Can my booking software sell hour packs that expire, memberships with included hours, and charge for extra guests?
How an unstaffed golf simulator studio sells packs valid for 3 months, monthly memberships with included hours, and a fee for each extra guest, and what OpenTeeSheet does for each.
Updated 2026-10-31. Every quote links to where it was published.
In owners' own words
“3 Hours · Valid for 3 Months”
“your 5 included hours are use-them-or-lose-them each month”
“Every session includes one guest, free.”
“Members enjoy 24/7 access, 2+ hour tee times, and guests.”
What it is
Unstaffed simulator studios sell three things at once: a monthly membership with a set number of hours, a prepaid pack of hours that has to be used within a few months, and a bay price that covers the booker and a guest, with a fee for each extra player. Each one is how the studio protects the hours it can sell. A pack that never expires is a debt the studio carries forever; a group of four that pays for one is three players it gave away.
A booking tool that only knows "N hours for $X" makes the owner pick: run the rule by hand at the door, which nobody staffs, or drop it. The rule has to live where the money is taken, and the golfer has to see it before paying, so nobody is surprised at the bay.
How OpenTeeSheet does it
| A pack can be sold valid for a set number of days, or never expire; the clock starts when the golfer pays, and a session can use the pack only if it starts before that date. | Pinned by automated tests: pack-expiry-realdb.test.ts |
| Golfers see how long a pack is valid on the booking page before they buy, and the date on their balance when they book with it. | Pinned by automated tests: pack-expiry-realdb.test.ts |
| The golfer gets one email 7 days before a pack lapses while units are left on it. | Pinned by automated tests: pack-expiry-realdb.test.ts |
| An expired pack's unused units stop counting as owed and show as expired in the pack report. | Pinned by automated tests: pack-expiry-realdb.test.ts |
| Monthly memberships with included hours that reset each paid month, and a member rate for time past them. | Pinned by automated tests: memberships-realdb.test.ts |
| The bay price covers the number of players the owner chooses, and each extra player pays a whole-dollar fee the owner sets; the booking page shows it before anyone pays and the card is charged the same total. | Pinned by automated tests: guest-fee-realdb.test.ts |
The bar we measure it against
A pack sold valid for N days books nothing after day N, the buyer sees the date before paying and gets one reminder 7 days before; a venue sets the players included and the fee per extra player, and the price shown, the charge and the booking agree in 100 out of 100 randomized bookings.
Where it stands today: Met in tests against a real database with a stand-in for the card processor: pack expiry, the 7-day reminder, memberships, and 100 randomized extra-player bookings. It is not deployed yet, and the extra-player fee on a pack or membership booking is not charged by card.
Not built or not measured yet
On a booking paid with a membership's hours or a pack, the extra players' fee is shown to the golfer as due at the venue; it is not charged by card yet.
Gift cards and leagues are not built.
What owners report from other tools
General scheduling tools sell a bundle of hours but have no date on it and no fee per extra guest, so the owner runs both rules by hand.
Questions
- Can a pack expire, like 3 hours valid for 3 months?
- Yes. Set it to 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or any number of days, or never. The golfer sees the date before buying, and a session can use the pack only if it starts before it.
- Do golfers get a warning before a pack expires?
- Yes, one email 7 days before, while hours are left on it.
- Can I charge for extra guests?
- Yes. Choose how many players the bay price covers and a whole-dollar fee for each extra player; it is added to the booking and charged with it.
- Do memberships include hours each month?
- Yes: a monthly plan with included hours that reset each paid month, and a member rate for time past them.