Every venue has rules for its passes. Most just never wrote them down. So the rules are whatever the person at the desk said last time, and every member who asks for an exception gets a slightly different answer. That is how a five-minute question turns into an argument, and how a venue loses money without anybody being unfair on purpose.

Writing the rules down takes an hour and saves you the same conversation hundreds of times. Here are the ones that matter most, with the choices small venues usually make.

1. When a pass starts

From the day it is bought, or from the first visit? "From the first visit" sounds friendly, but it lets passes sit unused for weeks and makes "valid until" impossible to know. Most venues choose the day it is bought, with one exception: a pass bought ahead, say on the 28th for next month, starts on the agreed date.

2. What counts as a visit

On a pack of 8 or 12, does going out and coming back the same day count twice? It shouldn't: one visit per day, however many times they come in. Members like it, and it ends arguments about a forgotten towel. Abonatus counts visits this way on its own.

3. Freezing a pass

The most common request, and the most argued about. Decide:

  • For what: illness, an injury, a holiday, a pregnancy, a work trip, or any reason at all.
  • For how long: a minimum (often 7 days) and a maximum per pass (often 14 to 30 days).
  • How often: once per pass is usual.
  • With what proof: a doctor's note for long freezes, or trust.

Whatever you choose, a frozen pass has to do two things together: no entry while it is frozen, and an end date moved later by exactly the frozen days. In Abonatus a manager freezes a pass in a couple of taps and both happen at once; the pass's history shows who froze it and when, and the scanner says "frozen until" if the member turns up anyway.

4. Missed visits

"I paid for a month and came twice." Is that the venue's problem? Most venues say no, clearly and in advance: a period pass is time, not visits. If you want to be generous, be generous with a freeze rather than with one-off extensions, so the rule stays the same for everyone.

5. Refunds

Write down when you refund, if ever: in the first few days if the pass wasn't used, for a medical reason, or never. Write down how much: the whole price, the unused part, or credit for a later pass. And record every refund as money going out rather than as a crossed-out sale, so the day's takings stay honest. Abonatus records a refund as a negative payment next to the sale, with who gave the money back.

6. Passing a pass on

Can a pass be given to somebody else? Many small venues allow it once, with the desk's agreement, and never informally: the old pass is cancelled and a new one is made out to the other person, so the record matches who actually comes. Without a rule, "my sister will use it this week" is impossible to refuse.

7. Late renewals

If a pass ended on Friday and the member renews on Monday, does the new one start on Monday or on Saturday? Either is fair, but pick one and say it. Starting it the day after the old one ended stops "I'll pay next week" from turning into free weeks, and makes the gap a gap: nobody gets in on an expired pass.

Put them where members can see them

Rules work when people know them before they need them: on the wall by the desk, on the price list, in the first message to a new member. Then the desk doesn't have to defend the rules, only point at them. And when the scanner shows "expired" or "frozen until Friday", the conversation is about the screen, not about whether the desk trusts the member.