Running classes should be about sharing your passion - not chasing parents for overdue fees. Yet for many children’s activity providers, fitness instructors, and wellness practitioners, chasing late payments has become an exhausting routine. The result? Lost evenings, unpredictable cash flow, and unnecessary stress.
With Book That In (BTI), you can stop chasing payments and let the system handle them for you. Using recurring subscriptions powered by Stripe, BTI automates invoicing, takes payments on time, and even helps manage failed transactions. Here’s how it works - and how you can set it up today.
1. The hidden cost of chasing late payments
Every late payment comes with more than just the missing money:
- Time lost: Writing reminders, chasing via WhatsApp or email, updating spreadsheets.
- Stressful conversations: You didn’t start teaching to become a debt collector.
- Cash flow chaos: Without predictable payments, planning your rent, equipment, or staff pay becomes harder.
- Errors: Manual tracking makes double billing or missed payments almost inevitable.
- Emotional toll: Every awkward message adds to your stress and takes focus away from teaching.
Late payments don’t just waste your time - they erode trust and create tension with families or customers. Many class providers report spending hours each week chasing payments, which quickly adds up over a term. That’s why automated payments can transform your business.
2. How Book That In automates class payments
BTI integrates directly with Stripe, a secure payment processor trusted worldwide. Together they give you:
- Subscriptions and recurring billing for classes, memberships or terms.
- Automatic invoices generated from bookings.
- Clear subscription statuses such as Draft, Open, Paid and Past Due so you can spot issues quickly.
- Customer self service so payers can update saved card details through their BTI account if a payment fails.
- Simple editing tools to adjust subscription details that do not change the amount or frequency.
- Automation options to trigger reminders or downstream workflows after bookings.
This means your customers sign up once, save their card, and BTI ensures they are billed on schedule without constant manual work from you.
3. Setting up Stripe with BTI
Connecting Stripe to Book That In is straightforward:
- Log in to your BTI dashboard and go to Business → Company Settings → Payment Providers.
- Select Connect with Stripe to link a new or existing Stripe account.
- Complete Stripe’s onboarding and return to BTI when prompted.
- Review your Stripe automatic payment settings, including retry behaviour for failed invoices.
- Run a quick test before switching fully to live transactions.
Once connected, BTI can take card payments, issue invoices and surface subscription status automatically.
4. Creating subscription templates
With Stripe active, set up your billing plans inside BTI. Typical steps include:
- Choose frequency such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually.
- Set amounts and due dates.
- Link subscriptions to specific class types.
- Optionally add a free trial period, a delayed start date and a minimum term.
This setup ensures that every time someone books your class, the correct subscription is applied automatically. For example:
- A weekly gymnastics class billed at £25 every Monday.
- A termly swimming course billed at the start of term.
- A yoga membership billed monthly until cancelled.
5. Assigning subscriptions to classes
When creating or updating a class or package in BTI, attach the relevant subscription plan. Once a participant books, they are added to the billing cycle and future invoices are created on the schedule you set.
No more creating invoices after the fact. It is part of the booking flow and stays consistent across terms.
6. Handling failed payments
Card payments can fail due to expiry, cancellation or insufficient funds. BTI and Stripe work together to minimise disruption:
- Stripe retries failed charges according to your Stripe automatic payment settings.
- BTI surfaces status clearly in your subscriptions list, including Open and Past Due, so you can act quickly.
- Customers can update their card details themselves via their BTI account.
- If needed, you can email a secure Stripe payment page link to the customer so they can update details directly on the invoice.
This setup avoids awkward back and forth and helps most failed payments recover once card details are updated.
7. Monitoring and refining
After go live, build a simple weekly routine:
- Review statuses in BTI to spot Open or Past Due items early.
- Check Stripe’s dashboard for payment success rates and retry outcomes.
- Adjust policies such as minimum term, cancellation notice or capacity using BTI’s subscription settings.
- For term-based businesses, consider auto re-enrolment to process re-bookings and payments for the next term in one run.
Over time, you will spend less time chasing and more time teaching.
8. Practical tips to reduce admin and improve collection
- Ask parents to save a card at sign up to keep recurring billing smooth.
- Set a gentle retry policy in Stripe and avoid automatic cancellation where appropriate so families have time to update details.
- Remind ahead of card expiry using a short, friendly email.
- Bundle classes into simple plans such as monthly or termly to reduce edge cases.
- Use BTI Automations to send reminders or trigger follow ups after bookings.
- Review statuses weekly and act on Open or Past Due items promptly.
- Use minimum terms or notice periods where needed so expectations are clear and fair.
9. How BTI compares to generic systems
Some booking platforms focus on one off payments and leave subscriptions as an afterthought. BTI’s subscription tools are built for class businesses:
- Plans link directly to booking types so billing follows the class model.
- You can see statuses at a glance and act on issues quickly.
- Card update flow is built in via the customer’s BTI account.
- Pricing or cadence changes are handled safely using the transfer method rather than editing live subscriptions.
- Seasonal pauses and minimum terms are supported.
These details matter when you are running recurring classes with families, memberships or term-based programmes.
Final thoughts
Switching to automated payments isn’t just a technical upgrade; it’s a change in how you run your business. Instead of:
- Chasing late payers → you focus on teaching
- Guessing at cash flow → you know your income is stable
- Feeling stressed → you gain peace of mind
If you’d like to explore how this works in practice, you can learn more about BTI’s online booking system, see how it supports marketplace models, or find out about its franchise tools. You can also read what other providers have shared on the reviews page.
With these tools in place, you’ll spend less time on admin and more time doing what you love: running great classes.