Bookings is the online booking tool in Stratus Online. Clients choose a session, pick a time, and book from your website or from a link you share. Every booking goes straight into your Stratus database.
Using the original online booking in Stratus Desktop? It still works, and its documentation is in Online Booking (Legacy). New online booking setups should use Bookings in Stratus Online. Most of your existing settings carry over on their own. See Importing settings from Stratus Desktop.
Before you begin #
Bookings is available in Stratus Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. It’s part of Stratus Online, which requires Stratus Desktop 2026. If you haven’t signed in to Stratus Online yet, start with Accessing Stratus Online.
What you can do with Bookings #
- Booking flows — Build your booking process page by page. Drag and drop pages such as sign-in, terms and conditions, payment, promo codes, forms, and your own content. You can create as many flows as you need, such as a different flow for each session type or promotion.
- Automatic availability — Set when your staff and resources are available, along with your booking rules, and Stratus Online creates the open times for you. If you’d rather keep using your Stratus Desktop calendar to create time slots, you can.
- Magic link sign-in — Clients can sign in with a link sent to their email instead of a password, which cuts down on duplicate client records.
- Payment at booking — Take a deposit, collect a full payment, or keep a card on file with StudioPlus Payments.
- Forms — Ask clients questions during the booking or right after it. See Using Forms with Bookings – Stratus Online.
- Events — Set up bookings with their own flow, dates, staff, and timing for anything outside your normal schedule, like a school picture day or a weekend of mini-sessions. Events are available in Stratus Professional and Enterprise.
- Links and QR codes — Embed your booking page on your website, or use the Link Builder to create links and QR codes you can share anywhere.
- Dashboard — See how many visitors finish booking, where they drop off, and when demand is highest.
How Bookings works with Stratus Desktop #
Bookings works with your live Stratus data, so there is nothing to import, export, or sync.
- Your service types come from Stratus Desktop. You choose which ones clients can book online.
- When a client books, the booking appears in Stratus right away, along with the client’s information.
- Your time slots can come from Stratus Online or from your Stratus Desktop calendar. You choose during setup and can change it later.
Let Asta help #
Bookings has a lot of options, and you don’t have to learn them all. Ask Asta what you want to do, such as “How do I stop clients from booking less than a day ahead?”, and Asta will show you where the setting is or offer to set it up for you. You can also click the explain button next to a setting or chart to have Asta explain it.
Next steps #
Ready to start? See Bookings Set Up – Stratus Online.