off from noon. Move every pedicure after twelve to tomorrow and Thursday, manis can stay.
Soak, work, dry. The chair is taken the whole time; your hands are busy for the middle. Stella books the way you work — so the soak and the dry stop being dead time.
The question is never “are you free at eleven?” It's “are two of you free at eleven, next to each other?”
A small screen at the front says who's next and what changed. Suppliers, card-machine reps and scam calls never make it to the floor.
The owner sees the whole floor. Each tech sees their own chair. Nobody opens an app.
No “press one”. No “your call is important to us”. No recorded disclaimers before a human word. Warm, short, present — and honest if you ask what she is.
She offers what's in your catalogue and staff profiles. She won't crown a “best” anyone or promise an outcome. A time she offers is a time that's free.
A moved client hears “we need to move your Tuesday — let me find you another time.” Never who, never why. And once moved kindly, they're not yo-yo'd back.
She doesn't lead with it and doesn't apologise for it. Ask, and she'll tell you plainly: she's the assistant. She helps; that's what people remember.
Your services and how long they really take, your techs, your chairs, your hours. She's configured by hand for the first salons — so we're taking a few at a time.
Stella is in early access with a small number of practices and salons. Tell us about your phone and we'll tell you plainly whether she fits — and when.