Help Center Setup & Configuration

Capacity Pools

Manage member vs. public capacity

Capacity pools let you reserve a portion of your capacity for members while keeping the rest open to the public. This ensures your loyal members can always find availability.

How Pools Work

Each timeslot has three capacity numbers:

PoolDescription
Total (capTotal)Hard maximum for the timeslot
Members (capMembers)Reserved exclusively for members
Public (capPublic)Available for anyone

Example: A timeslot with 12 total, 4 member, 8 public capacity:

  • Members can book from their 4 reserved slots
  • Public customers can book from the 8 public slots
  • No one can exceed 12 total

Members book from the member pool first. Public customers book from the public pool. The pools are independent — public bookings never eat into member capacity, and vice versa.

Who Counts as a “Member”?

Members are customers with an active entitlement:

  • Annual Pass holders
  • Monthly Pass holders
  • Clip Card holders (with remaining clips)

Membership is detected automatically via Shopify customer tags. See Membership Setup for configuration.

Pool Release: Maximising Capacity

The pool release feature prevents member slots from going to waste. If member slots are still available close to the session time, they’re “released” to the public pool.

How it works:

  1. You set a release window (e.g., 24 hours before start)
  2. When the timeslot is more than 24 hours away: pools are separate
  3. When the timeslot is within 24 hours: unused member slots become available to public

Example:

Timeslot at 14:00 tomorrow with 4 member slots, 2 booked by members:

  • More than 24h before: 2 member slots available (members only), 8 public slots
  • Within 24h: 2 member slots released → public gets 8 + 2 = 10 available slots

This way, members get priority booking but capacity isn’t wasted if they don’t use it.

Setting the Release Window

You can set pool release at two levels:

  1. Shop-wide default: Settings > Booking Policies > Pool Release Default
  2. Per-schedule rule: When creating schedule rules in a Schedule

Per-schedule settings override the shop-wide default. Leave the schedule setting empty to use the default.

Choosing a Release Window

WindowBest for
48 hoursHigh member activity, want to maximise member priority
24 hoursGood balance between member priority and public availability
12 hoursPriority for members, but don’t want last-minute waste
4–6 hoursMinimal member priority, maximise overall utilisation
Not setNo release — member slots stay reserved even if unused

Capacity Rules

  • Total must be >= Members + Public (enforced by the system)
  • Total can be higher than Members + Public if you want overflow capacity
  • Members and Public can be 0 (e.g., all-public or members-only slots)
  • Pool settings are per-timeslot, configured via Schedule schedule rules

Viewing Capacity in the Calendar

The calendar view shows capacity status with colour coding:

  • Green — Plenty of availability
  • Yellow/Orange — Filling up
  • Red — Near or at capacity

Click any timeslot to see the detailed breakdown: total capacity, booked count, remaining by pool.

Common Configurations

No membership system (public only)

Cap Total: 12 | Cap Members: 0 | Cap Public: 12

All capacity is available to everyone. No pool release needed.

Reserved member slots with release

Cap Total: 12 | Cap Members: 4 | Cap Public: 8 | Release: 24h

Members get priority up to 24h before. After that, unused member slots open up.

Members-only timeslot

Cap Total: 8 | Cap Members: 8 | Cap Public: 0

Only members can book this slot (useful for member-only sessions).

High member priority

Cap Total: 12 | Cap Members: 8 | Cap Public: 4 | Release: 48h

Most capacity reserved for members with a long release window.

Tips

  • Start with a small member pool (20–30% of total) and adjust based on actual usage
  • Check the Analytics page to see the member vs. public booking split
  • Pool release is your best tool for balancing member priority with overall utilisation
  • If you don’t have memberships yet, set member capacity to 0 everywhere

What’s Next?