The Bookatu blog
Practical, no-nonsense advice for service businesses. Cutting no-shows, building steady income, getting found online, and keeping more of what you earn.
How a bouldering gym filled its beginner classes without a single phone call
Running intro nights and coached sessions gets messy fast when you track it in your head. Here is how one climbing gym owner moved every class online and got her evenings back.
Your box already runs on a timetable. Let people book into it.
A CrossFit box already runs on a fixed timetable. Here's how turning each class into a bookable, paid-for spot online ends the group-chat headcount and lets your best members bring their friends, with rained-off park sessions handled on their own.
Running a weather-dependent park bootcamp without the 6am group-chat chaos
How one park bootcamp swapped a chaotic group chat for proper bookable sessions, with the weather on the card and rainy mornings that credit everyone on their own.
How a Weekend Golf Coach Filled His Saturday Clinics Without Chasing a Single Text
Marcus runs group clinics at a driving range every Saturday morning. Here's how he stopped juggling payments and cancellations, and started letting people book and pay for a spot online in about a minute.
Run 1:1 sessions and small-group training without the diary chaos
A personal trainer's day only holds so many one-on-one hours. Here's how adding small-group sessions, booked and paid for online, lets you fill a morning with six people instead of one, without the back-and-forth.
Booking that fills every class at your boxing gym
A kickboxing coach was overbooking his Saturday class and quietly losing money to no-shows. Here is how putting each class online, forecast and all, sorted it out for him.
Booking lessons and group classes without losing your evenings
A guitar teacher's tale of taking 1:1 lessons and small group classes online, capping seats, taking payment up front, and turning a rained-off park session into one calm tap instead of an hour of refunds.
How one nail studio stopped drowning in messages and let clients book themselves
A small Mount Eden nail studio was drowning in booking messages until it let clients book their own appointments and filled its slow days with group sessions that regulars now bring their friends along to. A plain, human look at how online booking and referrals grow a salon.
How a Small Restaurant Filled Its Quiet Nights With Online Reservations
How a twenty-eight seat trattoria stopped losing tables to a ringing phone and filled its quiet midweek nights with fixed-time supper clubs people book and pay for online, with happy regulars bringing the crowd and no commission to pay.
Fill every day of your school-holiday sports camp
How Bex, who runs a school-holiday sports camp out of a New Lynn park, put every camp day online so it fills itself, forecast and rain-outs included.
How a barber shop filled its chairs and stopped the no-shows
A New Plymouth barber was losing four cuts every Saturday to no-shows. Here's how online appointments and a small deposit turned his best day of the week back into a full one.
How a Wednesday night run club counts itself now
Reuben runs a Wednesday night club from the boat shed by the lake. Here is how putting each week's run on his page as a capped, bookable group session, with a live forecast on the card and payment taken up front, quietly handed the admin back to the runners.