A fully bespoke client booking and appointment management system built from scratch for a Hijama and muscular therapy practice in London — replacing manual scheduling with a seamless, automated digital portal.
The Cupping Guy is a specialist Hijama and muscular therapy practice in London offering fire cupping, deep tissue massage, spinal alignment, sports massage, posture correction and detox treatments. As the practice grew, managing appointments manually became a real problem.
Clients were booking via phone, WhatsApp and email — creating a fragmented, time-consuming process with no central record of who was booked when. Double bookings, missed messages and zero visibility over upcoming capacity were becoming daily frustrations.
Off-the-shelf tools like Calendly or Acuity weren't the right fit — the practice needed a fully branded, controlled environment built around their specific services, with proper client records and a clean admin dashboard for the practitioner.
9WEB was engaged to design and build a fully custom booking portal from the ground up.
The portal handles the full client journey — from browsing services to booking, confirmation and practitioner management — in one unified platform.
New clients register with their name, contact details and health intake information. Returning clients log in securely to access their booking history and upcoming appointments. All passwords are hashed using bcrypt — client credentials are never stored in plain text.
Clients see a live calendar showing available appointment slots updated in real time. The practitioner controls working hours, blocks unavailable dates and manages capacity from the admin dashboard. The system enforces one booking per slot — no more double bookings.
Clients choose from the full range of treatments — Hijama (wet cupping), fire cupping, deep tissue massage, spinal manipulation, sports massage, posture correction and detox sessions. Each service has its own duration, price and description. The calendar adjusts available slots automatically based on the service selected.
On booking, both client and practitioner receive an automated email confirmation with full appointment details and preparation notes. A reminder email fires 24 hours before the appointment. Cancellations and rescheduling are handled through the portal, with notifications sent automatically to both parties.
The system maintains a complete appointment history per client — treatment received, session notes, date and follow-up actions. The practitioner adds notes after each session, building a cumulative health record over time. This supports continuity of care and informed treatment decisions at every visit.
A clean, password-protected admin panel gives the practitioner full control — view all bookings in calendar or list view, manage client records, set availability, block dates, review session history and export data. Accessible securely from any device, anywhere.
The portal follows a clean client-server architecture. The responsive frontend communicates with a PHP backend via a structured API layer. All booking data, client records and session notes are persisted in a relational MySQL database with referential integrity enforced throughout.
The system runs on a UK-hosted server with SSL encryption across every connection. The admin panel sits on a separate authenticated route — completely inaccessible to regular users.
The architecture was designed for reliability and future growth. Adding new services, onboarding additional practitioners, or integrating SMS reminders are all achievable without rebuilding the core system.
Every technology chosen for performance, security and long-term maintainability — no unnecessary complexity, no bloated frameworks.
The portal was scoped, designed, built and deployed entirely by 9WEB following our custom software delivery process, with close client collaboration at every stage.
The build prioritised security and reliability from day one — not as an afterthought. Every feature was tested across devices before deployment, and the live handover included a full walkthrough of the admin panel with the practitioner.
Mapped every booking workflow, identified pain points with manual scheduling and documented full system requirements — services, durations, user roles and data needs.
Designed the relational schema — clients, appointments, services and session notes tables with correct foreign keys, indexes and constraints to ensure data integrity.
Built PHP endpoints for all core actions — registration, login, availability checking, booking creation, cancellation, admin auth and record management.
Designed and built the client-facing booking interface and practitioner admin dashboard — mobile-responsive and consistent with the practice's brand identity.
Integrated PHPMailer for automated confirmations and reminders — templated emails triggered by booking creation, cancellation and pre-appointment timing.
Full security review — input sanitisation, CSRF protection, session hardening and penetration testing of auth routes. Deployed to UK-hosted server with SSL. Admin training and handover completed.
Whether it's a booking portal, client management system, or bespoke software built around your exact workflow — 9WEB can scope, design and deliver it. Book a free call to discuss your project.