A Belgian tanning salon needs software that understands what it sells: time on a UV bed, often paid in advance through a package or a prepaid wallet, and allowed only within the rules of the royal decree of 20 June 2002. A generic till records the payment and stops there. Specialized software checks the customer before the sale, deducts the right balance and starts the bed for the time paid.
Most salons did not choose their setup in one go. It grew a piece at a time: a till bought off the shelf, a booking app added later, a paper file kept for the inspector. This guide explains where those pieces leave gaps and what to check before replacing them. We make Solaryx, software for Belgian tanning salons, so we have a side in this question.
What does a generic till do well?
A good generic till does its own job properly. It prints receipts, splits sales by VAT rate, sells creams and goggles from stock, takes card payments and closes the cash drawer at night. For a shop, that is the whole job.
The trouble is that a solarium's main product is not on a shelf. It is a session, and a session comes with a customer, a bed, a balance and a legal check.
What does a tanning salon sell that a generic till does not understand?
Time on a bed, not an item
A session holds a bed for longer than the UV time: there is preparation before and ventilation after, and the bed cannot go to the next customer in between. A generic till sells 20 minutes as a line on a receipt. It does not know which bed is free and it does not start the bed. Someone at the desk sets a timer, and the minutes actually given are recorded nowhere.
Sessions paid in advance
Many sessions are paid before they are taken: a package of ten sessions, a prepaid wallet topped up with a bonus, a gift card. On a generic till these become discount codes, handwritten cards or lines in a spreadsheet. Each one is a balance someone must remember to deduct, once, at the right moment.
Software built for a solarium keeps one balance per customer and deducts it at the till for each session. A prepaid wallet can be shared by a family, and a top-up can be restricted to tanning sessions, so tanning credit does not leave as a bottle of cream.
A customer with a legal file
Before a first session, Belgian law asks the reception person to determine the customer's skin type together with them and to have a document signed by both, with the identity card number. A generic till has no place for that, so the check lives in a folder next to it.
What do the Belgian rules ask of the till?
The royal decree of 20 June 2002 sets rules that apply at the moment of sale. Here is how each one plays out with a generic till and with software built for the sector.
| What the rule asks | Generic till | Software built for solariums |
|---|---|---|
| No UV under 18 or for skin type 1 | Sells the session to anyone | Checks age and skin type on the customer file before the sale |
| 48 hours between the first and second exposure, then 24 hours | Does not know when the last session was | Blocks the session online, at the till and for walk-ins, and shows the last session date |
| First exposure of a session at half the normal dose | Sells whatever duration is chosen at the desk | Limits the duration by skin type and step |
| A signed document with the skin type and the identity card number | A paper file next to the till | Reads the eID card and keeps the signed skin type assessment with the customer file |
| Supporting documents kept for an inspection | Receipts that say nothing about the bed | Records each session with the bed, the duration and the rule applied |
None of this replaces the reception person: the law still asks for a trained person to inform the customer and determine the skin type. Software makes sure the check happens every time, including on a busy Saturday.
Why not connect a generic till to a booking app?
It is the usual next step, and it moves the problem rather than solving it. The booking app may know some rules for online bookings, but a customer who walks in goes straight to the till. If the delay between sessions is checked in one place and not the other, it is not really checked.
Two tools also mean two customer lists and often two balances: a package bought online and a top-up made at the desk, reconciled by hand at the end of the month. In specialized software, the booking, the sale, the bed and the customer file are one record, so a rule applies wherever a session starts.
What should you check before choosing tanning salon software?
- Your beds. Does it start and stop your brand and model? Ask before signing, not after.
- The Belgian rules. Are age, skin type and the 48 hour and 24 hour delays checked online, at the till and for walk-ins?
- Identity. Can it read the Belgian eID card to fill in the customer's details?
- Prepaid sales. Are packages, prepaid wallets and gift cards deducted on their own, whatever the channel?
- Payments. Does it take Bancontact at the desk and online?
- Languages. Does it work in French, Dutch and German, for your staff and your customers?
- Outages. What happens to a running session when the internet or the power goes down?
- Leaving. Can you export your data, and will the next supplier take over your customers' balances?
Solaryx answers these points as follows. A relay box connects to the bed with two wires, on the same input as a reception timer or a coin box: Ergoline and megaSun are supported, and for another brand we check the model before installation. The Belgian checks run at booking, at the till and for walk-ins; the till reads the eID card, deducts packages, prepaid wallets and gift cards, takes Bancontact on a CCV terminal and keeps working offline. The interface exists in French, Dutch, English and German.
It costs a one-time setup of 4,000 euros per site, bed controllers included, and a subscription from 100 euros a month per site, excluding VAT, with no long-term commitment on the subscription.
See how Solaryx applies the Belgian rules at the till
Discover the Solaryx till, built for tanning salons
Ask for a demo of Solaryx for your salon
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep my current till and add tanning software next to it?
You can, but the gaps stay between the two: two customer lists, two balances, and rules checked in one place only. Software that is both the till and the booking system avoids that.
Will specialized software work with my existing tanning beds?
Ask for your exact model. The Solaryx relay box connects with two wires to the same input as a reception timer or a coin box. Ergoline and megaSun are supported; for another brand, we check the model before installation and adapt the wiring if needed.
What happens to my customers' packages and gift cards if I change software?
Ask the new supplier before you sign. When a salon moves to Solaryx, gift card balances and remaining session packages are carried over with the customers.
Does the till still work if the internet goes down?
It should, and it is worth asking. The Solaryx till keeps selling and running sessions offline, keeps applying the rules on delays, age and skin type, and syncs once the connection is back.