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Pick a day and a free time under Book a court (on the website or in the app), choose how long, and add the people you're playing with by email. They get an invitation and can see the gate code too; people without a bookahit account get a link to make one.

Your club decides how far ahead you can book, how long a booking can be and how many bookings you can make in a day. Members may be able to book further ahead. Rooms and equipment (a function room, a ball machine) are booked the same way, on their own tabs.

If your club charges for courts, you pay on Stripe's secure page as you book (by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or another way your club offers such as Afterpay or Klarna); the court is held for you while you pay, and your gate code comes once the payment goes through. A booking that isn't paid within 30 minutes is let go. Some clubs also charge members a guest fee for each player with them who isn't a member; it's paid with the booking, and the booking page tells you first.

Some clubs let you book without an account: pick a time, choose No account? Book as a guest, give your name and email, type in the code we email you, and pay on Stripe's page. Your confirmation and gate code come to that email, with a link to see or cancel the booking. It's for times that cost something, at the price for players who aren't members. If your email already has a bookahit account, or you're a member of the club, sign in to book instead. Make an account later with the same email, and your bookings show in My bookings.

Every booking has its own code, shown under My bookings and in your confirmation email. Type it on the keypad at your court's gate. It works only at that gate, from shortly before your booking until shortly after it: 10 minutes either side unless your club changes that.

Changing the time or court keeps the same code. Cancelling stops it straight away. If the code isn't showing yet, bookahit is still setting it up on the club's system and keeps retrying.

While your gate code works, your booking shows an Open gate button under My bookings and in the app. Press it and your court's gate opens. If your club checks that you're there, your phone asks to share its location: bookahit uses it once, only to check you're at the club, and doesn't keep it.

Where your club has fitted bookahit Tap, you can also hold your phone against the plate by the gate's keypad: bookahit opens and the gate unlocks if you're on a booking for that court right now. Your code always works as well, so use it if your phone has no signal.

If your club has a check-in poster, scan its QR code with your phone camera when you arrive: you're checked in to your booking, lesson or session (from 30 minutes before the start), and so are your children on it. It helps the club see who turned up.

If the time you want is taken, join the waitlist for that court or for any court. When the whole time frees up (someone cancels or moves, or the club removes a block), everyone waiting for it gets a message and an email. The first person to book it gets it.

Open the booking under My bookings to change the time, court or players, or to cancel. Your club may set a cut-off before play, after which you can't change or cancel, or may not allow changes and cancellations at all once you've booked; the booking page tells you before you book. The club can also cancel a booking (for maintenance, an event or rain), and you'll get a message saying why. A paid booking that's cancelled is refunded in full.

At clubs that sell them, buy a gift voucher on the club's Gift vouchers page, for yourself or as a present: its code comes by email, and it can be used for 3 years. When you book a court and pay online, choose Pay with a gift voucher and type the code; whatever isn't used stays on the voucher. A club can also give you credit (after a rained-out booking, say): tick Use my club credit as you book. If the booking is cancelled, the voucher and credit get back what they paid.

Social play, clinics and club events are under Sessions. Join until a session is full, then join its waitlist. If someone drops out, you move up and you're told. Some sessions are for members only.

Under Lessons, pick a coach, a type of lesson and a day, then one of the coach's open times. The court is booked for you and the coach, with a gate code like any booking. If the coach takes payments through bookahit, you pay their price on Stripe's secure page as you book. Otherwise, pay the coach the way your club arranges.

Online lessons has free coaching videos by Ian Westermann (Essential Tennis) from YouTube: the forehand, both backhands, the serve, volleys, footwork and doubles. They play in YouTube's own player, and nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play. The videos belong to their creator: bookahit and your club don't own them and aren't affiliated with Essential Tennis or YouTube.

Join a ladder and challenge players a few places above you (the ladder says how many). They accept or decline; a challenge nobody answers in time lapses, and so does an accepted one that isn't played in time.

Once you've played, either of you records the result. If the challenger wins, they take the other player's place.

Your club may run round robins (everyone plays everyone, like a league over the season) and knockouts, in singles or doubles. Enter under Competitions while entries are open; for doubles, give your partner's email and they're told. When the club makes the draw you get a message with who you play.

