Meet with several clients at the same time.
Use group classes to book multiple clients into one appointment.
While clients can book other appointment types for any time that you’re available, group classes happen at specific times. If you have automated notifications set up for yourself and clients, you’ll all receive reminder messages as you would for any other appointment.
Create a group class
A group class type contains all the details of the group class you want to offer.
To create a class or group event:
- In Acuity, click Appointment types.
- Click New Type of Group Class.
- Enter the class details, such as the class name and duration.
- In the Access section, decide whether the appointment type is public or private.
- Enter the maximum number of participants in the Max number of people field. Leaving this field blank or entering 0 will revert the class to a regular, non-class appointment type.
- To create a class series requiring clients to sign up for all times (for example, a six-week pottery class), check Clients must sign up for all the times this is offered.
- Click Create Appointment Type to save the class.
Tip: When there are no upcoming offerings of a group class type, Acuity moves the type to a Classes not offered category at the bottom of the appointment type list.
Offer a group class
After you create a group class, add it to your calendar and open it to clients.
To offer a class:
- In Acuity, click Appointment types.
- Click the group class you want to offer.
- Click Offer Class.
- Choose the date and time of the group class. If you have more than one calendar, also choose which calendar should offer the group class.
- If you want the class to recur, click Recurring… and choose how often and how many times the class should repeat.
- Click Save class.
- Repeat these steps for any other dates and times that you want to offer the class.
Keep in mind:
- Classes are only available at the times that you offer them. When you put a class on a calendar, clients can't book other appointments at the same time on that calendar.
- Duplicating a group class type doesn't duplicate the times it's offered. You still need to add the duplicated class to your calendar so clients can book.
- If you’ve set availability or scheduling limits by appointment type, classes will always use the scheduling limits you set for Availability Group 1. However, the maximum number of appointments setting doesn't apply to group classes that are offered on your calendar.
- Blocked time doesn't affect classes, whether you add the block manually or it syncs in from an outside calendar. You can offer classes at times that are otherwise blocked, and clients can book them.
Class settings
Each group class you create has the following settings. Use them to customize your offerings.
| Setting | Required? | Notes |
| Name | Yes | None |
| Duration | Yes | None |
| Price | No | If you leave the price blank or set it to zero, Acuity will make the class free to clients. |
| Category | No | None |
| Color | No | This controls how scheduled group classes appear on the Acuity calendar. If you’ve created categories, you can edit this setting as you create a new group class. If you don’t have any categories, Acuity assigns a color at random. To manually choose a color, edit the group class type. |
| Picture | No | This displays on your scheduler. |
| Access | Yes | Choose if the class is public or private. Set to public by default. |
| Group Class | Yes | This box is checked by default, and needs to remain checked to create the group class. This setting only appears when creating a new group class, but can't be edited after the class is created. Keep in mind that you can't turn an existing appointment type into a group class. |
| Max number of people | Yes | Set to eight by default. If left at zero or blank, Acuity converts the group class into a non-class appointment type. |
| Clients must sign up for all the times this is offered | No | Checking this box makes the class a series. |
| Forms | No | Choose which of your forms clients fill out when booking this group class. |
Edit a group class
Edit a group class the same way you would any other appointment type. To edit a class:
- In Acuity, click Appointment types.
- Click Edit for the appointment type you want to update.
- Make your changes.
- Click Update Appointment Type.
Reschedule a group class
If you need to reschedule a group class, edit the class details to keep all attendees enrolled. Canceling the class and creating a new one requires you to manually re-add attendees. To change the date, time, or calendar of an existing group class:
- In Acuity, click Appointment types.
- Click Edit for the appointment type you want to update.
- Click the pencil icon next to the date and time of the class you’d like to reschedule.
- Click Edit.
- After making your changes, click Save Changes.
Delete a group class appointment type
When you delete a group class appointment type, all upcoming classes will be canceled. If the class has already taken place, past events will not be deleted from your calendar.
To delete a class:
- In Acuity, click Appointment types.
- Click Edit for the group class appointment type you want to delete.
- Click Delete Appointment Type, then type DELETE in the text field and click Delete.
Learn how to cancel a single group class session.
Class series
If you check Clients must sign up for all the times this is offered when creating or editing a group class type, it becomes a series. When clients select this class, all of the class dates in the series will appear. After they complete the booking process, the client is automatically signed up for all of the classes in the series.
The price set for a group class series is the total cost for all sessions in the series, not the cost for each session.
Note: If the first class in a series passes, clients can no longer sign up for the series on your scheduling page. You'll have to manually add them to a series that already started.