Key takeaways
- Multi-location aesthetic clinic software lets a group of clinics share one client database, one staff library and one view of performance, while each location keeps its own calendar, rooms and equipment.
- Phorest handles complex medi-aesthetic operations, including room and machine assignment, practitioner-specific treatment times, time for numbing or processing, group bookings, courses and series, memberships, waiting lists and gift vouchers redeemable across locations.
- Multi-branch reports show staff performance across every location and reconcile gift vouchers sold at one clinic and redeemed at another.
- Zenoti is built for large enterprise chains and franchises. Phorest is built for growth-focused aesthetic clinics that want enterprise-grade operations and revenue visibility without enterprise-level complexity.
What is multi-location aesthetic clinic software?
Multi-location aesthetic clinic software is a single platform that runs scheduling, client records, payments, marketing and reporting for two or more clinics from one system. Each location keeps its own calendar, team roster, treatment rooms and devices. Owners get combined reporting, a shared client history, and gift vouchers and packages that work across the group.
The difference from single-location software is not just “more calendars”. A growing aesthetic clinic group has to answer questions a single clinic never faces:
- Can a client who buys a gift voucher at one location redeem it at another?
- Can an injector work mornings at one clinic and afternoons at another?
- Which location, practitioner, or campaign is actually driving revenue?
- How do you stop two practitioners from booking the same laser at the same time?
Why do growing aesthetic clinics outgrow their software?
Most aesthetic clinics outgrow their software when their operations become more complex than the system was designed for. This usually happens when they add practitioners, devices, treatment rooms, or a second location. The typical symptoms are double-booked equipment, manual workarounds for treatment timing, and reporting stitched together from spreadsheets.
Many aesthetic clinics in Australia are offering a wider range of treatments, and the sector is becoming more closely regulated. Both can add operational complexity.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) has described cosmetics as a booming, billion-dollar industry. Since 2 September 2025, new national guidelines have set additional training and practice requirements for registered health practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Nurses, for example, now need to complete a set period of practice before expanding their scope to include cosmetic treatments.
For many clinics, growth means adding treatments, devices and practitioners, sometimes alongside a new site, while keeping track of which practitioners can deliver each treatment. When that happens, software that worked well for one practitioner and one room can start to feel stretched.
The most common warning signs that an aesthetic clinic has outgrown its software are:
- Too many steps to book or move an appointment, which slows down reception and frustrates clients.
- Scheduling that can’t reflect real-world nuance, such as one practitioner needing 60 minutes for a treatment while another needs 30.
- Equipment conflicts, where two practitioners book the same laser or device at the same time.
- Reporting that requires exporting multiple files just to compare locations, practitioners or year-on-year performance.
- Gift vouchers, packages and courses that don’t work across locations, creating manual reconciliation at month-end.
Can Phorest handle multi-location aesthetic clinic groups?
Yes. Phorest supports single clinics and multi-location groups on the same platform. Owners can share one client database across every location, manage practitioners from one view, roster a practitioner at more than one location on the same day, and view performance across the whole group in multi-branch reports.
| Multi-location need | How Phorest handles it |
| One client record across all clinics | Chain settings let you share the client database across every location, or keep each location’s clients separate |
| Practitioners who work at more than one clinic | Phorest lets one staff profile be active at multiple locations, and the roster supports split shifts across locations |
| A consistent treatment menu | Services can be shared from one location to another |
| Gift vouchers bought at one clinic, redeemed at another | The Voucher Reconciliation (Multi-Branch) report shows where each gift voucher was sold, where it was redeemed and the amount owed between locations |
| Comparing practitioner performance across clinics | The Staff Performance Overview (Multi-Branch) report summarises each practitioner’s results across all locations |
| Managing the group on the go | The PhorestGo app lets managers switch between locations from a phone or tablet |
How does Phorest manage treatment rooms, lasers and other equipment?
Phorest lets you assign treatment rooms and machines to individual services or entire service categories, with a configurable booking priority. These resources are automatically allocated when the service is booked, helping you manage shared rooms and equipment. For online bookings, times when the required resources are at full capacity won’t appear as available, even if a staff member is free.
For example, an aesthetic clinic could configure:
- Laser hair removal to require an eligible treatment room and laser device.
- Body contouring to use a dedicated machine.
- HydraFacial or microneedling to use a treatment room shared with other services.
How does Phorest handle treatments with numbing, processing or recovery time?
Phorest supports processing gaps, practitioner-specific treatment durations and extra time for preparation or clean-up, so your calendar can better reflect how treatments run. For treatments with an initial preparation step and a later treatment step, Processing Time can create a gap between those stages. This can leave the practitioner available for another appointment during the waiting period, where clinically appropriate. Treatment durations and processing times can also vary by practitioner.
Examples include:
- Topical anaesthetic before treatment: configure preparation and treatment as linked stages, with a processing gap between them.
- Different practitioner timings: set individual service durations and processing times for each qualified staff member.
- Equipment preparation after opening: use Start Up time to delay online bookings for the relevant service.
- Clean-up between appointments: reserve 60 minutes in the calendar for a 45-minute treatment plus 15 minutes of clean-up, while displaying 45 minutes to clients online.
These settings can help reduce manual scheduling calculations and protect time for preparation and turnover.
Can clients book couples, group or multi-person appointments?
Yes. Phorest supports group bookings in which each person gets their own practitioner and services within a single booking. Clinics can also create multi-person packages for experiences sold as a set.
Common aesthetic clinic examples include:
- Bridal and hen’s parties, with facials, brow treatments and skin treatments across several practitioners in one session.
- Couples treatments, such as side-by-side facials.
