Scheduling for personal trainers who get paid before the session.

A trainer's week is not one kind of hour

Most trainers sell several things at once: a paid assessment, a 60-minute private, a block of sessions, a small-group class, and sometimes an online check-in. One generic booking link flattens all of that into '60 minutes, whenever the calendar looks open'. BookMyTime keeps them as separate meeting types, each with its own length, price, location and hours.

Put them on one page at bookmytime.me/yourname. Send the direct link to the private when someone is already a client. The personal trainer template is the set of types to create first.

• Assessment or intro: shorter, sometimes a deposit, capped so it does not replace paid training hours.
• Private session: 45, 60 or 90 minutes, paid before the slot is confirmed, with a buffer after.
• Session pack: prepaid sessions the client redeems when they book the next one.
• Small group or class: a seat limit and a price per seat, on hours that do not collide with privates.
• Online check-in: a video location, often shorter, for clients who train between gym sessions.

Paid bookings, packs, and the hours that are worth more

An unpaid hold is how a 6am session disappears. Payments confirm the booking only after Stripe or PayPal checkout. If the client leaves checkout, the slot returns to the page. The payout goes to your Stripe or PayPal account. BookMyTime does not hold the balance, and it does not store the card number.

A 10-session block should not mean ten invoices. Sell the pack, then let the client redeem sessions against the private or a recurring type. Take a deposit on an assessment when you want the hour held without charging the full session. Packs, deposits and per-slot prices are Pro features, described on the pricing page. The Free plan already takes the full payment for a single session.

Early mornings and evenings are the hours clients can attend, and they are the hours you give up. Per-slot pricing lets the 06:00 and 18:00 slots cost more than a mid-morning one, on the same session type. If you have never priced the hour, the hourly rate calculator is a floor. Your booking page is where the number is real, because someone can pay it.

Calendar management for a job that moves

A trainer's calendar already holds classes, privates, a second job, travel between a gym and a client's home, and the workout you are not willing to give away. Two-way sync reads Google Calendar, Outlook or iCloud and only offers the gaps. When a client pays, the session is written back with their name and the location. They see open slots. They do not see the titles of everything else on your day.

The Free plan connects one calendar. Pro checks up to six, which is the practical setup when the gym calendar, your personal calendar and a travel calendar should all block time, while new sessions land on the one you actually look at.

Put a buffer after each private so you can reset the floor, write the session down, or get to the next location. Require enough notice that a late cancel can be offered to someone else. Cap how many assessments you will take in a day. Those rules live on the meeting type, so a class block and a private do not share one availability template. In-person types use the gym address or a custom instruction. Online check-ins use Zoom, Google Meet or Teams. Each type keeps its own location.

Classes, small groups, and a studio with more than one trainer

A class is not a private with a bigger price. Group meeting types have a seat count, a price per seat and a waitlist. When someone cancels inside your rules, the seat can be taken by the next person. Keep those hours separate from 1:1 sessions so a private cannot land in the middle of a class.

If clients book you, give them your page. If a studio lets a new client see any trainer who is free, use round-robin team scheduling and let each trainer connect their own calendar. Do not hide a named coach behind a pool. People book a trainer, not a logo. Team scheduling sits on the Business plan, at $15 per seat.

BookMyTime books time and collects the session payment. It is not gym management software. Memberships, door access, retail and programming apps stay where they are. If you have been comparing salon-style schedulers, the salons page is about chairs and treatment rooms. The Setmore alternative and Acuity alternative pages say when a fuller suite is the better buy.

Getting the client to the session, and knowing who is walking in

Reminders send the confirmation and receipt when they book, then a nudge before the session with the address or the join link and a way to reschedule. Email is on every plan. SMS and WhatsApp are on Pro, which matters because training clients are on their phone, not in an inbox. Publish the cancellation window on the page. Inside it, they move the session themselves and the old hour goes back on the calendar. Outside it, your policy decides the refund.

If they do not arrive, mark the booking as a no-show so the record matches the floor. The mark does not create a new charge. The protection is that the session was paid before it was held, or it was never held.

Intake questions can ask for the goal, training history, injuries they want you to know about, and how to reach them. Ask only what you need in order to accept the booking. BookMyTime is not a medical record and should not hold clinical notes or a health questionnaire you would not want on a scheduling form. Say that on the page. Keep programming and health history in the system you already use for them.

Share the hosted link in your bio, your gym profile and your messages. If you have a site, embed the booking widget on the services page. Both read the same calendar, so you cannot be booked twice.