Payment Admin Is Costing Salons More Than They Think

New insight from Phorest highlights a growing issue for salons, spas and clinics across the UK and Ireland: payment-related admin is quietly eating into time, revenue and team morale.

According to Phorest, the real problem isn’t taking payments—it’s everything that comes after. From cashing up and reconciling transactions to chasing deposits, resolving tip queries and fixing discrepancies, these small daily tasks quickly add up.

The Hidden Cost of Payment Admin

At a time when businesses are already dealing with rising wages, tighter margins and staffing pressures, this extra admin is becoming harder to ignore.

Phorest data shows that businesses using fully integrated payment systems can:

• Save up to 12 hours a month on end-of-day admin
• See an average 25% increase in tips through digital prompts
• Reduce no-shows by up to 69% with booking deposits

Luke Doolin, Country Manager for Ireland, UK and UAE at Phorest, said:

“The highest cost of payments isn’t the transaction fee itself. It’s the time and energy salon teams absorb every day resolving issues that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

“In many salons, spas and clinics, payment admin is still being treated as part of the job rather than a problem to solve. But when payments, deposits and tipping are fully connected to appointments and reporting, the day runs more smoothly, teams have greater confidence in the numbers, and owners gain back valuable time that would otherwise be lost to manual reconciliation.”

More Than Just Admin

The impact goes beyond paperwork. Fragmented payment systems can also affect:

• Revenue retention (missed deposits, lost tips)
• Front desk pressure (handling discrepancies)
• Team morale (lack of clarity and confidence in figures)

For many businesses, this creates unnecessary friction in what should be a seamless part of the client journey.

Real Salon Results

Salon owners are already seeing the benefits of simplifying payments.

Kyle Palmer, Founder of The Honeycomb, says:
“Our tips have increased massively. Most of our team now get between £20 to £80 a week just in card tips.”

Paul Beatty, Co-owner of Beauty at the Gate, adds:
“Before using Phorest’s deposit feature, we faced frequent last-minute cancellations. Now, with deposits in place, clients think twice before cancelling, and our schedule runs more smoothly.”

A Shift in Thinking

Phorest’s findings suggest it’s time to rethink payment systems—not as a back-end task, but as a key driver of efficiency and profitability.

For salons, spas and clinics looking to streamline operations without compromising service, integrated payments could be one of the simplest ways to unlock better performance across the business.

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