Salon staff permissions: what each role should see
Set salon staff permissions with care: what owners, managers, front desk and stylists should see and change, what stays locked, and when to review it.
Salon staff permissions decide who on your team can see and change what: the calendar, client messages, your takings, refunds, prices and settings. The simple rule is to start from each person's job and give them what it needs. A stylist needs their own appointments. A front desk needs the whole calendar. Very few people need your earnings report, or the power to change your prices.
Below are a starting grid for a typical salon, the few things never to hand down, and how Role permissions works in Bookatu, including one limit: each switch applies to everyone with a role, not to one person.
Start from the job, not the person
It is tempting to give a trusted senior stylist everything. But the question isn't trust. It is what their job needs. Someone who never gives refunds doesn't need a refund button. Less access means fewer mistakes, and less to undo if a login is ever misused.
This only works if everyone has their own login. With one shared login, everyone has the same access and you can't tell who did what. Separate logins let you match access to each job, and remove one person cleanly when they leave. Our help article Adding your team shows how to give someone a login.
The four roles and what they are for
When you give someone a login in Bookatu, you choose one of four roles:
- Owner: full access, always. An owner keeps every permission, and no switch can take it away.
- Admin: manager level. By default, admins have every permission except Manage billing.
- Staff: view and operate. By default, staff see a read-only calendar of their own column and can fulfil orders. They don't see your takings or the client inbox, and can't permanently delete records.
- Trainee: the checklist only. A trainee lands on the team checklist and sees nothing else. Our help article Add a trainee who only sees the checklist covers it.
The defaults are a sensible start, and the owner can change them for Admin, Staff and Trainee.
The decisions that matter
These are the switches worth thinking through for each role.
Who can see the money
See analytics & earnings shows revenue, reports and who is earning what. It is off for Staff by default. Turn it on and everyone with that role sees your takings.
Who sees everyone's calendar, and who only their own
Without See everyone's calendar, a person sees only their own appointments. That suits most stylists and therapists. A front desk needs to see everyone, because they book for the whole team.
Who can book, move and cancel
Edit the calendar lets someone book, reschedule, block time and cancel. Staff have a read-only calendar until you turn it on. A front-desk login usually needs it with See everyone's calendar. Our post Check clients in, edit bookings and block time off from your calendar shows how to set one up.
Who can give money back
Refund orders lets someone issue refunds to clients. Adjust loyalty and gift cards lets them add or remove points by hand and void gift cards, though staff can still redeem both. Both move money or credit. Staff don't have either by default.
Who can read client messages
Client inbox lets someone read and reply to client messages. Those threads can hold personal details, so it is off for Staff by default.
Who can download client lists and delete records
Export data lets someone download client lists and reports. Delete records lets them permanently delete services, products, forms and more. A downloaded list can leave the building, and a deleted record can't come back, so keep these with the fewest people.
Who can change prices, services and settings
Manage the business covers your services, prices, settings and hours. Every change to your setup, from Settings and the team to packages, promo codes, products, forms and the blog, checks your own grid for the person's role. So a switch you turn off really is off.
A starting grid of salon staff permissions
These are suggestions, not rules. Adjust them to how your salon runs.
- Front desk: the Staff role, with Edit the calendar and See everyone's calendar turned on. Add Client inbox if they answer messages. Leave See analytics & earnings, Refund orders, Export data and Delete records off.
- Stylist or therapist: the Staff role. They see their own appointments. Turn on Edit the calendar only if you are happy for them to book and move appointments themselves.
- Manager: the Admin role. By default an admin can change your setup, manage the team, give refunds and export data. Manage billing stays with the owner.
- Junior or apprentice: the Trainee role, until they need the calendar.
One thing to plan around: a switch applies to everyone with that role. If your front desk and your stylists are both Staff, turning on See everyone's calendar for the front desk shows it to your stylists too. For many salons that is fine. If it isn't, the choice is which role each job belongs in.
What should never be handed down
Some things stay with the owner whatever you do, and Bookatu holds the line for you:
- The owner always keeps full access. No switch can take it away.
- Manage team and Manage billing can never be given to Staff or Trainee. The server enforces this too, so a crafted request can't get around the locks.
- Only the owner can change Role permissions. Anyone else who tries to save a change is told Only the owner can change permissions.
Beyond the locks, give the Admin role only to people you would trust with the keys to the shop. And consider requiring two-step login for the whole team. The owner can do that from Two-step login for your team, linked below the Role permissions grid.
How to set it up in Bookatu
- 01Give each person a login
Open Team. Under Who can sign in, fill in Give someone a login, choose their role and press Add login.
- 02Open Role permissions
On the Team page, the owner sees Role permissions beside Who can sign in. It opens a grid with every switch for every role.
- 03Turn on what each role needs
Switch permissions on or off for Admin, Staff and Trainee. Locked cells can't be changed: the owner's column is always on, and Manage team and Manage billing stay off for Staff and Trainee.
- 04Save
Tap Save changes. If you want to start again, Reset to defaults puts every switch back where it began, ready to save.
As the page says, changes apply to everyone with that role. Each saved change is recorded in the Audit log as Permissions changed.
Give people the access their job needs, and nothing they would have to explain.
Review it when people change
Look at permissions again whenever:
- Someone joins. Start them on the least access their job needs. A trainee can move to Staff later.
- Someone is promoted. Change their role, rather than giving their whole current role more switches.
- Someone leaves. On the Team page, tap Remove and sign out on their row. It removes their login, stops the API keys and apps they made, and disconnects their calendar sync in one step. Our help article Remove someone from your team and sign them out has the details.
The Security page, in the Settings part of your admin menu, is worth a look now and then. It scores how well protected your business is and links each fix. Our help article Check your security on the Security page explains each check, and our post Passkeys, auto sign-out and a Security page for teams covers what it adds.
Questions owners ask
Should front desk staff see sales and revenue?
Usually not. Takings and reports sit behind See analytics & earnings, which is off for Staff by default. Turning it on shows them to everyone with the Staff role, so most salons keep it with the owner and a manager.
Can a stylist see only their own appointments?
Yes, and that is the default. Staff see only their own column unless See everyone's calendar is turned on for the Staff role.
Who should be allowed to give refunds?
Keep Refund orders with owners and managers. Admins have it by default and Staff don't. If a front-desk person often gives money back, consider the Admin role for them, rather than turning it on for every Staff login.
Can I give one team member more access than the others in the same role?
No. Each switch applies to everyone with that role. To give one person more, change their role, for example from Staff to Admin, and check that role's switches suit them.
Can my manager change what each role is allowed to do?
No. Only the owner can change Role permissions. A manager in the Admin role can manage the team by default, but not the grid itself.
Where to start
Open Team, then Role permissions, and read down the Staff column. For each switch, ask whether everyone with that role needs it for their job. Turn off what they don't, tap Save changes, and make sure everyone has a login of their own. Then you know exactly who can see what.
