Sessions with a Minimum
Some sessions only make sense with enough people, for example a yoga class that needs at least 4 or a trip that needs at least 6. With Minimum participants, Etalasse checks the head count at a time you choose, then either confirms the session or cancels it together with its bookings.
This is optional and only for Booking shops. A session without a minimum works exactly as before.
Setting the minimum
Open the session editor on the product page or on the sessions tab of Booking Calendars (Products → Booking Calendars), then add or edit a session. Next to Capacity, fill in:
| Setting | Meaning | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum participants | the number of booked seats the session needs to run. Empty (No minimum), 0 or 1 means no minimum. Leave it empty when the session always runs, however many people book | 2 up to the session capacity |
| Decide before the start | how long before the session starts the head count is checked | 30 minutes to 7 days (default 12 hours) |
The minimum cannot exceed the capacity. It applies per occurrence: the "Saturday 14:30" session on the 8th and on the 15th are judged separately. The head count is the seats on bookings that are still active, across all products that use the same calendar session.
Keep Decide before the start no shorter than the service's Minimum notice (minutes) (see Booking cutoff for fixed sessions). If the decision falls before the booking cutoff, customers can still book after the session has been confirmed or canceled. The Dashboard warns you when the two do not line up.
What happens automatically
Every few minutes Etalasse looks at sessions with a minimum whose decision time has arrived and that have at least one booking:
| Result | What happens |
|---|---|
| Enough participants | the session shows Will run. Customers get no special message. New customers can still book until the cutoff or until it is full |
| Too few participants | the session shows Canceled and every active booking on it is canceled |
| No bookings | nothing happens |
A session that has been decided is not checked again.
When a session is canceled for too few participants
- every active booking on the session is canceled with the reason minimum participants not reached
- this does not count as a provider cancellation on the seller counters
- the customer's money follows When a provider cancels a paid session in Booking Settings: I refund myself in Refunds or Record the refund automatically (a refund request is created for paid orders). Unpaid orders are simply canceled
- the customer and the provider are notified that the session was canceled because the minimum was not reached
- the session can no longer be booked
Confirm it runs or cancel manually
You do not have to wait for the decision time. Owners and Admins can open the Sessions with a minimum page. It has no sidebar item of its own: reach it from the button on the Booking page, the link on the sessions tab of Booking Calendars, or the link in the session editor on the product page. It lists occurrences of sessions that have a minimum (filterable by date, calendar and status) and shows the session, date, registered participants against the minimum, capacity, status and decision time. Statuses:
- Pending: not decided yet
- Will run: confirmed to run
- Canceled: canceled
Two actions are available:
- Confirm it runs: only for a session that is still Pending. The session is declared to run now even though it has too few participants, and it is no longer checked or canceled automatically. Use it when you want to run it anyway
- Cancel session: for a Pending session and also for one that already shows Will run, as long as it has not started. The session is canceled now with the same effects as the automatic cancel above (every booking of that session on that date is canceled). You can add an internal note
A session that is already Canceled or has started can no longer be changed.
What customers see
- in the storefront session list: "Minimum N participants" and how many have signed up
- a decided session shows Will run, or a greyed Canceled (not enough participants) that cannot be picked
- in the Dashboard booking detail: the session status and, when it was canceled for too few participants, Canceled: the session did not reach its minimum; the customer gets an explanation with what happens to their money
- when a booking cutoff applies, each session says "bookable until ..."
Words such as "participant" or "class" follow your shop's storefront labels.
Cashier and POS
Staff booking from the POS or the Dashboard are not held to the minimum notice, but a canceled session cannot be booked, and bookings made by staff count as participants.