> [!info]+ An allowance is an amount of booking included in a membership. It's the setting behind "10 hours of rehearsal a month included", and it's the most involved part of memberships, so this page goes through it properly. The short version: an allowance doesn't discount a booking, it pays for it. The booking keeps its full value and the member's plan covers some or all of the cost, like a built-in credit. ## Choosing a unit and caps Each tier measures its allowance in **one** of two units: - **Hours of booking**, entered in hours. 10 for ten hours, 1.5 for ninety minutes. - **Amount spent**, a cap in your studio's currency. Useful if you think in money rather than time, for example "£100 of booking included". You can't mix the two on one tier. Pick whichever matches how you'd describe the deal to a customer. Then set the periods: - A **monthly** cap - A **yearly** cap - Or both, if you want a monthly ceiling inside an annual total Leave a field blank, or at zero, for no limit on that period. ## How pots work Each member has a pot for each period you've set a cap on. A booking draws from the pot for **the month the booking takes place in**, not the month it was made. So a member booking in August for a session in September uses September's allowance. Their August pot is untouched. This is usually what people expect, but it's worth saying out loud when a member asks why booking early "used up" nothing this month. Each period has its own pot, and a booking always draws from the pot for the period it takes place in. ## What "covered" actually means A covered booking costs the member nothing. Not a reduced amount, nothing, and that includes the booking fee and any tax on the covered portion. If a booking is covered in full there's no payment step at all. The member just sees **Reserve booking** and the session is confirmed. ## Bookings that only partly fit When bookings over the allowance are allowed, Jammed fills to the cap and charges the difference. It doesn't cover the whole thing out of goodwill, and it doesn't refuse the booking for being one hour too big. (If you've turned bookings over the allowance off, it does refuse it. See the next section.) > [!example] A member has a 10 hour monthly allowance and has used 9 hours. They book a 2 hour session priced at £40. > - 1 hour is covered by their allowance and costs them nothing > - 1 hour is the overage, charged at your normal rate > - They pay £20 > > The booking's total value is still £40. £20 came from the member and £20 came from their membership, and that's exactly what the receipt says. If the tier also has a discount, the discount only applies to the part they're actually paying. Members are never discounted on time their plan already covered. ## Strict caps and soft caps The tier setting is **Allow bookings over the allowance**: > When off, bookings that would take a member over a monthly or yearly allowance are blocked. When on, they're allowed and the overage is charged. **Leave it on** if the allowance is a benefit and you're happy for members to book more and pay for it. This is how most studios will want it. **Turn it off** if the allowance is a hard limit, for example if you're protecting availability for other customers. When a booking is blocked, the member sees exactly what's happening and by how much: > This booking would exceed the Gold membership's monthly allowance of 10h (9h already used this month). When your staff hit the same wall in the dashboard, they get the same message plus a hint that customers never see: > Turn on "Allow bookings over the allowance" for this tier to override. **There's no per-booking override.** If you need to let a member go over, the tier setting is the only way to do it. ## Repeat bookings [[Regular Bookings|Recurring booking series]] are never blocked by an allowance. The schedule always books. The allowance just governs what's charged, so a weekly rehearsal series will book the whole run and each session draws from its own month's pot. ## What the member sees Members can watch their own pot. Their account has a **My membership** page showing: - Used this month - Remaining this month, with a progress bar that turns red at 90% - Remaining this year, if you've set a yearly cap They also see it on every booking. The thank-you page after booking says how much was covered by their membership allowance, and the same figure appears on their confirmation email and receipt. That's usually enough to head off the "did my membership apply?" email before it's sent. If the tier is paid for by subscription and the member's payment has failed repeatedly, their allowance is held rather than lost. Their page says "Your allowance is on hold until the outstanding payment clears", and paying restores it straight away. See [[Membership Payments]]. ## Where the allowance shows up on paperwork The rule that holds everywhere: > **Total = the cash the member paid + the amount their membership covered.** - **Checkout** lists "Membership allowance" as a minus line. The total quoted is exactly what gets charged. - **The thank-you page** shows the net cash as the cost, with a line underneath saying how much was covered. - **The confirmation email** has a payment breakdown with the allowance listed alongside payments. Once settled, the total equals payments received. - **The receipt PDF** carries the same rows and reconciles. - **The member's booking list** only ever counts cash. A fully covered booking says "You have paid £0.00", with the covered amount noted separately. ## Changing an allowance later New caps apply from the moment you save. If you're cutting an allowance on a tier that already has members with bookings in the diary, check those bookings before you save rather than assuming they're insulated. Nothing is emailed to members when an allowance changes, so if you're cutting one, tell them yourself. ## What happens on cancellation Cancelling hands the hours or spend straight back to the pot. Refunds are worked out on the cash the member actually paid, never on the value of the allowance. That's covered properly in [[Cancellations and Refunds]], which is worth reading before you handle your first one.