Running classes with a capacity

A one-to-one appointment is simple: one client, one slot. A class is different. A reformer pilates studio has eight machines, a spin room twenty bikes, a children's art class twelve easels. The class should take bookings until every place is filled and then stop. It should also make the most of cancellations, because an empty reformer at a full class is lost income that someone on the waitlist would gladly have taken.

Set the capacity on the class, not the room

In BookAndGo a class is a service with a capacity. Set the number of places to match the real limit: machines, mats, seats, or the number of students one teacher can properly handle. Once that many clients have booked a session, it closes on the booking page and nobody else can book it.

Be honest about the number. If the room technically fits fifteen mats but the instructor teaches best with twelve, the capacity is twelve. Overcrowded classes are a quick way to lose the regulars who make a studio work.

Build the timetable

Lay out the week's classes as a timetable: each class at its time, with its instructor and capacity. Singapore studios usually see three peaks: early mornings before work, lunchtime near offices, and evenings after seven. Enrichment centres peak after school and on Saturday mornings. Put your strongest classes at those times and use quieter slots to try new formats.

• Early morning: short, intense formats for office workers.
• Lunchtime: forty-five minute classes that fit a lunch hour, close to CBD and business parks.
• Evening: your full-length signature classes.
• Weekend mornings: beginner classes and children's programmes.

Use day and time rules for the occasional class

Some classes only run on certain days, such as a Saturday family yoga session or a Wednesday prenatal class. Give those services day and time rules so they can only be booked when they actually run, rather than appearing as an option every day.

Let the waitlist do the work

Popular classes fill. When they do, clients can join the waitlist for that session. If someone cancels, the next person waiting is offered the place by email, and an owner can accept them straight in. This keeps full classes full without the front desk messaging a list of names every time someone drops out.

Encourage clients to cancel through the link in their confirmation email rather than simply not turning up. A cancellation frees a place for someone on the waitlist; a silent absence leaves a machine empty.

Regulars who come every week

Many class clients attend the same session every week. Repeat bookings let them, or you, book a series in one go, so a regular holds their Tuesday 7pm place for the term. Each session in the series is still an ordinary booking, so cancelling one week frees that one place without touching the rest.

Enrichment centres and term-based classes

For tuition and enrichment, a class is often a fixed group that meets every week for a term. Set the capacity to the group size, open the booking horizon to cover the term, and let parents book the series at enrolment. Questions during booking can collect the child's level or school so the teacher knows who is joining before the first lesson.

Watch the numbers

After a month, look at fill rates by class and time. A class that is always full with a long waitlist deserves a second session. A class that rarely reaches half might move to a better time or merge with another. Capacity is not only a limit; it is the clearest signal you have about what clients want.

Instructors and cover

Each class runs on an instructor's calendar, so their working hours and days off apply as they would for appointments. When an instructor is away, arrange cover before the class date and update the session, rather than cancelling and asking every booked client to rebook. Clients in a full class care far more about the class going ahead than about who teaches it, and a short email to tell them about the change is usually welcomed.

Make the first class easy

New clients are nervous about classes in a way they rarely are about appointments. Say on the class description what to bring, what to wear, and how early to arrive. A beginners' session at a quieter time gives newcomers a gentler start and a natural route into your regular timetable.