How to Take Bookings and Payments Online for Your Studio

Online booking exposes every rule you have been handling case by case at the front desk. Decide these first, write them down, and the setup itself goes quickly:

• Services: each class type, 1:1 session, assessment and intro offer, with its length, capacity and who can teach it.
• Access: which memberships, packs or drop-in payments let someone book each service.
• Prices, including intro offers and any member discounts.
• Booking limits: how far ahead people can book, and the latest they can book before a session starts.
• Your cancellation window, and what a late cancel or a no-show costs.
• Staff permissions: who can book, cancel or refund on a client's behalf.
• Where the money lands: a payment processor account in your business's name, connected to your business bank account.

Yes. Take payment when the client books or buys, not after the session, whichever of the three models below you use. Chasing money after the fact is slow, awkward and easy to forget. Save the card on file, with the member's agreement, for anything that renews.

Packs work best when they cost less than the same number of drop-ins. Say a drop-in is $30 and a 10-pack is $250: the client saves $50 compared with ten drop-ins, and you get $250 up front for ten future visits.

In BurnOn, payments go through your own Stripe account, which you connect to the platform, and members pay by card. Plans and packs are sold from your storefront link and checkout links and booked by members in the app; the public booking page is for free assessment classes only.

The three models, which you can combine:

• Pay per booking (drop-in): the simplest option for newcomers and visitors, but every booking is a separate decision to come back.
• Prepaid packs: clients buy a set number of sessions up front and each booking uses one credit. Decide what happens to unused sessions and put it in your terms.
• Memberships: a recurring charge that includes a set number of bookings or unlimited classes. This is your most predictable revenue.

1. 1
   Open a payment account

   Set up a payment processor such as Stripe in your business's name and connect it to your business bank account.

2. 2
   List your services

   Create each class type, 1:1 session and intro offer with its length, capacity and instructor; price belongs to what people buy.

3. 3
   Build the weekly timetable

   Add recurring classes and your 1:1 availability, then check for clashes over rooms, equipment and staff.

4. 4
   Create what people buy

   Set up drop-ins, packs and memberships with their prices, and choose which services each one can book.

5. 5
   Set the booking rules

   Decide how far ahead clients can book, the latest time to book, the cancellation window, and what late cancels and no-shows cost.

6. 6
   Set reminders and offer a waitlist

   Choose when reminders go out before each session, and let clients join a waitlist for full group classes, so a canceled spot goes to someone who wants it.

7. 7
   Test with a real card

   Buy a pack or plan, then book, cancel and rebook the way a client would. Check the receipt and the payout, then refund the test charge (your processor may keep its fee).

8. 8
   Publish your links

   Add the link where people buy, and your free-class booking link if you offer one, to your website, your Instagram bio, your Google Business Profile and your email signature.

9. 9
   Move existing clients over

   Message current clients with the link, load their remaining sessions or memberships, and stop taking bookings by text.

Rules only work online if clients see them where they book and pay. Set them once and apply them the same way to everyone, including regulars.

Start with the booking window. Opening the timetable two weeks ahead, for example, lets regulars plan their week without one person holding every prime slot for a month. A booking cutoff, such as 30 minutes before class, gives the instructor a final headcount and time to set up.

Then set a cancellation window, the cutoff after which a cancel counts as late, and decide what a late cancel or no-show costs. Show the rule on the booking page and at checkout, so clients agree to it before they pay rather than hear about it afterward.

Automatic reminders, such as one the day before and one an hour before, replace the confirmation texts you used to send by hand. They also give clients time to cancel inside the rules instead of simply not showing up.

When a group class sells out, let clients join a waitlist instead of messaging you for a spot. Say up front whether they will be booked automatically when a spot opens and whether that uses a credit.

BurnOn lets you switch on a cancellation policy for the whole business or for each service, choose whether late cancels and no-shows use up the session credit, and send booking reminders at the times you pick, 24 hours and 1 hour before by default.

Members can join the waitlist for any full group class in BurnOn. A canceled spot goes to the first person waiting who has a valid credit or plan; in the last hour before class, everyone waiting is notified and the first to claim it gets it.

Setting up the software is the easy part. The harder part is changing habits, yours included, because every booking you still take by text teaches clients that texting works.

Give the switch a start date and treat it as firm. Before that date, do the work that makes the first online booking easy:

• Tell every current client what changes on the start date, what they need to do, and where to find the link.
• Load remaining sessions, packs and memberships beforehand, so nobody has to ask what they have left.
• Help with first bookings in person: a QR code at the front desk, and a minute after class with anyone who is stuck.
• From the start date, reply to every text or DM booking request with the link instead of booking it for them.
• Ask new clients to buy and book online from their first visit, so they never learn the old way.