Group classes in Canada: the most profitable hour on a studio's calendar
A private session sells one hour once. A class sells the same hour to a room full of people. For pilates, yoga, barre, small-group training and hands-on workshops, the arithmetic is hard to argue with — provided the admin and the paperwork for prepaid packs do not eat the difference.
Set up your classes — 14-day trialThe arithmetic of one full room
Take an illustrative studio: a private session at C$90, and a mat class of eight spots at C$25 each. A full class brings in C$200 for the same hour of the instructor's time, more than twice the private rate. Even with five of the eight spots taken, the class earns C$125, still ahead.
These are example numbers, not a survey of Canadian prices; plug in your own. What the exercise shows is that a class's fill rate matters far more than its ticket price. Moving a class from five to seven people does more for the month than raising the ticket by a few dollars, and fill rate responds to timetable, marketing and packs — all things you control.
The costs that do grow with a class are space and equipment. Count reformers, mats and floor area honestly before you set the capacity, and set it one below what the room can physically hold so nobody is wedged against the wall on a busy Monday.
What the booking system has to handle
A class that is oversold once loses you two clients: the one turned away and the one who saw it happen.
A hard capacity
Each session takes bookings up to the number of spots you set and then stops, so the ninth person cannot book a room for eight.
A waitlist that moves on its own
When someone cancels, everybody waiting for that class gets an e-mail straight away and the first to book takes the spot. Nobody has to watch the inbox at six in the morning.
Class packs
Sell a pass of five, ten or twenty sessions, for one class type or several. Each booking takes a session off the pass, and what remains is kept on her client card.
Coupons for the slow slots
A code for the 7 a.m. or the Wednesday lunchtime class, with an end date and a limit on uses, fills the back row without discounting the whole timetable.
Payment at booking
Card payments and deposits go into the studio's own Stripe account in Canadian dollars, so the money is yours as soon as it is taken.
The timetable on a phone
Instructors can see who is booked into their next class from the Slotora app for iPhone and Android, without a laptop at the front desk.
Prepaid packs and memberships: check your province first
Canada has no national rule for class packs; each province regulates prepaid services in its own consumer protection law. Ontario is a useful example because its rules are clear and published, and because many studios operate there.
Ontario calls prepaid services such as gyms, sports clubs, martial arts and dance classes “personal development services”. Its consumer protection rules apply when a contract requires payment of C$50 or more in advance. The client may cancel within ten days of receiving a written copy of the contract without giving a reason; the contract must be in writing and set out, among other things, the services, the total cost, the cancellation and renewal terms and the start and end dates; and every such contract must end after one year. The province's page names gyms, sports clubs, martial arts and dance but not yoga or pilates by name, so if you run a pilates or yoga studio, confirm with Ontario's consumer protection office whether your packs fall within it.
Gift cards are a separate rule. Ontario bars most gift cards from carrying an expiry date and from activation or similar fees, but makes an exception for a card for one specific service, giving a spa massage certificate as its example. Whether a ten-class pack counts as a gift card, a specific-service card or a personal development services contract depends on how you sell it, which is why it is worth a call before you print terms on a card.
In Slotora every pass carries a validity period you set, anywhere from a week to two years. Choose a length that matches what your province allows and what you have written in your terms, and tell clients the expiry date at the moment they buy.
Filling the back row
Start with the timetable, not the discount. Two classes at half capacity are often better merged into one full one, and a class that never reaches half full after six weeks should move or go. Early-morning and lunchtime slots fill with workers who live or work close by; evenings fill with everyone else and are rarely the problem.
Packs move clients between slots. A pack priced a little below the single-class rate turns an occasional Thursday visitor into somebody who books twice a week, because the sessions are already paid for and she wants to use them before they lapse. Pair a morning-only pack with a lower price, and the same regulars start taking the spots you could not sell.
Workshops — a lash lift masterclass, a nail art evening, a bridal hair trial day — work on the same capacity logic for beauty businesses. Sell a fixed number of seats, ask for payment at booking, and run the waitlist for the next date.
Questions from Canadian studios
Can a class pass expire?
In Slotora every pass has a validity period you choose, between seven days and two years. Whether an expiry is allowed for what you sell depends on your province: Ontario, for example, bans expiry dates on most gift cards but allows one on a card for a single specific service.
Does Ontario's 10-day cooling-off period apply to my studio?
It applies to personal development services contracts that require C$50 or more in advance, and Ontario's page lists gyms, sports clubs, martial arts and dance classes. If your classes are not named, ask Ontario's consumer protection office.
What happens when a class is full?
Booking stops at the capacity you set, and later clients can join the waitlist. When a spot opens, everyone waiting is e-mailed and the first to book gets it.
Can one pass cover several class types?
Yes. A pass can be valid for one service or for several, such as every mat class and every reformer class, and each booking uses one session.
How full should a class be before I keep it?
A common rule of thumb is to review any class that stays under half full for six weeks. Move it, merge it or drop it before you discount it.
Before you choose Slotora for classes
Where a dedicated fitness system may suit you better, said plainly.
- Built for appointments first
- Slotora started as booking software for salons and added classes, passes and waitlists. A large gym with access control, contracts signed at the door and automatic monthly membership billing for hundreds of members may want a fitness-specific system.
- Reminders by e-mail and app only
- Text-message reminders are not available to Canadian numbers yet, so class reminders arrive by e-mail and through the app.
- We do not write your contract
- If your packs are personal development services under your province's law, the written contract and the cooling-off rules are yours to meet; Slotora records the sale and the sessions, not the legal terms.
Sources
The Ontario rules summarized above are from the provincial government's own pages, read on the day shown.
- Ontario: joining a gym — https://www.ontario.ca/page/joining-gym-or-fitness-club · Read on Personal development services, the C$50 advance threshold, the 10-day cooling-off period and the one-year limit.
- Ontario: gift card rules — https://www.ontario.ca/page/buying-or-using-gift-cards · Read on
Put your timetable online
Create a class with its capacity, add a pack or two and share the link. The money from every booking goes to your own Stripe account, and Slotora takes no commission on it.