In this article you will learn how the two start dates of a membership work (membership start date vs. start of use), how to grant pre-use training before the contract starts, how bonus periods extend access for free, and where members can pick their own start date.
Contents
- Prerequisites
- The two start dates: membership start vs. start of use
- Pre-use: training before the contract starts
- Bonus periods: extra time, paid by the studio
- Member-selected start dates: where and how it works
- How pre-use and bonus periods interact
- Common pitfalls
Quick Guide
- Pre-use: open Settings / Membership management / Rates, select a rate and term, and set the Pre-use field to None, At no fee or For a fee.
- Bonus period at sign-up: on the same rate term, configure a bonus period that starts at the Membership start date and the period length (for example "First 2 weeks for free"). New members on this rate get it automatically.
- Bonus period for an individual member: open the member, go to Memberships and use the Add bonus period action.
- Member-selected start date in the studio: staff enter the start date directly when concluding the contract in the Sales Tool.
- Member-selected start date online: open Settings / Landing Pages by MySports / Studio pages, select the studio page and activate Allow members to select membership start date in the Memberships page section.
Prerequisites
If you can't find an area in the sidebar on the left, click the last entry there, More. Use Customize navigation to choose which areas appear directly in the sidebar.
- Permission: Configure rates for pre-use and rate-level bonus periods; Manage bonus periods for member-level bonus periods. Assigned in Resources / Employees / Roles.
- Rate already created: pre-use is set per term on a rate. Create the rate first under Settings / Membership management / Rates.
- Recurring payment frequency: bonus periods can only be added to memberships with a recurring payment method. For one-time-payment contracts (upfront, paid in full) the bonus-period feature is not available.
- Sales Tool active (only for in-studio member-selected start dates): the Sales Tool must be configured.
The two start dates: membership start vs. start of use
Every membership contract carries two dates that are often confused:
- Membership start date: the legal start of the contract. The term, billing cycle, cancellation rules and statistics all anchor to this date.
- Start of use: the day the member is actually allowed to enter and train. By default this is the same day as the membership start date.
If the two are the same, the contract simply starts and the member trains from day one. They diverge in two scenarios:
- Pre-use: the start of use is earlier than the membership start date. The member can already train, while the contract has not officially started yet (and billing has not begun). See the next section.
- Delayed access: the start of use is later than the membership start date. The member is billed and registered but cannot enter the gym yet. Useful for pre-paid future memberships ("sign up in May, start training in July").
Both dates are visible on the member's contract overview and on the printed contract document under the labels Membership start date and Start date of use.
Pre-use: training before the contract starts
Pre-use lets a member train before their official membership starts. It is configured per term on a rate.
The Pre-use field has three values:
- None: pre-use is not allowed. The start of use must be the same day as the membership start date or later. This is the default and the recommended choice for most setups.
- At no fee: the member may train before the contract starts, free of charge. Useful for "join today, contract starts on the 1st" patterns where you want the member to come in immediately without billing them for the partial month.
- For a fee: the member may train before the contract starts and is charged a pro-rated fee for the pre-use days. Useful when you want to monetise the pre-use period without changing the contract term.
Limits to keep in mind:
- The pre-use period cannot be longer than one full payment period of the rate. A monthly rate accepts at most one month of pre-use, a fortnightly rate at most two weeks.
- The membership start date cannot be set before the start of use. The system rejects this with "The contract cannot begin before the start of use." Always set the start of use first, then the membership start date.
- Pre-use only applies to the main contract. Additional modules respect the main contract's pre-use setting and start no earlier than the earliest pre-use date.
For a printed contract, the difference between the two dates is reflected automatically in the document placeholders.
Bonus periods: extra time, paid by the studio
A bonus period is a stretch of free time on a paid membership. The member keeps full access, the studio absorbs the cost. Bonus periods can be added in two places:
- On the rate (via the payment frequency): every member on this rate automatically gets the bonus period when they sign up. Configure under Settings / Membership management / Rates, open the rate, open the term, and configure the bonus period on the Payment frequency attached to the term. Bonus periods are not configured directly on the term itself. They are attached to the payment frequency, which is why they only work with recurring payment methods.
- On an individual member: a one-off bonus, for example to compensate a complaint or to reward a long-standing customer. Configure on the member profile under Memberships with the Add bonus period action.
