A popular open-play session fills up and starts a waitlist while the session beside it sits half empty. There may be a useful adjustment to make, but unused capacity is not the same as a free court. A lesson, reservation or later session may already depend on that time.
The practical job is to see the whole day, decide what can change and make the change clear to staff and players.
A calendar you can run the day from
Start with the basics, done well. Staff need to see court reservations, open play, clinics and lessons together, with the court, time and session roster easy to inspect. Fluid's schedule shows sign-up counts and lets staff filter the view, book on a member's behalf or move a reservation to another time or court.
See how court booking and open play in Fluid connect reservations, sessions and membership rules.
Keep two measures separate during the review:
- Court use: which court-time slots are reserved, available or blocked.
- Session capacity: how many people have joined a session and how many places remain.
A session can have room on its roster while occupying its assigned courts. A reservation can use an entire court without representing an open-play signup. Reviewing both measures avoids treating every apparently quiet slot as interchangeable.
Decide what to change
Consider a session at full capacity with six people waiting, beside another session with no signups. Before moving a court, check the start and end times, the courts each session occupies, any bookings after it and the staffing needed. Then decide whether adding capacity serves the players already registered as well as those waiting.
Review the court schedule demo with your own mix of reservations and open play in mind.
Use a short decision record for an adjustment:
| Check | Decision to make |
|---|---|
| Available court time | Is the court free for the whole session, including any transition time? |
| Session format | Can the extra players participate under this session's format and capacity rules? |
| Existing commitments | Would the change affect another booking, lesson or advertised program? |
| Staff ownership | Who approves the change and updates the roster? |
| Player communication | Who needs an updated location, time or invitation? |
An empty session today is also a question for the next schedule review. Compare similar days and the program's purpose before removing it permanently. An introductory clinic may serve a different goal from a busy evening open play.
Make waitlist rules clear
Every Fluid club plan includes open play and waitlists. A full session and unavailable court time can have a waitlist, and the member demo shows an opening offered to the next person in line. Review how an offer is received and claimed, and when payment applies, using your club's actual setup.
Staff should know what to do when a player does not claim an opening or needs help. A waitlist offer should not be described as a completed booking or payment until those steps have happened.
Set the boundaries before the busy period
Document which session types staff may resize, who can move a reservation and which commitments need a manager's review. Include your cancellation rules, member booking windows and peak-hour allowances. Ask for a demonstration of any automatic capacity adjustment you intend to rely on, including its restrictions and exception handling, before making it part of the operating plan.
After a change, check that the schedule, roster and player instructions agree. Track whether the adjustment actually accommodated waiting players and whether it created any conflicts. This gives the next shift a useful record of what worked.
Bring your booking windows and cancellation rules to the courts and booking rules demo.