Treatwell and Fresha aren't your enemies. You're just using them wrong.

Every week another salon owner posts about quitting Treatwell or getting burned by Fresha's fees. Most of them are right to be angry. But here's the take nobody says out loud: the platforms aren't the problem. Depending on them is.

Used with intention, Fresha and Treatwell are two of the most powerful free marketing tools available to any UK salon. Used passively, they're a slow drain on your margin. The difference is entirely in how you approach them.

Think of them as a dating app, not a marriage

Marketplaces like Fresha and Treatwell have grown so quickly because they make discovery effortless. For busy professionals, they remove the need to build a website or manage SEO — everything happens within one platform: booking, reminders, payments. For clients, they create a familiar experience. Many people now prefer to browse online marketplaces rather than search individual salon websites.

That's millions of people actively searching for exactly what you offer, right now, today — and you can be in front of them without spending a penny on ads.

The only game worth playing: convert first visits to direct relationships

Treatwell has a vested interest in pushing new clients to you — but clients may treat themselves to a one-off visit because they have a voucher, then it's up to you to persuade them to return. That's the whole game in one sentence. The platform sends them once. You decide if they come back — and whether they come back through the platform or directly to you.

Here's what smart salons do at that first visit:

• Collect a direct contact — WhatsApp number, email, Instagram follow
• Add them to your own booking system and rebook before they leave the chair
• Send the follow-up from you, not from Fresha

From visit two onwards, that client costs you nothing. No commission. No platform fee. Pure margin.

Use Fresha's marketplace link surgically — not by default

This one is worth reading twice. Fresha's 20% marketplace fee applies to new customers who discover your business through the Fresha Marketplace — including those who view your profile first and then book through another channel, including your website or social media pages.

The workaround is straightforward: drive all your existing audience — Instagram followers, WhatsApp community, Google searchers — directly to your own Fresha booking URL, not the marketplace profile. New faces from the marketplace? Fine, pay the 20% once. Your own warm audience? Keep every penny.

Treatwell's 0% repeat commission is a gift — most salons ignore it

Treatwell charges 35% (plus VAT) on a new client's first booking. After that — nothing. Zero commission on every return visit, forever.

The play is: let Treatwell acquire the client at a cost. Convert them to a loyal repeat visitor. Every subsequent booking at full price with zero deduction. That's not a bad deal if you have a retention system that actually works.

The trap most salons fall into

They stay passive. They list, they wait, they let the platform run everything — booking, communication, reviews, data. Then one day Fresha changes its pricing (it already has), or Treatwell hikes commission, or their account gets flagged, and suddenly they realise they don't actually own anything.

When you rely solely on a marketplace, the platform controls your visibility. It decides where you appear in listings, what information is shown, and how your brand is presented. You benefit from shared traffic — but you don't own it.

The salons that thrive long term use the platforms as a funnel, not a foundation. Fresha and Treatwell sit at the top — discovery, first impressions, new faces. Everything below that lives somewhere the platform can never touch.

The simple framework

Stop trying to escape Fresha and Treatwell. Start using them for exactly what they're good at — putting new faces in your chair cheaply. Then build the system that means you never pay for that same client twice.

That's the business. The platforms are just the front door. Make sure you own the house.