Book a court with your opponent, play, then either of you records the score from the first-named side: sets like 6-4 3-6, a tie-break set 7-6(5), and a match tie-break in square brackets, [10-8]. In a knockout the winner moves on by itself; in a round robin the table updates by most wins, then set difference, then game difference.

Register a child (add them first under Account → Family) for some or all days of a camp. If you add medical details or an emergency contact, tick the box to let the club keep them: only the club's team can see them, and they're deleted a set time after the camp. If a day is full, your child goes on that day's waitlist and you're told if a place comes up.

If you have a World Tennis Number (40 down to 1, lower is better) or a UTR (1.00 to 16.50, higher is better), add it in Find a partner → My ratings so others can find a good match. The club's team can mark it checked; changing it clears the mark.

Say you're looking for a game, with your level and when you play. Other players see your first name and initial, never your email. Invite someone and they get an email from bookahit; their reply comes straight to you. You can invite each player once a week.

Booked a court and need more players? In My bookings, choose Open to others: singles or doubles, a level and a short note. Other players at the club see it under Open games, by first name and initial, and can join while there's a place. Whoever joins is on the booking, with its gate code, and you're told. Share the court's cost between you as you agree. Joined one you can't make? Leave it before it starts, so someone else can have your place. You can join up to 5 games a day, once you've accepted the club's terms.

Add your children under Account → Family. You can book courts and lessons for them and sign them up for sessions; anything the club sends them comes to you.

Account has a private calendar link for Google, Apple or Outlook calendars: your bookings appear and update by themselves. Gate codes aren't included. If you shared the link by mistake, make a new one and the old one stops working.

Some clubs ask you to accept their terms of hire (and other documents) before your first booking. bookahit asks when you book: read and accept, then book again. Optional consents can be given or withdrawn later.

Clubs send news to their players and members. Every news email has an Unsubscribe link that works at once, and you can choose club by club under Account. Emails about your own bookings always come.

Some clubs also send texts. You only get them if you add your mobile number under Account, confirm it with the code we text to it, and tick Texts for that club. Reply STOP to any text and no club will text you again; reply START if you change your mind, then tick the clubs you want.

Sign in with your email and password (or with Google where it's offered). Forgotten your password? Use Forgot password? on the sign-in page. The link we email works for an hour, once.

Everyone who runs the club signs in with a club account on the Club sign-in page. It's separate from any account they use to book courts: club accounts book only for players, at the desk.

Each club has one master admin, who can do everything and decides what everyone else can do under Team: bookings and the day, members and programs, messages, reports, seeing or opening the gates, seeing or switching the lights, cameras, club set-up and payments. Someone can be allowed just to watch the gates and lights. The master admin can hand the role to someone else on the team.

New team members get an email with a link to set their password. Club accounts always use two-step sign-in.

Today's bookings court by court, each with its gate code status, and the controller's connection. Open a gate for someone from Courts & gates. Every opening is recorded in Activity.

Take courts out for maintenance, coaching, events or a closure, once or every week. If bookings clash, bookahit lists them; you can cancel them, and the players are told why and their codes stop. A block can keep the lights on.

Give a member the same court every week. Each date is its own booking with its own code; the member gets one email for the whole series, and dates already taken are left out.

Set up membership types with what each lets members do (how far ahead they can book, bookings a day, playing hours), then add members by hand or import a spreadsheet (CSV), and export them. Suspend a membership to stop bookings without removing it. A club can also take bookings from members only. Members are reminded by email before their membership ends (Club rules sets how many days before; members who unsubscribed from the club's news aren't reminded).

Publish sessions (they reserve their courts) and see who's going and waiting. Add coaches, their weekly hours and lesson types, and players book the open times. Create ladders and move or remove players if you need to.

Switch on QR check-in and print the poster: players scan it when they arrive and are checked in to their booking or session. Check-ins count as attendance in Reports, so courts without a gate get no-show figures too, for bookings from when you switch it on. If a photo of the poster is being used away from the club, make a new QR code and the old one stops working.

Roll call lists the day's lessons and club sessions with everyone signed up, children included. Tick who's there on a computer, or courtside on a phone (Account → Roll call in the app). Coaches take the roll for their own lessons from My coaching. A tick counts as attendance in Reports, like a QR check-in.

