Choosing between booth rent and commission comes down to one number most owners never calculate: your profit per chair under each model. Booth rent gives you steady, predictable income and far less control. Commission gives you more control and more upside, but more risk and more managing.
Neither wins on paper
Booth rent means a fixed check whether the chair is busy or slow, and a stylist who runs her own show inside your walls. Commission means you share in every strong month and carry every weak one, and you set the standards, the products, and the client experience. One is simpler, one is more powerful. The right answer is whichever leaves more in your pocket for the salon you actually want to run.
Run both on your real numbers
Take one chair, one stylist, and one real month. Model the rent income against the commission split after product and overhead. Do it for a busy month and a slow one. The gap between them is your answer, and it is almost never the one you assumed.
Decide once, revisit yearly
Switching models later is expensive, because it can cost you the good stylists you built the place around. Decide with a spreadsheet, not a feeling, and look at it again once a year as your team changes.