How to Set Up Equipment Bookings At Your Fitness Facility?

Massage chairs, compression boots, tanning beds, saunas, ice plunges — most gyms and clubs already own the equipment members want. What they don’t have is a system that lets members find it, book it, and pay for it the way they already book a class.

In this post, we cover four Equipment Booking failures at gyms and how they’re being automated with SHC:

1. Members can’t discover, book, or pay for equipment on their own
2. Staff can’t block off or adjust equipment availability
3. Directors have no single view of equipment bookings and usage
4. Non-members can’t book or pay for equipment without the Front Desk

We also draw on real examples from our customers, like GI Joe’s Gym and Recovery Lab, who are already doing this. Let’s start.

1. Members Can’t Discover, Book, or Pay for Equipment on Their Own

A. Pain Points Experienced by Members

1. Members can’t book and pay for a space or equipment without Front Desk help
2. No direct way to choose a specific spot when booking
3. Members can’t select from preset durations, like 15 or 30 minutes
4. Family bookings require a separate login or a call to the Front Desk
5. No real-time view of equipment availability before booking

B. How SHC Handles This

Pain Point	SHC Workflow
Members can’t book and pay for a space or equipment without Front Desk help	Self-serve Equipment Booking on SHC: 1. Member opens Equipment Booking in the app. 2. Selects a time slot and pays directly. 3. Confirmation sent instantly — no Front Desk step required.
No direct way to choose a specific spot when booking	Layout-based spot selection: 1. Member opens Equipment Booking and selects a service — e.g., Hydro Massage Bed. 2. Views the layout showing all available spots for that equipment. 3. Selects a specific spot — e.g., Hydro Massage Bed H1 — directly from the app.
Members can’t select from preset durations, like 15 or 30 minutes	Preset duration selection: 1. Member picks from the durations the club has set for that resource, e.g., 15 or 30 minutes. 2. Booking confirms for that exact length — no staff involvement needed.
Family bookings require a separate login or a call to the Front Desk	Family booking on SHC: 1. Member selects a linked family profile during the booking flow. 2. Picks a time slot and pays for that person in the same transaction. No separate login required.
No real-time view of equipment availability before booking	Real-time availability on the SHC app: 1. Member opens Equipment Booking in the app. 2. Sees live open slots for the equipment they want to book. 3. Picks a time that works for them.

C. How Fitness Facilities Have Addressed This With SHC?

GI Joe’s Gym runs its Hydro Massage Bed, Red Light Therapy, and Tanning Bed bookings entirely through the app. A member opens Equipment Bookings, selects an open time slot, and confirms — the booking then shows up on their barcode page, where they can view or cancel it without ever going to the Front Desk. No staff step required to book, confirm, or cancel.

2. Staff Can’t Block Off or Adjust Equipment Availability

A. Pain Points Experienced by Staff

1. Staff can’t block off equipment or a space for a specific time window
2. Equipment availability has to be entered manually for every day of the week
3. No one view of all upcoming equipment bookings in real time
4. Equipment gets booked back-to-back with no buffer time to clean or reset
5. Attendance for equipment bookings is still tracked on paper

B. How SHC Handles This

Pain Point	SHC Workflow
Staff can’t block off equipment or a space for a specific time window	Block off equipment on SHC: 1. Staff opens the resource’s availability calendar. 2. Blocks off or adjusts a window directly. 3. Change reflects in the app instantly.
Equipment availability has to be entered manually for every day of the week	Custom recurring availability: 1. Staff sets a custom recurring schedule per resource, per weekday. 2. Different hours for weekdays, early closes, or weekends all saved in one policy — no need to re-enter it each week.
No one view of all upcoming equipment bookings in real time	Resources Calendar on SHC: 1. Staff opens Create > Calendar > Resources Calendar. 2. Filters by department and resource to see every booking for the day in one screen.
Equipment gets booked back-to-back with no buffer time to clean or reset	Equipment Preparation Time: 1. Director sets a reset window once at the policy level. 2. System automatically adds a buffer block on the calendar after every booking. 3. Next slot only opens once the buffer clears — no staff action required.
Attendance for equipment bookings is still tracked on paper	Attendance marking on SHC: 1. Staff opens the booking directly from the Resources Calendar. 2. Marks attendance in the same screen — no separate system or spreadsheet.

