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Manage members

What happens to existing members when you edit a tier, when a renewal payment fails, and when a membership is paused or cancelled.

Who can do this: admins only 5 min read

Everything here happens on the member's membership card: open the customer from Customers. To set up tiers, see set up memberships; for upgrades and downgrades, see changing tier.

How edits affect existing members

  • Name, description, checkout description, image - update everywhere immediately.
  • Discount percentage or fixed price - applies to future bookings only. Confirmed bookings keep what was paid.
  • Session allowance count - applies immediately; sessions already used still count.
  • Unused sessions roll over - on takes effect from the next full period; off applies immediately and carried sessions are lost.
  • Allowance reset period - applies immediately. Free sessions members have already used in their current period move across to the new one, so someone who has used all 4 doesn't get 4 more. Anyone already over the new allowance gets no more free sessions until their next period.
  • Spaces covered per booking - future bookings only.
  • Early access days - applies immediately.
  • Price - from each member's next renewal.
  • Billing period (weekly, monthly, yearly) - new members only. Existing members keep paying on their old schedule until they cancel, and can't change plan into a tier with a different billing period.
  • Where customers find it and Checkout - only change where the tier is offered to new customers.

When a payment fails

Stripe retries a failed renewal automatically over roughly two weeks, and the member keeps their benefits meanwhile. On a weekly tier the next week's payment can fall due while Stripe is still retrying the last one. You get one email per failed payment (not per retry) and a notification, and their membership card shows an amber note with the failure date and when Stripe will retry, or that it has stopped.

  1. 1

    Nudge the member

    Usually it's an expired card. Ask them to tap Manage payment on their account page and update their card; the next retry then goes through on its own.

  2. 2

    Check the retry status

    If Stripe has stopped retrying, the subscription will end. The member can re-subscribe, or you can cancel the membership.

The note clears itself if a payment succeeds.

Cancel a membership

There's no notice period and no minimum term. A member cancels by tapping Manage payment on their account page, which opens your Stripe customer portal. With Stripe's default, they keep their benefits until the end of the period they've paid for, aren't billed again, and see a Cancelling badge with "Access until [date]". Your Stripe billing settings decide whether the portal offers cancelling and whether it's immediate.

To cancel for them, choose Cancel membership on their membership card:

  • End when the period ends - the same as a member cancelling.
  • End now - stops the subscription and clears their Active status immediately.

The person is never deleted. A refund alone doesn't cancel a membership - see refund a membership payment.

What happens to bookings when a membership ends

When a membership ends, Session cancels every booking that used one of its included sessions for a session starting on or after the moment it ended:

  • End now (including Refund a payment with cancel ticked): straight away.
  • A member cancels, or End when the period ends: when the paid period runs out.
  • A membership with no Stripe subscription (such as a free tier): within a day of the period running out.

The space goes back on sale, the waiting list is told, and the customer gets your cancellation email. Anything else they paid for on that booking (an extra space or add-on) is refunded to their card, even if you normally give credit.

Untouched: sessions before the end, sessions already started, checked-in bookings, bookings paid at a member rate or with a bundle or gift voucher, and bookings on a paused membership.

The Cancel membership dialog lists the bookings each option would cancel. If a booking can't be cancelled cleanly, it's left in place for good and your admins get an email listing it. To cancel one, refund any payment in Stripe first, then cancel the booking.

Check what a member's sessions went on

The membership card shows Sessions used this period and a Used on list, oldest first. If a count looks high, it's usually a second booking the member made themselves.

  • A date and "session removed" - the session was deleted after booking; the free session was still spent.
  • "covers 2 spaces" - one free session covered a duo booking.

The list can't be edited; to give a session back, cancel the booking that used it. Changing a booking's spaces never spends a free session.

Pause a membership

Choose Pause on their membership card: 1-4 weeks on weekly memberships, 1-3 months on monthly. Not available for yearly or one-off tiers, cancelling members or failed payments.

  • Benefits last until their paid period ends. Then nothing is charged, benefits stop, and they show as Paused.
  • It restarts on its own just before their next payment. A 2-week pause skips exactly 2 weekly payments.
  • Included-session bookings inside the pause stay booked; the dialog lists them.

Resume from next payment ends a pause early: nothing is charged that day and the pause ends at their next payment. Before a pause starts, Withdraw pause cancels it. Session doesn't email the member, so tell them the dates.

Common questions

  1. Part of a booking was paid on my card machine or in cash, and it wasn't cancelled. Session can't refund that part, so the booking is left in place. Check it and cancel it yourself if needed.

  2. The card refund couldn't be processed. Usually your Stripe balance was too low. The booking is left in place - refund it in Stripe, then cancel the booking.

  3. The cancellation was interrupted part-way. If the session has since started, the booking stays, but the customer may already have had the email or a refund - check it.

  4. My booking cancellation email is switched off. The booking is still cancelled, but let the customer know yourself.

  5. Can I change a member's payment date? Yes, in Stripe; Session picks up the new dates automatically. For imported members' first charge, see import.

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