Deposit or full payment? How to choose for workshops and lessons
Take full payment for short lessons and small amounts. Ask a deposit for expensive or multi-day bookings made far ahead, with the balance due a few weeks before the start.
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Questions from the field
About bookings, payments and the team that teaches the lesson. Each piece answers one question a small business with guests and staff actually has.
Money and payments
Collecting the balance without chasing guests
Set the balance due date at booking, send a payment link instead of a bank account number and let two reminders go out by themselves. You decide on any overdue notice.
Cancellation policy and no-shows for workshops and lessons
Guests who book a lesson on a fixed date have no 14-day cooling-off period in the EU. Charge reasonable cancellation fees per period and count a no-show as a last-minute cancellation.
Gift vouchers for workshops and lessons: when do you pay VAT?
For a voucher for one specific workshop or lesson you pay VAT when you sell it. For credit that covers services with different VAT rates, only when it is redeemed. That is how the EU has handled vouchers since 2019.
VAT on workshops, courses and sports lessons in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands a creative workshop or hobby course carries 21 percent VAT, sport with use of your facilities 9 percent. Vocational training via the CRKBO and arts lessons for under-21s are exempt.
Guests and rules
Having guests sign a waiver for a surf lesson, workshop or activity
In the EU a waiver hardly excludes liability for injury towards consumers. It does show the guest knew the risks and gave honest health information. Every participant signs, a parent for a child.
Team and schedule
Scheduling seasonal and on-call staff without spreadsheets and group chats
Collect availability before the season, plan each week on who can teach the lesson and let staff see schedule and time off on their phone. In the Netherlands, call in on-call staff four days ahead.
Choosing a system
Booking software for surf, sailing and dive schools compared
Eight systems side by side on price, team scheduling, waivers and deposits. With the best fit for each kind of watersports business, also when that is not Superota.