How to Make Sessions Bookable
Sessions can be made bookable for members, visitors, or leads by enabling booking within the session settings. Once a session is bookable, it can be reserved through your website, member portal, or by managers. This article explains how to make sessions bookable and how bookings work once enabled.
Making a Session Bookable
To allow bookings for a session:
Once enabled, additional booking options—such as pricing, capacity, and visibility—will appear.
Configuring Bookable Sessions
After enabling booking for a session, you can configure the settings for the default booking option. You can offer multiple ways to book the same session—each with separate settings for who can book, capacity, or pricing—by using the + Add Booking Option button.
Scenario:
A dance school offers Ballet for Tots (Ages 3–6) and wants to allow new families to book a free trial class.
Action Steps:
Booking is enabled for the session. Capacity is set to 3, and the booking option is set to website only for access through the embedded booking widget.
Give Each Booking Option a Descriptive Name
After enabling booking for a session, give each booking option a clear name. Otherwise, it will default to "Pricing Option." Naming isn't required, but it's a good habit—especially if you plan to offer multiple options. Even with a single option, as shown in the scenario above, using a name like"First Visit" helps clarify its purpose.
Set Capacity for Each Booking Option
Setting a capacity limit controls how many people can book into a session. This prevents overbooking and helps you manage class size more effectively. It's especially useful for maintaining a balanced student-to-instructor ratio, limiting trial spots, or ensuring space is available for specific participants.
How to Offer Different Pricing on the Same Booking Option
If a session should have one total capacity, use a single booking option and adjust pricing based on who books.
- Set the fee for the group that should be charged (e.g., non-members)
- Enable "Others can book for free" to allow other users (e.g., members) to book without being charged
Using one booking option with this setting ensures only one spot is filled, while pricing is applied based on the participant.
Define Pricing for Specific Customer Groups
You can assign a price to each booking option or allow free bookings. Pricing can be applied to specific customer groups — for example, charging non-members while members attend free. Use the Fee dropdown to select who should be charged (or not) for this booking option:
- Free Booking – No charge is applied, anyone booking can reserve the session at no cost.
- Charge Everyone – All bookings (Members, Visitors, Leads) must pay
- Non-Members – Only users not logged in as members are charged (includes visitors and leads)
- Website Booking – Charges apply only to bookings made through the website
Use the Price box to define the cost of each booking option you create for a session.
Controlling Who Can See and Book (Visibility)
The Visibility dropdown controls where the booking option appears and who can access it. In Gymdesk, members (active) and visitors can both have access to the member portal, while leads can only book through the public website.
Set Booking Visibility Based on User Type:
- Members only – Only logged-in active members can see and book (excludes visitors and leads)
- Visitors only – Only logged in visitors can see and book (excludes members and leads)
- Managers only – Only visible in the manager interface (staff use only)
Set Booking Visibility Based on Where It Appears:
- Member portal – Visible to both logged-in members and visitors (with member portal access)
- Website only – Only appears on the public website booking widget (accessible to anyone, including leads)
Choose How to Save First-Visit Bookings
In Gymdesk, visitors are non-members with a profile — created by either enrolling in trial memberships or booking sessions. The Save booking as a lead checkbox controls whether first-time bookings create a visitor profile right away or keep the person as a lead until later.
- When checked: First-visit bookings are saved as leads.
- When unchecked: First-visit bookings are converted to visitors (a visitor profile is created).
Enabling Waitlists for Booking Options
Use the Enable waitlist checkbox to allow bookings to join a queue when a session is full. If someone cancels, the next person is automatically added to the session and notified by email. Increasing the session limit after it is full will not reopen spots for waitlisted participants.
Note: If the session requires payment for booking, an invoice will be generated at that time and included in the bookings confirmation to be paid online.