Swapping bookings
Move a booking to a different session instead of cancelling and rebooking. What the member paid follows the booking, so moving never loses their money.
If a member can no longer make a session they've booked, they can move their booking to a different session instead of cancelling and booking again. This avoids a second card payment (and a second payment provider fee) for sessions paid when booking.
How to swap a booking
- Go to the session details page for the booking you want to move.
- Click the Booked button, or On Waiting List if the booking is on that session's waiting list.
- Select Change Booking from the menu.
- Choose a session to move the booking to, then click Move booking.
You'll be taken to the session the booking was moved to, so you can confirm it landed in the right place.
Club admins, session leaders, and coaches assigned to a session can swap a booking on a member's behalf from the same session details page, or from the Bookings tab in Admin > Sessions.
Change Booking covers both. It opens on the list of sessions the booking can move to, with Cancel booking available as a second step if moving isn't what's wanted. There's no longer a separate Cancel Booking menu item for a confirmed or waiting list booking.
The dialog says what the money will do before anyone commits: how much has been paid, the most the booking can move to, and whether moving to a cheaper session would return the difference.
What was paid follows the booking
ClubPal records what was actually taken for a booking separately from what the session costs. That amount travels with the booking every time it moves, so moving never loses the member's money.
A member who paid £5.00 and moved to a £2.50 session still has £5.00 attached to their booking. Their next move can be to anything up to £5.00, not to £2.50, and the dialog tells them so: "You've paid £5.00, so you can move to any session up to £5.00."
If a booking is moved out of a session whose refund window has already closed, the amount stays usable for further moves but can never turn back into cash. That sticks to the booking however far ahead the sessions it later moves to are, and cancelling afterwards returns nothing. It stops a member who would otherwise forfeit their payment moving to the cheapest thing on the calendar purely to collect the difference.
Which sessions can you swap to
Only sessions that meet all of the following are offered as swap options:
- The session is in the same club and starts in the future.
- Its booking window is currently open.
- It costs no more than the amount already paid for the booking.
- If the original booking used a pass, the pass is valid for the new session.
- The member doesn't already hold a live booking on it.
You can't move a paid booking to a session that costs more than was paid for it. To move to a pricier session, cancel the original booking and book the new one instead.
The cost limit only applies once money has changed hands against a fixed price. A pass booking spends the pass rather than a price, and an unpaid Payment in person or invoiced booking has taken no money yet, so neither is capped: the member simply pays whatever the new session costs.
Refunds
If the new session costs less than the original booking, the difference is refunded automatically to the payment method used for the original booking, provided all of the following hold:
- The booking was paid online, by Card when booking.
- The original session's refund window is still open.
- The booking hasn't already given up its right to a refund on an earlier move.
Only the amount that booking paid is returned, even where one payment covered several bookings at once.
If the refund window has already closed, no money is returned and the full amount stays with the booking as credit towards its next move. The dialog says so plainly before the member chooses: "You've paid £5.00 and it stays with your booking, but moving to a cheaper session won't refund the difference."
If the sessions cost the same, or the original booking wasn't paid online, there's nothing to refund either way.
Cancelling instead of moving
Cancel booking is the second step in the same dialog, and what happens to the money depends on who is cancelling.
A member gets their payment back only where the booking still has the right to a refund: a waiting list booking, or a confirmed booking inside the club's refund window, in either case one that hasn't forfeited its refund on an earlier move. The dialog states which it is, either "£5.00 will be refunded to the original payment method" or "This booking won't be refunded. The £5.00 already paid stays with the club."
An admin or coach cancelling on someone's behalf makes the decision themselves with the Refund £5.00? switch. It's off by default, so cancelling without returning the payment is the default and refunding is deliberate.
See Refunds for how refunds work generally.
Swapping to a full session
If the session you're swapping to has reached capacity, the booking is placed on its waiting list instead of being confirmed straight away, the same as a fresh booking would be. It joins the back of that queue. The email confirming the swap says which of the two happened, so the member knows whether they have a place or a spot in the queue.
If a confirmed booking is swapped away from a session, the place it frees up goes to the next person on that session's waiting list automatically. Swapping a waiting list booking away frees no place, so nobody is promoted.
Swap history
Once a booking has been swapped, a short history showing where it moved from and when is shown on the booking, both on the member's own bookings page and in the admin Bookings tab. Any refund issued as part of a move is recorded against it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a member swap a booking that's already on the waiting list?
Yes. A waiting list booking is still a booking, and the same rules apply as for a confirmed one. Because it isn't holding a place, nobody is promoted on the session it's swapped away from, and any place the member had in that queue is given up.
Is there a time limit on swapping?
Yes. A booking can be moved up until the same point it could be cancelled. For a confirmed booking that's the session's Cancellation Window setting; a waiting list booking isn't holding a place, so it can be moved right up until the session starts. See Creating sessions for details. This applies to admins and coaches too when they're moving a booking, though they can still remove a member from a session after the cancellation window has closed, right up until it starts.
Can a member swap to a session they're already booked on?
No, that session won't be offered as an option.
A member moved to a cheaper session and got nothing back. Why?
The refund window on the session they moved away from had already closed, so there was no refund left to give. Their full payment is still attached to the booking and can be spent on another move, it just can't come back as cash. Where a club wants the money returned in that situation, an admin can cancel the booking and tick the refund switch.