Session lengths and flexible start times

Give a session more than one length, such as 45 and 75 minutes, and customers choose how long they stay when they book. Start times can overlap - a start every 30 minutes on a 60-minute session - and every start shares the session's spaces, so the sauna is never booked past its capacity.

Session lengths are being turned on venue by venue. If you don't see Prices & lengths on a session, get in touch and we'll switch it on for you.

How spaces are shared

Every start of the session draws on one number: the session's Spaces. A booking holds a space from its start time until its length runs out, so a 75-minute booking from 09:00 is still in the room at 10:00. A start has room when one more person fits for its whole length.

So on a 10-space session, six 75-minute bookings at 09:00 leave four spaces at 10:00 until 10:15.

Add lengths and prices

1. 1
   Open a session on the Sessions page and go to Prices & offers.
2. 2
   Under Prices & lengths, select Add length, enter the minutes and select Add. A session can have up to 4 lengths, from 15 minutes to 4 hours in 5-minute steps.
3. 3
   Enter a price for each ticket type at each length. A price with no amount yet is outlined until you fill it in.
4. 4
   To pick which length customers see first, open the length's menu and select Make default. Change length and Remove are in the same menu.

Add price sets a price's amount at every length at once. Leave a price empty at a length it isn't offered at - no 30-minute private hire, say. Empty reads Off.

Add start times

Add times on the repeat schedule or as one-off dates as usual.

Times by example. Type a time after the day's last start and the editor reads the pattern - "Looks like a new start every 30 min. Keep going?" Select Fill in and set the Last start. Or select Add a range and set Every and Last start. One-off dates work the same way.

Starts at a steady step show as one chip, like "09:00 → 12:00 every 30m · until 13:15". Select it to change or remove them.

Closes at. With two or more lengths, set Closes at on a range of times and no booking runs past it: starts at 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00 closing at 20:00 offer 120 minutes until 18:00, then 60 minutes only. It starts at the last start plus the longest length, which cuts nothing.

If a start's bookings run into the next, the schedule notes that they share spaces.

What customers see

• Booking page: starts that overlap show as one item - the time from the first start to the last finish, the lengths, and a button for each start time. A full start still opens, so customers can join its waiting list. A start that overlaps nothing looks like any other session, with its lengths in place of an end time ("15:00 · 45 or 75 min").
• Session page: customers pick a length, then a price at that length. Start times without room for their group are greyed.
• Emails show the booking's own times, such as 09:00 - 10:15.

See who's booked

On Sessions, a day's overlapping starts are one block, such as "09:00 - 12:00, every 30 min". In Bookings, they're one row; select it to see its bookings grouped by start, each with its own length.

Cancel a day's starts

To cancel one start, open it from the calendar and use Cancel session, as for any cancelled session. To cancel the whole day, choose Every start on this day in the same dialog. Their bookings are cancelled and refunded as usual.

Common questions

1. What happens on the waiting list when someone cancels? Their space frees time on every start it overlapped, so each of those starts offers the space to its waiting list.

2. Can I set a different price for one date? Not on a session with lengths. Prices are set once per length, for every start.

3. How is this different from shorter sessions? Lengths let a booking start at any start time; shorter sessions only split one session into halves.

4. Do member rates follow the length? Yes - a percentage comes off that length's price, and a fixed member price never exceeds it. Each booking uses one free session.

5. Can I remove a length people have booked? No. Saving is blocked while future bookings hold that length - move or cancel them first.

6. Can a booking move to another time? Yes. It keeps its length and price, and only times with room for that length are offered. To change length, cancel and rebook.

Troubleshooting

1. A start shows as full but it isn't busy. Bookings from an earlier start may still be in the room. Open that start to see who's booked.

2. The price at checkout isn't what I expected. Check the ticket type's price at the length the customer chose under Prices & lengths. A length with no price set yet can't be sold.