01
Set capacity from the space and the format
Capacity comes from the room, the equipment, and how much attention the coach can give, in that order. A yoga studio with 16 mats holds 16. A swim lane holds 6 for a technique session and 8 for a fitness set. A padel clinic holds 4 players per court plus the coach, so 2 courts is 8.
Publish the capacity on the class page and make it the same number every week. A class that is 12 places one week and 16 the next looks like a club that does not know its own rooms.
- Yoga and pilates: mats or reformers in the room, no more
- Swim: 6 per lane for technique, 8 for fitness
- Court clinics: 4 per court plus the coach
02
Decide whether to overbook by a small margin
Popular classes with a known late-cancel pattern can take 1 or 2 bookings above capacity, because someone will drop out. Do this only where 4 weeks of data show at least 1 late cancellation per session on average. Never overbook a class where a full room is a safety issue, such as a swim lane or a reformer class.
Where overbooking is used, tell the last 1 or 2 bookers that they hold a standby place and will be confirmed 2 hours before. A standby place that is announced feels like a favour. One that is discovered at the door feels like a broken promise.
03
Pick a cancellation window that fits a class
Court bookings suit a 12 or 24 hour window because the court can be resold to anyone. Classes fill from a smaller pool, so the window can be shorter. Six hours works for most evening classes, 12 hours for early morning ones where the waitlist needs to see the offer the night before.
Write the window on the class page, in the confirmation email, and on the cancel button itself. A player about to cancel at 17:30 for a 19:00 class should see that the window has closed before they tap, not after.
- 6 hours for evening classes, 12 hours for classes before 09:00
- The same window for every class of the same type
- The window shown on the cancel button, not only in the terms
04
Choose between credit and refund for a late cancel
A single drop-in class paid by card is refunded to the card inside the window and forfeited outside it. A class pack or a membership is simpler: the session is returned to the pack inside the window and used up outside it. Credits keep the revenue with the club and are far easier to explain than partial refunds.
Whatever the rule, apply it automatically. A desk that waives the late-cancel rule for regulars trains everyone to ask for the waiver.
Set an expiry on credits, 90 days is common, and show the expiry date on the credit itself. An open-ended credit becomes a liability the club forgets, and a credit with a date brings the player back before it runs out.
05
Put a waitlist behind every class that fills
A class that reaches capacity within a day of going live should have a waitlist from the start. When a late cancellation lands, the next player on the list gets a short hold on the place, and the cancelled player’s refund or credit depends on whether the place is resold. The rules are read together, so publish them together.
For classes that run as a series, let the waitlist apply to a single date rather than the whole series. A player who wants Tuesday next week does not want every Tuesday until spring, and a series-only waitlist stays empty while the single-date demand goes unmet.
06
Tell the coach the numbers before the class
Send the coach the roster 2 hours before the class with the count, the names, and any first-timers flagged. A coach who knows 14 of 16 are coming, 2 of them new, plans a different session from one who walks in blind. It also makes the coach the second pair of eyes on no-shows.
Ask the coach to mark attendance on the roster within 10 minutes of the start. That is the only accurate no-show record a class ever gets, and it feeds the overbooking decision next month.