Twice a year, our booking volume rises sharply. The first two weeks of January, and the first two weeks of September. The pattern holds year over year, and the two groups do not behave the same way.
This is not a scientific observation. It is what we see from the scheduling side, which is a different vantage point than the treatment room, and occasionally a more revealing one.
January bookings
January callers tend to have decided before they call. The consultation request is often framed as a formality. They know roughly what they want, and the question is availability.
Many of them mention having considered the treatment for a year or more. The phrase we hear most often is some version of “I keep saying I’m going to do this.” January is less a starting point than a conversion point, where an existing intention gets a date attached to it.
The timing also follows the holidays. People have seen recent photographs of themselves, often taken indoors, at night, in unflattering light, and often in groups. Whether that is the stated reason or not, the sequence is consistent.
January callers also tend to be more flexible about scheduling and less specific about downtime. They will take an earlier slot if one opens.
September bookings
September callers ask more detailed questions. Downtime is usually the first topic, not the last. They want specific days, not general ranges. They ask what the skin looks like at day four, day ten, day twenty-one, and they ask before they ask about price.
They also book further out. When offered an earlier appointment, a meaningful number decline and keep the later date. This is uncommon in January.
Two factors seem to drive this. The first is practical. Summer scheduling is unpredictable, and by September most people have a stable calendar again, with a clear stretch between the start of the school year and the holidays. The second is seasonal. Sun exposure declines, outdoor social obligations decline, and the period ahead is one where staying out of direct light is realistic rather than aspirational.
September also functions as a second new year for anyone whose calendar has ever been organized around a school schedule, which is a large portion of our patient population.
What the two patterns have in common
Both surges represent the same decision arriving through different reasoning.
January callers frame the decision in terms of intention and follow-through. September callers frame it in terms of logistics and timing. In both cases, the underlying interest existed well before the month in question. What changes is that the month supplies a reason that feels defensible, either as self-improvement or as good planning.
We mention this because patients sometimes seem to feel they need a justification for booking. From our side of the desk, the justification is nearly always retrofitted onto a decision that was already made months earlier.
The practical consequence
Availability tightens during both surges. Appointments that would normally be available within a week move out to three or four. Consultations fill first, treatment slots second.
This has a secondary effect worth naming. When availability is scarce, people take the slot that exists rather than the slot they wanted, and they compress the interval between consultation and treatment. That interval is generally useful. Patients who take several weeks between the two appointments tend to arrive with clearer expectations and fewer questions on the day.
The quieter months
In Montreal, the fall and winter period is the appropriate window for most resurfacing and laser work, because reduced sun exposure affects both healing and how long results hold. That advantage is not limited to September.
October, November, February, and March carry the same seasonal benefit with more open scheduling. Consultations are slightly easier to obtain, treatment dates are closer to the consultation, and there is more room to move an appointment if something changes. We are still quite booked but there is some wiggle room.
Patients who book in these months are not making a different decision than the January and September groups. They are making the same decision on a calendar with less friction.
If you are booking during a surge
There is nothing wrong with booking in January or September. Both are reasonable times to start, and the seasonal logic behind September in particular is sound.
Worth knowing: the surges are often reinforced by promotions. February brings Valentine’s offers, spring brings pre-summer packages, and the fall carries its own seasonal pricing. Those months are already busy, and a promotion narrows availability further.
The honest picture is that we are booked throughout the year. There is no dead season here. The difference during a surge is not that we are open versus closed, it is that the gap between calling and being seen stretches, and the specific day and time you want is less likely to be there.
Most patients are consulted and treated in the same visit where the plan allows for it, so the main thing worth planning around is simply getting on the schedule. If you have a date in mind, whether it is an event, a trip, or a stretch of time you have set aside to recover, call earlier than feels necessary. In January and September, earlier means several weeks, not several days.