C. How Fitness Facilities Have Addressed This With SHC?

GI Joe’s Gym set up recurring availability for Hydro Massage Bed, Red Light Therapy, and Tanning Bed in a single onboarding session — Monday through Thursday, 5:30am–7:30pm, with a shorter Friday close and separate weekend hours, each saved once as a policy instead of entered day by day.

3. Directors Have No Single View of Equipment Bookings and Usage

A. Pain Points Experienced by Directors

1. No single place to see equipment bookings and usage across all resources
2. A member can book the same equipment many times with no limit
3. No way to control the payment option displayed based on membership status
4. No automatic way to give members a priority booking window over non-members

B. How SHC Handles This

Pain Point	SHC Workflow
No single place to see equipment bookings and usage across all resources	Staff Calendar on mobile: 1. Director opens the Staff Calendar on the SHC mobile app. 2. Selects a resource, then a specific piece of equipment, to see all bookings for any date — filtered by department, without opening individual calendars.
A member can book the same equipment many times with no limit	Booking frequency policy on SHC: 1. Director sets a booking limit — e.g., one booking per member, per service, per day. 2. Once a member books that service, the system blocks a second booking for the same day automatically.
No way to control the payment option displayed based on membership status	Membership-based payment display: 1. Director configures which payment option shows at checkout based on membership status. 2. Members see the club’s billing system; non-members see Stripe — set once at the policy level.
No automatic way to give members a priority booking window over non-members	Booking window configuration: 1. Director sets the non-member booking window to open later than the member window. 2. Members get first access to new availability before non-members can book the same slots.

4. Non-Members Can’t Book or Pay for Equipment Without Front Desk

A. Pain Points Experienced by Non-Members and Impact

1. Booking is limited to business hours only
2. No way to book a massage chair, sauna, or tanning bed session without staff help
3. Non-member payment goes through a separate process from member billing
4. Members get no priority window before non-members can book

B. How SHC Handles This

Pain Point	SHC Workflow
Booking is limited to business hours only	24/7 non-member booking on SHC: 1. Non-member opens the app or web portal anytime. 2. Selects a service and time slot, no Front Desk hours restriction.
No way to book a massage chair, sauna, or tanning bed session without staff help	Non-member self-booking on SHC: 1. Non-member browses the equipment and availability directly in the app. 2. Selects a time slot and pays. 3. Confirmation sent instantly — no staff involvement.
Non-member payment goes through a separate process from member billing	Non-member payments on SHC: 1. Non-member pays via Stripe or Card directly through the app or web portal — no billing company account required. 2. For non-members not physically present, staff sends a payment link from the Activities section. 3. Transaction completed and recorded automatically. 4. Member paying for the same service goes through the club’s billing company instead.
Members get no priority window before non-members can book	Booking window configuration: 1. Director sets the non-member booking window to open later than the member window. 2. Members get first access before slots open to non-members.

C. How Fitness Facilities Have Addressed This With SHC?

In June 2026, Recovery Lab’s 61.5% of non-member bookings happened outside normal business hours, when no staff member would have even been there to take them.

Interestingly, Recovery Lab has no traditional membership concept — every client pays per service. Everyone is effectively a non-member. SHC handles the full transaction flow for every single booking, every single time.

Conclusion

Recovery and equipment access is one of the easiest non-dues revenue lines to sell to members and non-members. But most facilities still run it on walk-ups and Front Desk memory: no visibility into what’s free, no way to pay without asking, no path for non-members to buy in at all. GI Joe’s Gym and Recovery Lab Wellness Centre both use SHC to move that off the Front Desk and into the app, for members and non-members alike.