International

Session adapts to where your venue operates. Prices charge in your local currency, sessions display in your timezone, and tax appears with the right label on receipts. You set this up once during sign-up and can change it any time from settings.

Setting up outside the UK

Session's stored defaults are British - GBP, London time, "VAT" - because that's where it started. Picking your country sets new defaults for currency, timezone and tax label, but anything you have already changed by hand is left alone, so it is worth checking all four before you take your first booking.

1. 1
   Check your currency. Settings → Company → Regional settings. This is the one to get right first. Session flags it when it doesn't match what venues in your country normally charge in, and it can't be changed once Stripe starts billing you, so a wrong value means a new Stripe account later.
2. 2
   Check your timezone. Usually correct already - Session works it out from your address when you sign up. Worth a glance if you skipped the address step.
3. 3
   Check your time format and week start. Both follow your country by default - "Match my country" in Settings → Company → Regional settings. Change them if the default doesn't match how your venue reads a calendar: pick a 12-hour clock, or start your week on Sunday if your weekend isn't Saturday and Sunday. Neither changes when a session actually runs - only how it's written and which column it lands in.
4. 4
   Rename your tax label. Still says "VAT" unless you changed it. Set it to whatever your country calls it - BTW, TVA, Moms, MVA, ALV, MwSt, GST, Sales tax. Session shows the usual label for your country underneath the field. Leave the rate at 0 if you're not sure of it; tax is reporting-only, so nothing breaks while you check.
5. 5
   Turn on your local payment methods. Bancontact, iDEAL, Swish and the rest are enabled in your own Stripe dashboard, not in Session. See local payment methods below.
6. 6
   Translate the words you type. Your session names, descriptions, prices, add-ons and automated emails all start in English, and they show to customers exactly as you type them. Rewriting them in your own language is what makes your booking page read properly - see what's coming for the parts that are still English.

Currencies & timezones

What you can do with it

• Charge in your local currency. Stripe takes payment in your venue's currency. Customers see prices in the same currency they're charged.
• Show sessions in your local timezone. A 6pm session displays as 6pm to anyone viewing your booking page from anywhere in the world.
• Label tax correctly on receipts and reports. Use "VAT", "GST", "Sales tax", "MwSt" - whatever your jurisdiction calls it, at the rate you charge.
• Show times the way your customers read them. Venues in the US and Canada get a 12-hour clock and month-first dates ("Sat, Jul 4, 6:00 PM"). Everywhere else keeps the 24-hour clock and day-first dates ("Sat 4 Jul, 18:00"). This follows your country, and you can override it under Regional settings if your venue reads times differently.
• Start your week on the right day. Calendars start on Monday by default. If your weekend is Friday and Saturday, set Week starts on to Sunday under Regional settings so your weekend doesn't split across two rows. Like the time format, it follows your country unless you change it.

Where card payments are available

You can set your venue's country anywhere Session offers it, and currency, timezone and tax labelling will follow. Taking card payments online is a separate question: that needs Stripe, and Stripe doesn't operate everywhere. Countries it doesn't serve include South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana - Stripe partners with Paystack in those markets - along with India and Indonesia, which are still in preview. In the Gulf, Stripe covers the United Arab Emirates but not Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain or Oman.

If your country isn't covered, Session says so under the country picker and in the Stripe section. It's a heads-up rather than a block: your country setting is where your venue physically is, but Stripe goes on where your business is registered. If you trade through a company registered somewhere Stripe covers, you can still connect - Stripe asks you to confirm the account's country during setup, and it can't be changed afterwards, so check it carefully. If you can't connect at all, everything else works and you record payments manually instead. See where Stripe is available for the full picture.

Local payment methods

Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay work everywhere Stripe does. Local methods - Bancontact (Belgium), iDEAL (Netherlands), Swish (Sweden), MobilePay (Denmark and Finland), Vipps (Norway), Klarna - are switched on in your own Stripe dashboard, under Settings → Payment methods. Session doesn't restrict which methods you offer, so whatever you enable there appears at your checkout without any change on our side.

Two things decide whether a method shows up:

• Your currency has to match. Bancontact needs euros, Swish needs Swedish krona. If your venue is still set to GBP, the method won't appear however it's configured in Stripe.
• Stripe has to allow it for your account's country. That's the country your business is registered in, which Stripe asks you to confirm during setup.

Most operators never think to look, so it's worth doing at the same time as you connect Stripe.

