Naiva vs Treatwell: keep control of your client relationships
Treatwell is a marketplace that takes a commission. Naiva helps you reply directly to your clients on Instagram, with no middleman.
Treatwell is one of Europe's largest beauty booking marketplaces. It brings new clients through a search engine for salons. But when a client sends you an Instagram DM... Treatwell can't help you respond.
Naiva takes a different approach: an AI assistant that helps you build direct relationships through your own Instagram account, with your tone, your words, your personality.
| Feature | Treatwell | Naiva |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Commission per booking | Free beta, then subscription |
| Client relationships | Platform-owned | Direct, you own them |
| Auto DM replies | No | Yes, AI-powered |
| AI tone learning | No | Yes, learns your voice |
| Online booking | Yes, via marketplace | Coming soon |
| Brand identity | One listing among many | Your voice, your channel |
What Treatwell offers
Treatwell is one of Europe's largest beauty booking marketplaces. It works like a search engine for salons: clients browse available treatments in their area, compare prices, read reviews, and book online. For salons looking to attract new clients, Treatwell provides visibility you might not get on your own.
The platform handles the booking flow, payment processing, and sends automated reminders to reduce no-shows. It also offers a management tool (Treatwell Connect) for salons to manage their calendar, whether bookings come from the marketplace or walk-ins.
For new salons or those looking to fill empty slots, Treatwell can be an effective way to get discovered. The marketplace already has a large base of active users searching for beauty services.
The marketplace model problem
Here's the trade-off that many salon owners discover over time: Treatwell's marketplace model means you're paying for every client, every time. The commission structure means that a regular client who has been coming to your salon for years still generates a fee for Treatwell if they book through the platform.
More importantly, the client relationship belongs to the marketplace, not to you. Clients often search Treatwell by price or location, not by loyalty to your salon. If a competitor offers a lower price, the platform will happily show them as an alternative. You're competing for attention on someone else's platform.
This creates a dependency: you need Treatwell for clients, but Treatwell takes a cut of every one of those clients. The more successful you are on the platform, the more you pay. And if you ever leave, those clients stay with Treatwell. There's also the question of brand identity — on a marketplace, you're one listing among hundreds.
Naiva: building direct client relationships
Naiva takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of putting your salon on a marketplace where you compete on price, Naiva helps you build and nurture relationships directly through your own Instagram account.
When a potential client discovers your work on Instagram, they're already interested in you, your style, your personality, your results. When they send a DM, that's a warm lead. Naiva makes sure that lead gets an immediate, personal response, even if you're in the middle of a haircut.
The AI learns how you communicate. It knows your prices, your services, your hours, and it delivers that information the way you would say it, with your warmth, your expressions, your personality. The client feels like they're talking to you, building a connection before they ever walk through your door.
No commission. No middleman. The client comes to you through your own channel, gets a great first impression through Naiva, and becomes your client, not a platform's client. Direct clients come back because they love your work and feel a personal connection — that builds a business, rather than renting one.