How do you organise online booking for group classes and workshops?

To sell group classes or workshops online, each session needs a fixed date, a capacity and, ideally, a minimum number of participants decided in advance. GDA Kraft Booking, the WordPress plugin from Global Digital Agency, handles these classes as group sessions: limited places, dated sessions, booking of several places and an automatic waiting list. This article covers programme design; the technical settings are in Group sessions, waiting list and reminders. Group sessions are part of appointment mode, included in the edition downloaded from the Kraft GDA client area (free account, no bank card required at sign-up): there is no add-on to install.

Class, workshop, course: what are the differences for booking?

The recurring class and the one-off workshop map directly to group sessions. For the multi-day course and the series, see below: signing up to a series of sessions in one go is not among the features available to date.

How do you set capacity and the minimum number of participants?

Capacity is the maximum number of places in a session: it is set in the service (Capacity (seats per slot), more than 1 = group session) and, for a dated session, in the session's Seats field. The minimum number of participants is the threshold below which you decide to cancel: the plugin does not manage it, so you track it yourself in Kraft Booking › Appointments.

For capacity, start from the tightest constraint: room size, number of workstations or mats, equipment available, quality of supervision. For the minimum, do a simple break-even calculation.

Fictional example of a workshop at €35 per place:

With a capacity of 12 and a minimum of 7, you know exactly when the workshop is worth running.

When should you decide to cancel a session?

Decide on a deadline and state it in the description: "The workshop goes ahead from 7 sign-ups; otherwise it is cancelled 72 hours before and fully refunded." This gives participants time to make arrangements and you time to cancel the room.

There is no button to cancel a whole session: in Kraft Booking › Appointments, cancel each appointment of the session (Move / cancel › Cancel); each participant is notified by email. Then refund them from their booking record (Refund): online refunds also refund the service fee pro rata.

How do you plan a recurring programme?

There is no automatic recurrence. For a weekly class, choose the Scheduling option "Dated sessions only (events)" in the service, then add each date in the Dated sessions section (Add session), for example every Tuesday at 6 pm until the end of June. Alternatively, keep "Based on team schedules" and open a working range in the staff member's hours matching the class, with a Grid interval equal to the class duration.

Good practice:

• plan by period (term or season) rather than indefinitely, so you stay in control of holidays and timetable changes;
• do not add sessions on public holidays and school holidays, or block them with an absence;
• create one service per level (beginner, intermediate) if audiences do not mix: each level has its own capacity and description.

How do you handle a course or series of several sessions?

Packages, memberships and sign-ups to a full series are not among the features available to date. Two set-ups remain possible:

1. One session representing the course: for a multi-day course, create a single session whose description lists all dates and times. The participant books one place for the whole course. The session only occupies its own time slot in the schedule: block the following days with an absence for the staff member so no other appointment is booked then.
2. Booking session by session: for a series, the participant books each session. It is more flexible for them, but nothing guarantees they will follow the whole series.

If you invoice a series outside the plugin (by bank transfer, for example), the offline payments you record manually carry no service fee.

How many places per booking?

In a group session, the client chooses the number of places they book, within the remaining places and the capacity; there is no separate per-booking maximum. The price is multiplied by the number of places.

• For a parent-child workshop or one among friends, several places per booking are natural.
• For an adult group class, ask in the description for one booking per person, so that each sign-up corresponds to an identified person.

Different prices within the same session (adult and child, for example) are not available: a single price per place applies.

How do you fill places that become free?

When no slot is available on the chosen day, the form invites visitors to leave their email (Notify me button), without paying. At each cancellation or reschedule, the first 3 people on the list are notified by email at the same time; the place is not reserved for them and the first to book gets it. Combined with client cancellation rules, the waiting list limits empty places; see How do you reduce no-shows?.

Which payment mode should you choose?

For a session with limited places, full payment at booking ("Deposit at booking (%)" set to 100) is the most consistent: a place that is booked but unpaid blocks another participant. The service fee is 0.9%, reduced to 0.45% until 30 June 2027, plus Stripe fees (see Pricing). For classes aimed at foreign visitors, see also Booking tours and activities.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell a termly membership?

Memberships are not among the features available to date. The participant books each session, or you manage the membership offline.

Can participants see how many places are left?

Yes. For a group session, each time shows the number of places left.

What happens if I cancel a class because I am ill?

Cancel each appointment of the session in Kraft Booking › Appointments: participants are notified by email. Then refund them from their booking record.

Can I change a single date in a programme?

Yes: each dated session is added separately, there is no series to edit. To move a participant, use Move in Kraft Booking › Appointments.