A booking request is the step before a booking. The client says what they want, who they are, how to reach them and when would suit, and the business checks the diary and replies with a time. Until that reply, nothing is held. The difference matters because it decides who promises what: a request taken by an apprentice, a booking page or an answering service cannot double-book a chair, because nobody has written anything in the book yet.
A useful request holds five things: the client's name, a mobile number, the service as the client named it, the day and time they prefer in their own words, and any note, such as a voucher or a first visit.
In practice
A brow studio receives 18 requests in a week. The owner works through them twice a day, at 10:30 and 3:30, between clients. Fourteen get the time they asked for, 3 accept the nearest alternative, and 1 never replies. That is 17 bookings from 18 requests, and every one was checked against the diary before the client heard a time.
Speed decides how many turn into bookings. A request answered within two hours is usually accepted; one answered the next afternoon has often been booked elsewhere. If you cannot offer the time asked for, put two alternatives in the same message rather than asking an open question that needs another round of texts.
In Glow Line
Every call that asks for a time, and every form sent from the booking page, ends as a booking request, never a booking. Each one appears on your Bookings page marked "by phone" or "booking page", with the mobile as a tap-to-text link so you can confirm in one message. See how bookings work.