A membership, a class pack and a prepaid wallet all do the same commercial job — they take payment ahead of use — but they produce quite different customer behaviour. Choosing between them is a business decision rather than a software one, so this page is mostly about which to sell to whom.
Because courts, classes and coaching share one system, a credit can be spent on any of them. When a customer's plans change they spend the balance elsewhere with you instead of asking for a refund — which is the difference between keeping the customer and keeping neither.
They're not interchangeable, and most venues eventually run all three for different segments.
Recurring, auto-renewing, with a member rate and optionally included court time or class credits. The strongest model by far, because it produces revenue whether or not the customer turns up — and because included time creates a mild obligation to use it, which is what drives renewal.
A fixed number of credits with an expiry. The middle option for people who won't commit to a subscription but will buy ten sessions. The expiry is the working part: it converts a purchase into attendance, and attendance into a renewal conversation.
A prepaid balance in money rather than sessions. The most flexible and the least committing, which makes it the right answer for casual customers, for gift purchases, and for holding value when you cancel something — a weather cancellation becomes a balance rather than a refund.
Three details that decide whether memberships save time or create it.
A member sees their own price on the booking page automatically. Nobody types a code, nobody at the desk has to remember, and nobody finds out afterwards that they were charged the wrong rate.
Expired cards are the biggest single cause of involuntary churn. Having the failures in one place to work through once a week recovers most of it — and it's the difference between a member lapsing and a member being asked.
A parent holding two children in different squads gets one invoice and one payment method, while each child keeps their own bookings and attendance. Family rules like sibling rates apply at the account level.
Yes, and that is the main practical advantage of holding courts, classes and coaching in one system. A wallet balance can pay for a court hour, a class place or a coaching session, so a customer whose plans change spends the balance somewhere else with you rather than asking for a refund.
An expiry drives usage, and usage drives renewal — an unused pack is a customer drifting away with your money. Expiries that feel punitive produce complaints, so the common shape is a generous window that still exists, rather than either extreme. The expiry is set per pack, so you can differ by product.
Automatically, as a pricing rule attached to the membership rather than as a code the customer enters. The member sees their own price on the booking page without being told about it, and nobody at the desk has to remember to apply anything.
The failure is visible as a list to work through rather than something you discover weeks later. Expired cards are the largest single cause of involuntary churn at most venues, and simply having the list in front of someone once a week recovers a large share of it.
Yes. A paying adult can hold several participants — children in different squads or swim stages — each with their own bookings and attendance, with one invoice and one payment method on the adult. Family-level rules such as sibling rates apply to the account rather than being edited per person.