When you configure the bonus period, you choose when it starts:
- Membership start date: the bonus period begins on the day the contract starts. Standard for "first X weeks free" sign-up campaigns.
- Fixed date: the bonus period starts on a specific calendar date you enter. Useful for studio-wide gestures ("two free weeks for everyone in August").
- End of the current membership period: the bonus period begins after the current billing period ends. This option extends the cancellation period by the bonus length, so the member effectively gets free time at the end of their commitment. Useful for retention offers ("stay another 3 months and get the 4th for free").
- Start of next term: the bonus period begins at the start of the next renewal term. Useful for tiered onboarding ("after your initial 12 months, your first month of renewal is on us").
During a bonus period the member sees the period in their account, check-ins still count toward their attendance stats, and the next billing run skips the period and resumes afterwards.
The Bonus period ends notification rule (see Notification events reference) sends an automatic email on the last day so the member is not surprised when paid billing resumes.
For the full step-by-step configuration of rate-level bonus periods, see Manage bonus periods.
Member-selected start dates: where and how it works
Members can choose their own start date in two places:
- In the studio (Sales Tool): staff conclude the contract with the member at the desk and can enter any future start date directly in the date field. The only constraint is that the start date is not in the past and respects the pre-use rules above.
- Online on studio pages: you can let new members select their start date themselves during online sign-up. You activate this separately for each studio page, so you decide on which studio pages the date selection is offered.
To activate the date selection on a studio page:
- Open Settings / Landing Pages by MySports / Studio pages and select the studio page.
- Edit the Memberships page section. The Edit configuration dialog opens.
- Activate Allow members to select membership start date and save.
During sign-up on this studio page, members then see an additional step in which they select the start date:
- The date field is prefilled with the earliest possible start date of the membership offer. For offers that start at membership signing, this is today.
- Members can select a later date, up to 365 days after the earliest possible start date. Earlier dates are not accepted.
- If Start of membership is set to Fixed date in the membership offer, the date selection is not shown and the fixed date applies. Members cannot change it.
Where the date selection is not active, the start date online follows the Start of membership option of the membership offer: Membership signing (start immediately), Start of next payment interval (align everyone to the same cycle) or Fixed date (campaign with one common start).
How pre-use and bonus periods interact
Pre-use and bonus periods are independent features but can be combined:
- A member can have pre-use (start of use earlier than membership start date) and a bonus period at sign-up. The pre-use days are not part of the bonus period. They belong to the lead-in phase before the contract starts.
- A bonus period and a trial period cannot be combined at the same point. The system rejects this with "A trial period and a bonus period at contract begin cannot be configured at the same time." Pick one or the other for the contract start.
- If you use End of the current membership period as the start of the bonus period, the bonus period extends the cancellation notice window. Members who cancel see their contract end later than they would without the bonus.
- Bonus periods without a contract extension must start on a fixed date. If the rate has the No membership extension extension type, the system rejects bonus periods that try to start at the end of the current term or start of next term.
Common pitfalls
- "The contract cannot begin before the start of use." You set the membership start date earlier than the start of use. Set the start of use first. The membership start date must be on or after that day.
- Pre-use period too long. Pre-use is capped at one payment period. A monthly rate cannot have two months of pre-use. The system rejects this with "The pre-use period must not be longer than a payment period."
- "Pre-use is not possible with this membership offer." The offer linked to this rate has pre-use disabled. Open the offer and check its settings, or pick a different offer that supports pre-use.
- Bonus period rejected on a one-time payment. Bonus periods only work with recurring payment methods. If the rate is paid in full upfront, the system rejects the bonus period. Use a discount voucher instead.
- Bonus period starts before the membership. A bonus period anchored to a fixed date that lands before the membership start date is rejected. Move the fixed date to on or after the contract start.
- Trial period and start-of-contract bonus period at the same time. The two are mutually exclusive at contract start. Configure one or the other.
- Members cannot pick a start date on the studio page. Check that Allow members to select membership start date is active for this studio page and that the membership offer does not use Fixed date as Start of membership.
- Bonus period end notification not delivered. The Bonus period ends notification rule must be active in the configuration that is active for the studio. See Set up notification rule configurations.
Note: This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence and editorially reviewed.