How to Set Up Family and Dependent Booking
Let clients manage family members and book appointments for children, partners, and dependents
In this guide
Many salons serve whole families — parents booking for children, partners sharing an account, or one person managing appointments for multiple family members. Bella Booking's family feature makes this straightforward by linking dependent profiles to a primary client.
This guide covers how to set up family members, book appointments on their behalf (both in the app and through online booking), and manage family relationships.
What is family booking
Family booking lets you link people together under a primary client account. A parent can have their children linked as family members. A partner can be linked as a spouse. Any relationship type works — child, spouse, partner, sibling, parent, friend, or even pet.
Each family member gets their own client record with their own appointment history, notes, and preferences. The link to the primary client makes it easy to manage them together and book on their behalf.
Setting up family members
- 1Open a client's profile and go to the Family tab
- 2Click Add Family Member
- 3Enter the family member's name (required), email and phone (optional)
- 4Select the relationship type from the dropdown (Child, Spouse, Partner, Sibling, Parent, Friend, Pet, or Other)
- 5Click Add Family Member to save
The new family member is automatically created as a separate client record and linked to the primary client. You can view their profile independently or through the family tab.
For children who don't have their own email or phone, you can leave those fields blank. Notifications will go to the primary client's contact details.
Booking for family members
From the scheduler
When creating an appointment, you can select any client — including family members. If you're creating a multi-service appointment, each service can be assigned to a different person in the family. For example, a mother and daughter can both be booked in one appointment with their respective services.
Client overlap protection
The scheduler checks for overlapping appointments across family members. If a child already has a booking at the same time, you'll see a warning before confirming — helping you avoid double-bookings within the same family.
Online booking for families
Clients can also book for family members through your online booking page. When a client with linked family members books online, they can select which family member each service is for.
This is particularly useful for parents booking haircuts for children, or anyone managing appointments for a family member who isn't able to book themselves.
Family booking in online booking works automatically once family members are set up. No additional configuration is needed.
Managing family relationships
Editing a relationship
To change the relationship type (e.g. from "Child" to "Sibling"), open the family tab, click the three-dot menu on the family member card, and select Edit Relationship.
Removing a family member
Removing a family member unlinks them from the primary client but does not delete their client record. They remain in your client list as a standalone client with all their appointment history preserved.
Viewing a family member's profile
Each family member card in the Family tab has a View Profile link that opens their full client record. From there you can see their appointments, notes, files, and other details just like any other client.
Practical tips
- •Set up family relationships when a client first mentions them — it saves time later
- •Use descriptive relationship types so your team knows who's who at a glance
- •For families that always book together, create multi-service appointments with each person assigned to their service
- •Remind clients they can book for family members online — it reduces phone calls for family bookings
- •Keep family member contact details up to date so notifications reach the right person
Key takeaways
- ✓Family members are linked to a primary client but each have their own client record
- ✓Multi-service appointments can assign different services to different family members
- ✓Online booking supports family booking — clients can book for dependents directly
- ✓Removing a family link preserves the client record and their appointment history
- ✓Relationship types include Child, Spouse, Partner, Sibling, Parent, Friend, Pet, and Other
Related features
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Last updated: 2026-02-27