Managing your country settings

Changing your time format or week start affects only how things are written and laid out - never when a session runs, and never your reports' underlying figures. Both are set to "Match my country" until you choose otherwise, so a venue that never opens them behaves exactly as it always has. Changing your country suggests new defaults for currency and timezone. If you've already set those manually, they stay - only the country changes. Country also sets the default for how times and dates are written across your booking page, your admin, and your customer emails: pick the United States or Canada and everything switches to a 12-hour clock with month-first dates; pick anywhere else and it stays on the 24-hour clock with day-first dates, unless you override it above. It changes the wording only - never the actual time a session runs. Changing your timezone re-labels all existing sessions in the new zone. A 6pm London session becomes a 1pm New York session - same moment in time, new label. Changing your currency after connecting Stripe shows an inline warning if it disagrees with the currency your Stripe account is set up in. Stripe still charges in its own currency, so a mismatch means customers see one currency but get charged in another. Reconcile in your Stripe dashboard or set the currency back to match. Tax settings are reporting-only. Your prices remain tax-inclusive; the tax label and rate appear on receipts and CSV exports so your accountant can break out the figures.

What's coming

We're rolling international support out in stages. Live today:

• Country, currency, timezone and address.
• Stripe charges in your venue's currency.
• Customer-facing pages, emails, reports and CSV exports all render in the correct currency.
• The FX hint on customer pages shows international visitors the converted price in their own currency.

In progress:

• Automated tax collection. Today you set a rate and label for reporting only. Stripe Tax integration to actually collect, report and remit tax is on the roadmap, especially for multi-state US sales tax and EU VAT.
• Language & translation: Session is currently English-only, but multi-language support is firmly on the roadmap as our international friends join.

Troubleshooting

1. My customers see GBP but I'm in another country. Check Settings → Company → Regional settings. If currency is set to "GBP", change it to your local currency - Session flags it there when it doesn't match what venues in your country normally charge in. If the change happens after a Stripe connection, you'll see a drift warning instead: that means your Stripe account is set up for a different currency and needs reconciling in Stripe first. Do this before your first booking, because once Stripe has billed, the currency is fixed.

2. Session times look wrong to my customer. Customers see session times in your venue's timezone, even if their device is in a different one. If a customer reports the wrong time, check your venue timezone under Regional settings.

3. Tax line on receipts says VAT but I want "Sales tax". Change the Tax label field under Regional settings. The change applies to new bookings and new exports. Existing PDF receipts aren't regenerated.

4. I run a multi-state US venue. Today Session captures a single tax rate per venue, which works if all your sales happen in one state. For multi-state sales you'll need to handle tax externally until Stripe Tax integration lands.

5. Session says Stripe isn't available in my country. Stripe doesn't open accounts everywhere - see where card payments are available. The note doesn't stop you connecting, because Stripe goes on where your business is registered rather than where your venue is: if you trade through a company registered in a country Stripe covers, carry on and confirm that country when Stripe asks during setup - check it carefully, because it can't be changed afterwards. If Stripe genuinely doesn't cover you, keep using Session for everything else and record payments manually.

6. My times show as 18:00 but my customers expect 6:00 PM. Set Time format to 12-hour under Settings → Company → Regional settings. It starts on "Match my country", and only the United States, Canada and Bahrain get a 12-hour clock that way - every other country defaults to 24-hour. Changing it affects your booking page, your admin and your customer emails, and never the time a session actually runs.

7. My weekend splits across two rows on the calendar. Calendars start on Monday unless your country says otherwise, so a Friday-Saturday weekend lands at opposite ends of the week. Set Week starts on to Sunday under Regional settings. It changes your calendars and your report date presets; it doesn't move any session or change your figures.

8. Stripe asked me to confirm a country I didn't expect. Stripe always asks you to confirm the account's country during onboarding, and prefills it from your Session setting where it can. Set the country you want under Regional settings before connecting, and check the value on Stripe's screen - a Stripe account's country can't be changed once the account is activated.

9. Bancontact, iDEAL or Swish doesn't appear at my checkout. These are enabled in your own Stripe dashboard, not in Session - Settings → Payment methods. Check your Session currency too: Bancontact only shows on euro checkouts and Swish only on Swedish krona ones, so a venue still set to GBP won't see them however Stripe is configured. See local payment methods.

10. My receipts still say "VAT". The tax label is free text and starts as "VAT" for everyone. Change it under Settings → Company → Regional settings - Session shows the label your country usually uses underneath the field. It applies to new bookings and new exports; existing receipts aren't regenerated.

11. My prices, add-ons and emails are in English. Everything you type shows to customers exactly as typed, so rename them in your own language and they'll read correctly straight away. Prices and add-ons live on the session itself (Sessions → open the session → Prices); your automated emails are under Email → Automated. The buttons and labels Session puts around your content are still English - see what's coming.