- Friends’ events and VIP evenings, where a host books for a group.
How do courses, packages, memberships and gift vouchers work in Phorest?
Phorest supports the main recurring-revenue tools aesthetic clinics rely on: courses and series, memberships, packages and gift vouchers. Because many aesthetic treatments are repeated on a regular cycle, such as anti-wrinkle injections every few months or laser hair removal booked as a course, these tools help turn one-off treatments into predictable, recurring income.
- Courses and series. Sell a course of treatments, such as six laser hair removal sessions or a three-session chemical peel program, at reception or online. Each session is tracked as it is used.
- Memberships. Set weekly, monthly or annual billing, a credit value clients can spend, and the specific services or packages included.
- Gift vouchers. Sell and redeem gift vouchers in-clinic or online. For groups, the multi-branch reconciliation report shows exactly how much each location owes or is owed.
How can a waiting list fill last-minute cancellations?
Phorest’s waiting list lets you hold clients against a time slot that is already booked. If the original appointment is cancelled, Phorest immediately prompts reception to move the waiting-list client into the open slot.
For aesthetic clinics, where a single cancelled laser or injectables appointment can be worth hundreds of dollars, a working waiting list protects revenue on your busiest days. There’s no limit on how many clients you can add to the waiting list.
What reports should a multi-location aesthetic clinic owner check every week?
Owners of multi-location aesthetic clinics should review practitioner performance, recurring revenue, retention and cross-location liabilities every week. Phorest brings these into one platform so you aren’t exporting files from several systems.
| Question you need answered | Where to find it in Phorest |
| Which practitioners are performing best across all my clinics? | Staff Performance Overview (Multi-Branch) report |
| How much gift voucher value is outstanding, and which location owes which? | Voucher Reconciliation (Multi-Branch) report |
| Are membership payments collected, or are some failing? | Membership Billing dashboard |
| Are clients coming back and rebooking? | Client retention and rebooking reports |
| Which campaigns are actually filling the calendar? | Marketing campaign and revenue attribution reporting |
Phorest vs Zenoti vs Pabau vs Fresha: which is best for a growing aesthetic clinic group?
The best platform depends on your size and priorities. Zenoti is designed for large enterprise chains and franchises. Pabau is known for clinical records and medical-led workflows. Fresha is known for its consumer booking marketplace. Phorest is built for growth-focused aesthetic clinics and multi-location groups that want advanced operations and clear revenue visibility in one connected platform, without enterprise-level complexity.
| Platform | Best known for | Multi-location approach | Pricing model | Typical best fit |
| Phorest | All-in-one growth platform connecting booking, marketing, reporting, charting and payments | Shared client database, central staff library, multi-branch reporting and cross-location gift voucher reconciliation | Quote-based plans | Growth-focused aesthetic clinics and groups that want operational depth plus revenue visibility, with hands-on onboarding and support |
| Zenoti | Enterprise platform for spas, salons and aesthetic clinics | Centralised management for large chains and franchises | Custom enterprise pricing | Large chains, franchises and private equity-backed groups needing highly customised enterprise infrastructure |
| Pabau | Clinic management software for medical and aesthetic clinics, including electronic medical records, clinical notes and before-and-after photos | Multi-location management with shared patient records and reporting across sites | Tiered plans that scale by location and user count | Medical-led clinics that prioritise clinical records and medical-style workflows |
| Fresha | Booking and payments platform with a consumer marketplace for finding new clients | Multi-location supported | Published subscription per bookable team member, plus a commission on new clients booked through its marketplace and card processing fees | Clinics and salons that value marketplace exposure to attract new clients |
Information based on each vendor’s public website as of October 2026. Features and pricing change, so confirm details directly with each vendor.
How to choose:
- If you run dozens of locations or a franchise system with heavy customisation needs, an enterprise platform like Zenoti may be the right fit.
- If you’re a growth-stage aesthetic clinic or group that needs complex scheduling, multi-location control and clear insight into what drives revenue, Phorest is designed for exactly that.
- Whichever platform you consider, test it against your hardest real-world scenarios, not a standard demo script.
Operations deep-dive checklist: what to ask in an aesthetic clinic software demo
Use this checklist with every vendor, Phorest included. Ask each one to show you, not just tell you.
- Show me how two practitioners are prevented from booking the same laser or device at the same time.
- Show me a treatment with numbing time, where the practitioner sees another client during the wait.
- Can the same service have a different duration for each practitioner?
- Show me a group booking with three clients, three practitioners and two rooms.
- Can a client buy a gift voucher at one location and redeem it at another? Who reports the balance owed?
- Can one practitioner work at two locations on the same day?
- Is the client record shared across every location, and can I choose not to share it?
- Show me a six-session treatment course sold online and tracked session by session.
- How are failed membership payments flagged and retried?
- Show me a report comparing practitioner performance across all locations, without exporting to a spreadsheet.
- What does onboarding and data migration look like for a multi-location group, and who supports us afterwards?
Frequently asked questions
How does Phorest support client privacy in Australia?
Can a client's record be shared across all of my locations?
Can a practitioner work at more than one location?
Can a client buy a gift card at one location and redeem it at another?
How does Phorest stop two practitioners from booking the same laser or room?
Can the same treatment take a different amount of time depending on the practitioner?
Can clients buy a course of treatments online?
Does Phorest support aesthetic clinic memberships?
Can I manage multiple locations from my phone?
Run a more complex aesthetic clinic, with less complexity
Phorest is best for premium aesthetic clinics focused on growth, compliance and client retention. From rooms and lasers to courses, memberships and multi-location reporting, Phorest connects every part of the client journey in one platform, so your team spends less time managing the calendar and more time growing the business.
