Every reformer was spoken for today, and you did not assign a single one.
Ten reformers, no empty ones. A cancellation refilled at 6:20am, a pack rescued before it expired, and instructor pay that already knows a duet is not a group class.
100% free to use, no hidden fees. Members pay about 5% at checkout.
Every client got the reformer they need.
Assigned spots are not a nicety in Pilates. One client needs the reformer by the wall for her shoulder. One is pregnant and needs the end of the row. Two friends always book together. Your teacher wants the newest client in her eyeline.
Recess lets you build the room as it actually is, reformers, towers, chairs and mats, in the layout you use, and clients pick their spot when they book. Notes on a client profile travel with her, so an instructor covering a class she does not normally teach knows about the shoulder before the class starts rather than four minutes in.
You can reserve or block a spot, move someone, or lock spot choice entirely and assign it yourself.
A new client tried to book the intermediate reformer class, and it was not there for her.
She came for the first time on Saturday, liked it, and went to book three more. Wednesday's intermediate class asks for the intro series completed, so it did not show as bookable for her. The beginner and open level classes did.
Pilates is the discipline where this matters most quietly. A first timer in an intermediate reformer class is not just behind, she is a risk on a machine, and the teacher spends the hour on her instead of on the nine people who are ready. The old fix was a front desk person who knows everybody, and that person is not there at nine in the morning.
Set the gate on the class: a level or a rank, a skill your teacher has signed off, a prerequisite series completed, an age, a tag on the client, or the membership or package she holds. It applies at booking, quietly, before anyone has to say anything to anyone.
A private, a duet and a group class were all booked from one account.
Most Pilates studios sell three or four different things to the same person: group reformer, a duet with a friend, a private, sometimes mat or an intro series. They are not priced the same, they are not scheduled the same, and they are not taught the same.
Recess treats privates, duets and semi privates as appointments against an instructor's real availability, so a client books an open slot rather than emailing to ask. Group classes stay on the schedule with their capacity and seat map.
A client can hold a membership for group classes and buy privates separately, or run a package that covers both, and neither arrangement requires anyone at the desk to do arithmetic.
A ten pack was about to expire with four sessions left.
Expiring packs are the most avoidable loss in a Pilates studio, and they hurt twice: you keep money for classes nobody took, and the client feels it and books less next time.
Recess watches the packs rather than making you watch them. The client gets a message with time to use what she paid for, and can book straight from it. You can see, in one place, who is carrying unused credits, whose pack lapses this month, and who has not booked since buying.
If your policy is to extend, you extend on the record instead of scribbling it on a sticky note that the next person at the desk never sees.
Four kinds of class, one pay run, and nothing for you to add up.
Pilates payroll is where general purpose software falls over, because the same instructor is paid differently depending on what she taught. A group reformer class, a duet, a private and a covered class are four different numbers.
Recess sets pay rates by instructor and by class type, with head count rules if you pay more for a fuller room, and hourly clock in and out for front desk staff. Today's instructor taught two group classes, one duet and a private, and each lands on the run at its own rate without anyone rebuilding it in a spreadsheet on Sunday.
When a class is covered, pay follows whoever actually taught it, because the schedule knows. Nothing is paid until you approve the run, and anything Recess could not match to a rate is flagged for you before you do.
The app she books the reformer from has your name on it.
Every studio on Recess gets its own branded app, carrying your name, your logo and your colors, publishable to the App Store and Google Play under your own listing. Clients are not asked to download something with somebody else's brand on it.
They book their reformer and pay there, sign your waiver and health history there, and see their own progress there: the levels and skills they have reached, the credits they have left, the challenge they are eighth in, the badges they have earned.
Check in happens there too, from the app or at a kiosk at the door, with geo based check in that only counts at the studio.
Somebody asked whether reformer is safe for a bad back, at 9pm on a Sunday.
The questions that come in after the last class are nearly always the same three: is reformer safe with my back, do I have to start on a private, and what does it cost. Someone who has to wait until Monday for that answer usually books somewhere else on Sunday.
The Recess lead agent replies in your voice, off your real schedule and your real availability. It works out whether she belongs in an intro reformer class, a private or a duet, takes her name and email, and holds her a reformer with no form promising a reply within two business days.
In the morning there is a name on the seat map and a conversation you can read end to end. When the chat converts it becomes a proper client thread, so nothing is stranded in a chat widget.
The rest of it, and nothing behind a higher plan.
There is no plan to choose and nothing behind a paywall, so a studio with one reformer room pays the same as a studio with four, which is to say nothing.
It is free. Here is exactly how that works.
No monthly platform fee, no per feature add ons, no setup cost. Recess earns a service fee of approximately 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing is covered by Recess out of that rather than billed to you on top. A studio with one reformer room pays the same as a studio with four, which is to say nothing, and we only do well when you are actually collecting money.
When Recess is the wrong answer.
If one of these is you, we would rather say so now than six weeks into an onboarding.
What reformer studios want to know before they switch.
Yes. You build the room as it actually is, with reformers, towers, chairs and mats in your layout, and clients choose a spot when they book. You can also assign spots yourself, reserve one, or block a machine that is out of service so nobody books it.
It fills them. When a cancellation comes in, the top name is promoted, notified and given the released spot, including at six in the morning. You set the rules for how late a promotion can happen.
You set the window, the fee and whether the credit returns, and Recess applies it the same way for every client every time. That consistency is most of the value: the software takes the awkward conversation off your front desk.
Yes. Privates, duets and semi privates run as appointments against each instructor's real availability, so clients book an open slot themselves. A client can hold a group membership and buy privates separately, or use one package across both.
Recess tracks credits and expiry per client and messages them in time to book, with a link that books the class. You can see who is carrying unused credits and whose pack lapses this month, and extend on the record if that is your policy.
Yes. Pay rates are set per instructor and per class type, with head count rules if you pay more for a fuller room, and hourly clock in and out for staff paid by the hour. Payroll is computed as the classes happen, and covered classes pay whoever actually taught.
They can, and most studios require it. Waivers, health history and any custom form you use are signed digitally as part of booking, and the signed record sits on the client's profile with a date. Be deliberate about which forms you mark as required, because a required unsigned form can block a client at check in.
Yes. The migration is automated and our team runs it for you, whatever you are on now: Mindbody, Momence, Walla, Arketa, Glofox and others. Clients, history and billing information come across so you are not rebuilding your studio from a spreadsheet.