How to choose a booking system: 6 buying criteria

Yes — some systems offer free plans; what’s included varies by system. A free plan is a good way to find out whether your customers will book online; once you need automatic reminders, reports, or team scheduling, it’s time to look at paid plans. Dolyu offers a 14-day free trial with every feature included, no credit card required.

No single system fits every business. It depends on your booking types, where your customers come from, and how the pricing works for you. Use the 6 criteria above to list your must-haves, then run a real booking flow on a free trial. If you need a branded booking page, a flat fee, and a booking page in Traditional Chinese, English, and Japanese, Dolyu covers all three: US$15 per member per month, with a 14-day free trial.

Start by separating the two approaches. One runs the entire booking flow inside LINE, and customers must add you as a friend first. The other pairs an independent branded booking page with automatic LINE notifications, so customers can book from a Google search, Instagram, or any browser while LINE handles confirmations and reminders. If most new customers find you through search and social media, the second approach lets them book without adding you as a friend first.

Start with the pricing model: a flat monthly fee, a per-booking commission, or billing by message or booking count. Then add the costs that are easy to miss: commissions, LINE message fees, and setup fees. Dolyu is US$15 per member per month, with no commission, no setup fee, and monthly billing with no contract. LINE notifications use your own LINE Official Account’s message quota, and Dolyu doesn’t charge extra for them.

It depends on volume. With only a few bookings a month, Google Forms and manual confirmation can keep up. As bookings grow, confirming, reminding, and rescheduling by hand takes more of your time — and without automatic reminders, customers are more likely to forget their appointments (no-shows).

The key question is whether your customer data can come with you. First, check that your current system can export your customer list. Dolyu can import your customer data. Once you've set up your services and time slots, you can start accepting bookings. We recommend running both systems in parallel for a week or two during the trial. New bookings go through the new system, while existing appointments finish as usual. Switch over fully once the flow feels right.

Three highlights. First, a branded booking page: customers book from any device through a link, without downloading an app or adding you on LINE, and you can show your portfolio. Second, a flat fee: US$15 per member per month with every feature included, no commission, billed monthly with no contract. Third, flexible booking types: one-on-one, group classes, and venue capacity are all configurable, backed by business reports and customer management.