Practical guides for studio owners.

Peak and off-peak, minimums, block rates and the arithmetic under them. How to set an hourly rate that fills the room and still pays for the room.

• Start from the room's cost, not the market rate
• Peak and off-peak are one decision, made twice
• Minimums do more work than the rate does
• Sell commitment, not discounts
• The arithmetic that catches people out

Why bands miss slots, what a deposit actually changes, and how to write a cancellation policy that recovers the hour instead of the argument.

• The three different problems
• What a deposit actually changes
• Writing the ladder
• Re-selling the hour is the other half
• Approval rooms, for the bookings you want to vet
• Enforce it, or delete it

Weekly regulars are most studios' base income. How to hold their slot, price the commitment, handle the weeks they skip, and keep the room earning.

• Why the weekly slot is worth more than the hours in it
• Pricing a standing slot
• Holding the slot properly
• The weeks they cannot make
• Changing the arrangement
• Migrating them from an old system

Backline you already own can earn twice. What to rent, how to price it against replacement cost, and how to stop kit walking out of the door.

• What is worth renting and what is not
• Pricing against replacement, not against the shop
• Stock control is the whole operational problem
• Stopping gear walking
• Selling it without being annoying

What to ask before you move a studio onto a booking system: who holds the money, what happens to the weekly bands, and how you get your data back.

• Who holds the money?
• What happens to my weekly bands?
• What happens to my regulars' saved cards?
• How do I get my data back out?
• Whose name is on the booking page?
• What does it do that a calendar does not?
• What it will cost