How booking passes work with memberships
How members get booking passes from their membership, when new passes arrive, and what happens to passes when a membership changes, freezes or ends.
A membership can include booking passes — for example, 3 guest passes or 4 free court reservations every month. OpenCourt gives the passes to each member when the membership starts and again on the schedule you set. You do not have to hand them out.
The two pieces
| Piece | What it defines | Where you set it |
|---|---|---|
| Booking pass | What the benefit covers — which bookings, for whom, and how much off | Booking Passes → Booking Passes. See Creating Booking Passes. |
| Membership | Who gets the pass, how many uses, how long it lasts and how often it renews | The Booking passes section of the membership in Memberships → Catalog. See Give booking passes with a membership. |
You create a booking pass once and add it to as many memberships as you like. Each time a member gets the pass, OpenCourt creates that member's own copy with its own uses and expiry date.
The most popular passes:
- Guest pass (e.g. members get 3 guest passes per month)
- Free reservation pass (e.g. members get 4 free reservations a month)
- Free court hours pass (e.g. members get 5 free hours for court bookings per month)
- Free event pass (e.g. members get 1 free Open Play a week or 1 Clinic a week)
- Free event with specific event tag pass (e.g. members get 1 free specific group class per week)
- Free lesson pass (e.g. members get 1 free 1hr private lesson per month)
Any of these can be shared with the member's family. See Create a Family-Shared Pass.
When do members get their passes?
- When the membership starts — the member gets the passes for the current cycle right away and can use them immediately.
- At each new cycle — new passes arrive on the schedule set on the membership (Allocate every and Allocation anchor). With a Lead Time, they arrive that many days early and show as upcoming until the cycle starts.
- With Every renewal period — new passes arrive on each billing date.
What happens when a membership changes?
When you change a member's plan, the Update Membership panel shows a Booking pass impact preview before you confirm. It lists the passes that will be archived and the passes that will be created.
- Moving to a different membership — the passes from the old membership are archived, and the new membership's passes are created.
- Changing the price plan within the same membership — the member keeps their passes.
See Upgrading / Downgrading Membership.
What happens when you change the passes on a membership?
If the membership already has members, saving opens Apply benefit changes to existing subscribers?:
- New subscribers only — current members keep their current passes. Only new members get the change.
- Apply to all subscribers — every member gets the new passes at their next renewal.
Passes members already hold for the current billing period stay valid either way.
What happens when a membership is frozen?
The member keeps their passes, but cannot use them while the membership is frozen. When the membership resumes, the passes work again. See Freezing a Membership.
What happens when a membership is canceled?
- Cancel at period end — the member keeps access, and their passes, until the end of the current billing period. The cancel dialog shows the Booking pass impact before you confirm. When the membership ends, the remaining passes are archived.
- Cancel immediately — the dialog shows Auto-archive passes with a list of the member's active passes. Leave it on to archive them, clear the passes you want the member to keep, or turn it off to keep them all.
How do members use their passes?
Members see their passes in their profile under Booking passes. When a member books an event or reserves a court:
- OpenCourt checks the member's active passes against the booking — the event type or tag, the time of day, and the remaining uses or minutes.
- Matching passes appear at checkout.
- The pass is applied, and its remaining uses or minutes go down.
- If the booking is refunded later, the pass gets its use back.
Can I give a pass by hand?
Yes. Go to Booking Passes → Pass Holders and click Grant New Pass. Use it for one-off cases, such as a comp pass or a make-good for a missed visit.
Example: three membership levels
| Membership | Booking passes on the membership |
|---|---|
| Gold | Open Play Pass — 12 uses · Court Hours — 600 minutes · 50% Off Clinics — Unlimited |
| Silver | Open Play Pass — 8 uses · Court Hours — 240 minutes |
| Basic | Open Play Pass — 4 uses |
Each pass is set to Valid for 1 Months, Allocate every 1 Month(s), Allocation anchor Calendar date on the 1st, and Lead Time 7. Each month:
- About 7 days before the 1st, next month's passes are created and show as upcoming.
- On the 1st, the new passes start.
- Members use their passes when they book.
- Unused passes expire at the end of the month.
Tips
- Start with Whole Event/Reservation passes for session-based benefits. They are the simplest for members to understand.
- Use By Hours passes when booking lengths vary. Members can split 5 hours into 30-, 60- or 90-minute bookings.
- Set a Lead Time that matches your booking window, so members can book the first days of the next cycle.
- Use tag restrictions to target a program — for example, a pass that only works for events tagged Beginner.
Give booking passes with a membership
Add booking passes to a membership so every member gets them when the membership starts and again on a schedule you choose.
Creating a Guest Pass
Give your members a set number of free guest visits per month. When a member adds a guest to a reservation or event, the guest's fee is automatically waived — one pass is consumed per guest visit.