Gym and court booking for rec centers: short slots, leagues and fair limits

A gym, a few courts and a hall fill up fast, and a phone and a clipboard cannot keep up. Here is how to set up booking for a recreation center so people see what is open and take it themselves.

Give every court its own hours

Add the main gym, Court 1, Court 2 and the hall as separate rooms. Each room can follow the building’s hours or keep its own, so one court can open at 6 a.m. while the hall opens at noon. Add how many people each space holds and a photo.

Use short slots

Bookings start on 15-minute marks, and you can set the longest booking as low as 15 minutes. Set it to one hour and people book a one-hour court, not the whole afternoon.

Book leagues and classes as a series

League night every Thursday for eight weeks is one booking, not eight. Repeat it daily, weekly on the days you choose, every other week or monthly, and end it after a number of bookings or on a date. A series can run up to the limit you set for the workspace: 12, 26 or 52 bookings. A longer season is a second series. If a date is already taken, the rest are booked and you see which was skipped.

Keep it fair with caps per person

Without limits, one regular can hold every prime-time court. Set how far ahead people can book, how much time one person can book in any 7 days, and how many bookings one person can hold at once.

Release courts nobody shows up for (optional)

Turn on check-in and the person who booked taps Check in. If nobody does within the grace period you choose, from 5 to 60 minutes, the court opens up again. It stays off until you turn it on.

Let staff book by asking (optional)

If your staff already use Claude or ChatGPT, they can connect SummaBooking and ask in plain words, such as “Is the gym free Saturday from 9 to noon?” It follows the same rules as the website, and everything also works without it. See Use SummaBooking from your AI assistant.

How to set it up in SummaBooking

1. Choose Get started and sign in with your email. You get a one-time code, so there is no password. Give your workspace a name. It starts with one sample room you can rename or edit.
2. Open Rooms and choose Add a room for each gym, court and hall. Under Hours, choose custom hours for any room that keeps its own.
3. Open Settings. Under Booking limits, set the longest booking, how far ahead people can book and the per-person caps. Switch on Require check-in if you want no-shows released.
4. Open Members and paste staff, coaches and league organizers under Invite people.
5. To book a league, pick a court and a time, then under Repeat choose Weekly, the days, and when it ends.

Common questions

Can each court have its own hours?

Yes. Add each court as its own room. A room follows the workspace hours unless you choose custom hours for it.

Can we book a whole league season at once?

Yes, as a series. You choose how often it repeats and when it ends, and a series can have up to 12, 26 or 52 bookings, depending on the limit you set. If a date is taken, the rest are booked and you see which was skipped.

How do we stop people holding courts and not showing up?

Turn on check-in. If nobody checks in within the grace period you choose, the court opens up again. You can also set a cap on the time one person can book in any 7 days.

How much does it cost?

$49 a month per workspace, with 5 active rooms included. Each additional active room is $8 a month. There are no per-user fees and no setup fee. You start with a 30-day trial with no card needed, and nothing is charged unless you subscribe. Prices are in USD, before applicable taxes.

Do we need IT?

No. SummaBooking runs in any web browser on a computer or a phone, so there is nothing to install. You add the rooms and invite people yourself, and everyone signs in with a code sent to their email, so there are no passwords to manage.

Want the short version? SummaBooking for community centers.