Under Holiday camps, set the dates, hours, courts, places a day and the age range. Each day reserves its courts like a session and shows up in Roll call. Who's coming lists the children by day; open one child's medical details only when you need them. Each look is recorded in Activity, and the details are deleted automatically after the camp.

Under Competitions, make a round robin or a knockout, singles or doubles. Players enter themselves, or you add them (with seeds for a knockout: seeds are kept apart and the top seeds get any byes). Make the draw when entries close; everyone is told. Schedule matches if you like, record or correct any result, give walkovers, and undo the draw while no result is in.

Send news to everyone, current members, players booked on certain dates, recent players or the team, in bookahit and by email, with the unsubscribe link the Spam Act requires. When the club has texts, it can go by text too, to the people who said yes to the club's texts: the page shows how many text parts it takes and how many the club has left this month.

Clubs with an Edge box can see their cameras under Cameras: a still from each, refreshed every few seconds, and Live for live video. Footage stays on the club's recorder (bookahit never stores it), and every live view is recorded in the activity log.

Bring your members across under Members (Import), then your future bookings under Bring bookings across: export them from the old system (ClubSpark or any other) as a CSV file and choose it. bookahit recognises the usual column names and asks about any it can't find, then checks every row. Nothing is saved until you press Import.

Each booking is added for its booker (found by email) with its own gate code, and each booker can get one email listing their bookings. Rows on a court you don't have, over a closure or on top of another booking are listed so you can fix them; running the same file again skips what's already in.

Under Automatic messages, switch on the messages bookahit sends for you: a welcome after someone's first booking, a "we miss you" when a player hasn't booked for a while, a note when a membership ends without being renewed, and an invitation to join for regular players who aren't members. Change the wording and the number of days to suit your club.

They go between 9am and 7pm, once for each occasion, only to adults who get your club's news, with the unsubscribe link. Tick Also send it as a text to text the people who said yes to your club's texts; each text ends with your club's name and "Opt-out reply STOP", is kept to one text part, and the page shows how many texts each one costs.

Bookings, hours and how busy the courts were, the busiest times, players, cancellations and no-shows (from the gate's records), with a bookings spreadsheet to download.

Under Courts & gates, link each court to its gate, keypad and lights on your access controller; add rooms and equipment; set up club doors such as reception (staff codes and cards open them, booking codes don't); and choose walkway lights that come on a little before each booking and stay on for a while after the last one. Moving a court to another gate moves its booking codes with it.

Court lights come on by themselves while a court is booked, from the club's lights-on time until closing. The lights-on time is set under Club rules: a set time, or sunset at the club, give or take some minutes. Between two bookings less than 15 minutes apart they stay on. The Court lights button overrides any light (on or off, for a while or until changed) or sets it back to automatic.

Give staff a permanent code and card that open every gate and club door. Viewing a code is recorded in Activity.

Under Vouchers & credit, switch on gift vouchers and pick the amounts to sell (they're paid into your Stripe account and last 3 years, with no fees). You see each voucher sold by its last 4 characters, can send its email again, and can cancel and refund one nobody has used. Give a player credit with a note (they're told), or take back credit given by mistake.

Opening hours (the same every day, or each day its own hours or closed; a club can stay open until midnight), the booking grid, how far ahead people can book, how long a booking can be, bookings a day, the change and cancel cut-off, how early and late codes work, the lights-on time and the contact email players see. Tick People can book without an account to let visitors from your own website book and pay with just a name and email (while the club takes card payments and players without a membership can book).

Connect the club's website, CRM, Zapier or Make: an API key lets them read courts, availability, bookings, members and sessions; webhooks tell them when bookings, sign-ups and memberships change. Gate codes and members' notes are never shared.

Who changed what and when: bookings, blocks, lights, gate openings, settings and more.

The bookahit team looks after your gates, lights and bookings remotely. Anything we do for your club (testing the controller, opening a gate, overriding lights, or a support visit into your admin pages) is listed in Activity with the person's name and the reason. Support visits end by themselves, after four hours at most.

Protect your account with a code from an authenticator app on your phone: Account → Two-step sign-in. Save the recovery codes it shows. Each works once if your phone is lost.

Club accounts always use it; players don't have to. Someone on the team who has lost their phone and their recovery codes asks the club's master admin: Team → Reset two-step. They're emailed, and set it up again the next time they open Club admin. Nobody can reset their own; the bookahit team can help too.