Fitness class booking for bootcamps, run clubs and small groups

The short answer

If you run a handful of classes a week, such as a park bootcamp, a run club, a dance class or a boxing session, you need four things: a booking page per class with a cap, a casual price and a regular’s price, the right questions at checkout, and quick check-in. You probably don’t need full gym software with a member app and a timetable of twenty classes.

Do you need studio software, or a booking page?

Fitness booking software ranges from a simple booking link to full studio systems with memberships, class packs, staff rosters and a branded app. Be honest about which you are.

The bigger systems do a lot, and they’re priced for it. A trainer with a park and a whistle mostly needs people to book, pay and turn up.

Set up each class with a cap

Every class has a natural limit: equipment, space, how many people one trainer can coach safely. Set it as the capacity and let bookings stop there. A waitlist catches the extras, and when someone cancels, the next person is offered the spot.

If you run the same class several times a week, set it up once as a repeating series, one session per class, so each has its own cap and its own list.

Casual and regular prices

Most small fitness groups do well with two prices:

• Casual drop-in for anyone, any session
• A subscription for regulars, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, a bit cheaper per class

The subscription is the closest thing to a membership without the contract. Regulars don’t book each session; their place is held and their ticket arrives before each class. They can pause when they’re injured or travelling, and cancel when they want. For packs of pre-paid visits across a timetable, see Class passes, class packs and subscriptions.

A free first session or an intro price works as a separate ticket type. Cap how many one person can buy, and keep an eye out for the same name booking the intro twice.

Ask the right questions at checkout

Fitness classes carry more risk than a trivia night. Ask before people arrive, not at the gate:

• Injuries or medical conditions you should know about
• Experience level, so you can plan modifications
• Emergency contact
• Acknowledgement of your waiver or terms, as a required tick box

Keep the list short. Every extra question is another reason to abandon the booking. Get advice on what your waiver needs to say; a booking question records that someone ticked it, which is not the same as a waiver being sound.

Reminders cut no-shows

A reminder the evening before an early class, and another on the morning, is the cheapest attendance fix there is. It’s also when people check what to bring and where to meet.

Check people in fast

At 6 am in a park, check-in has to take seconds. Scan each QR code with your phone’s camera, or tap their name on the guest list. If a co-trainer runs the session, send them a link that only checks people in, so they don’t need your login.

Take a walk-up’s payment at the session and record it, so your numbers and the headcount stay right.

Weather and cancellations

Outdoor classes get rained out. Decide your policy before it happens: move to a backup venue, run a make-up session, or refund. Say it on the booking page and in your subscription details. Moving a session’s time or place should email everyone booked. Handling a rained-out outdoor yoga event walks through the options.

On One Ticket

Make each class a series: Weekly under Repeats, on the days you pick. Each session has its own capacity, sales end time and waitlist, and with Offer them to the next in line, a freed spot is held for the next person for six hours. Add questions at checkout as a typed answer, a list or required tick boxes. A ticket type’s Max per buyer caps how many one email address can buy at a session. See Repeating events and series.

Turn on subscriptions on the series for regulars, billed every week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks or month at your price. Their places count against each session’s cap, their ticket for each class is made about a week ahead, and they pause or cancel from a private link. Everyone booked gets a reminder the day before and the morning of. See the Subscriptions page.

Check in from any phone’s browser with no app, or send a co-trainer a door link. Record cash or card walk-ups at the box office, with no booking fee. On a paid ticket or subscription payment the buyer pays a small booking fee and you receive your full price. See pricing.

There are no class packs, staff rosters or member app here. If you need those, studio software is the better fit.

Back to the complete guide to recurring events. Related: How to sell tickets for a weekly event, Social run club with free tickets and ticketing for run clubs.