Memberships & Rule Sets – Overview
Memberships let you create and sell recurring or one-time plans to your customers.
Memberships let you create and sell recurring or one-time plans to your customers. Rule Sets control what members can do — what they pay, how far in advance they can book, schedule visibility, and refund policies.
Every membership is linked to exactly one rule set. The membership defines who pays what (name, pricing plans, billing). The rule set defines what they get (booking rates, access rules, refund windows). This separation lets you offer different membership products — say, an Individual and a Family plan — that share the same booking privileges, without configuring those rules twice.
| Layer | What it controls | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Membership settings | Name, description, pricing plans, sales channels, family, booking passes | Admin → Memberships → Catalog → [membership] |
| Rule set | Booking rates (or, on per-activity pricing, the prices its pricing rules give), schedule visibility, booking advance limits, refund policy | Admin → Memberships → Rule Sets → [rule set] |
A note on terminology
In this help center, we use “creating a membership” to mean building the membership product (name, plans, pricing). When a membership is sold or assigned to a customer, we say “selling” or “assigning” a membership. This distinction matters because the setup workflow (done once) is different from the day-to-day workflow of enrolling customers.
Non-members and guests
OpenCourt also has a built-in Non-Member rule set that applies to logged-in users who don’t hold any active membership. This lets you set default court rates and booking rules for walk-in or pay-per-play customers without creating a membership for them. Every club also starts with a Member rule set for its first membership.
A customer holds one membership at a time, so they always have one rule set. A frozen or expired membership stops giving its rule set. For the details, see How a customer gets a rule set. For packages that should not change a customer's rule set, use a subscription. See Subscriptions vs. memberships.
What to read next
- Creating a Membership → Set up a new membership in the Catalog
- Setting Up Plans & Pricing → Add billing plans — renewable, fixed-term, or free
- Creating and Managing Rule Sets → Configure court rates, booking windows, and refund policies
- Selling a Membership to a Customer → Assign or sell a membership from the admin panel
- Set up a family membership → Let one membership cover a household
Memberships and Rule Sets
Learn how to set up and manage memberships, member benefits, rules, and restrictions.
Subscriptions vs. memberships
Both bill customers on a schedule and can include booking passes. A membership also gives a rule set and can cover a whole family. Use this comparison to pick the right one.