The way to fill a salon's December diary is to have the whole month bookable online by Monday 2 November, with a deposit on every party-week slot, a short list of express services, and gift vouchers on sale with a January bonus rather than a crossed-out price. Regulars pre-book the party weeks in the first fortnight of November and gift-voucher searches peak in mid-December, so from today, 26 October, you have five weeks. Below: the plan week by week, the law as the guidance states it, and where a small budget does the most.
When does the salon Christmas diary fill, and what does the search data show?
The National Hair and Beauty Federation calls Christmas "one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year for personal care businesses". Searches for "christmas hair" on Google Trends (UK, past five years, relative interest rather than volumes) build through November and peak in December. Searches for "gift cards" on the same measure climb from the middle of November and peak in the week before Christmas every year, with "gift vouchers" peaking about a week earlier.
So: bookings first, vouchers second.
| Week beginning | What to have done |
|---|---|
| Mon 26 Oct | Decide party-week services, prices, deposit terms and voucher terms; set vouchers up in your booking software |
| Mon 2 Nov | All of December bookable online; express services listed; first email to existing clients |
| Mon 9 Nov | Regulars pre-booked; a reminder to those who have not replied; Movember content if you are a barber |
| Mon 16 Nov | Voucher ads start; Christmas and New Year hours set on Google |
| Mon 23 Nov | Second email; if you run a Black Friday voucher bonus, it has a real end date |
What should be bookable online by Monday 2 November?
Everything you intend to sell in December: the full month, including Christmas Eve and whichever days you will open between Christmas and New Year, with each party-week service named, timed and priced.
Show the total price before the client pays. The CMA's price transparency guidance, updated 7 January 2026, says to "Include mandatory per-transaction charges in the total price of the product, even in early-stage advertising", so a compulsory booking fee or patch-test charge belongs in the advertised price, not at checkout. On 15 April 2026 the CMA fined the AA £4.2 million after "a mandatory £3 booking fee" was left out of the upfront price.
If your website hides the booking button or the price list, fix it this week; our post on the signs your website is costing you customers covers the usual problems.
How do deposits and no-show fees work legally for a salon?
Taking a deposit is not the problem; what the law examines is the term behind it. Schedule 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 lists terms that "may be regarded as unfair", including one that lets a trader "retain sums paid by the consumer where the consumer decides not to conclude or perform the contract" without equivalent compensation when the trader cancels, and one requiring "a disproportionately high sum in compensation or for services which have not been supplied".
In practice: keep the deposit in proportion to what an empty chair costs you, refund it if you are the one who cancels, and show the cancellation window before payment, in the confirmation and in the reminder. Section 68 of the same Act requires written terms and notices to be transparent, meaning "expressed in plain and intelligible language" and legible.
One point is not settled. The 14-day right to cancel an online purchase does not apply to "services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance". Whether a salon appointment booked online falls inside that wording is not clear from the sources we read, so ask your local Trading Standards office before relying on it. None of this is legal advice.
Which express services and party-week slots are worth adding?
The NHBF's advice is that "December clients are often short on time" and that "Offering express services helps fill your diary and provides solutions for last-minute appointments".
A salon in Gravesend might add a 30-minute blow-dry and finish, an express gel, a brow tidy and a beard trim, and open late on the Thursday and Friday of the two main party weeks. Two dates give you content: Small Business Saturday on 5 December and Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 10 December, both good days for a team photo and a voucher reminder.
How do you sell gift vouchers in December without a fake discount, and what about VAT?
The NHBF says "Gift vouchers remain one of the easiest ways to increase December income, especially for last-minute shoppers". A bonus, such as a £50 voucher for £45 or a £10 top-up on any voucher redeemed in January, is not a claim about a previous price. A crossed-out price you never charged is, and the ASA's guidance on promotional savings claims, dated 6 October 2026, says reference prices must "represent a genuine established usual selling price".
On expiry: we found no UK statute that sets a minimum validity period for a voucher, and the CMA's unfair contract terms guidance, CMA37, updated 22 July 2026, does not mention gift vouchers. What applies is the transparency requirement in section 68, so print the expiry date and conditions on the voucher itself.
On VAT, if you are registered: HMRC treats a voucher as single-purpose where, at issue, "both the liability to VAT and the place of supply of the underlying goods or services are known", and for those "Any VAT due on those underlying goods or services is paid at the point of issue of the voucher"; for a multi-purpose voucher, "Any VAT due is only payable when the voucher is redeemed". On that definition, a voucher that can only be spent on standard-rated treatments at one UK salon looks single-purpose, which would mean VAT is due when you sell it. VAT Notice 700/7, sections 9.4 and 9.5, has the detail; ask your accountant.
Aesthetics clinics have one more rule. On 16 April 2025 the ASA ruled against Bomb Doll Aesthetics, whose Black Friday video said "Save up to 70%", "Valid until 30th November" and "YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THESE DEALS" for cosmetic procedures; the ASA found this "created undue emphasis on the promotion's limited timeframe" and breached rule 1.3 on social responsibility. No countdowns on treatments people need time to think about.
What should barbers do with Movember?
Movember tells participants to "Shave down at the start of the month", which gives a barber a natural November: a clean shave or moustache tidy in the first week, a shaping appointment mid-month, and a men's gift voucher for December. Do not use Movember's branding or imply a partnership; staff who want to raise money do so as individuals through Movember's own site.
Why do salons get more from Meta and email than from Google search ads in December?
Because a December client usually already has a salon and is choosing a date, not choosing a salon. The terms that rise in December are the gift terms above, not the ones a new client uses to find you, so your existing clients are the audience. Our seasonal ad strategy post covers budgets and timing.
Email first. Under regulation 22(3) of PECR, you can email existing clients without fresh consent if you obtained their details "in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service", the marketing is about your "similar products and services only", and they were given "a simple means of refusing" when the details were collected and in each message. The ICO adds that this soft opt-in "does not apply to prospective customers or new contacts (eg from bought-in lists)". Two emails before December, in the weeks of 2 and 23 November, are enough.
Meta second. Set up your party-season launch or open evening as a Facebook event; Meta's help page on events engagement custom audiences says "We can go back up to 365 days", so run voucher ads to that audience from mid-November. Keep the copy to the offer, since Meta's rules say ads "must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes", including a person's health.
And set your Christmas and New Year hours on Google now. Special hours change the dates you choose "so that your regular hours don't change"; cover 24 to 28 December and 31 December to 1 January. If your profile is not set up yet, start with our Google Business Profile setup guide.
What happens in the quiet fortnight after Christmas?
Three things, all prepared in December. The January voucher bonus brings redemptions into the empty weeks, so staff them. Every December client leaves with a January appointment booked at the chair. And ask December clients for a review while the result is fresh, using the wording in our guide to getting more Google reviews.
If you would rather not do this yourself
Most of this is a week of decisions and an hour in your booking software. If you would rather have someone build the November and December content, set up the Facebook event and voucher ads, and write the client emails, that is what our social media marketing service does for salons and barbers. Email Sales@britbunch.co.uk with your December diary as it stands and we will say whether it needs us.