Memberships let you sell plans that your customers pay for monthly, yearly or once. A tier decides what a member gets: a discount, credits, guest pricing, priority booking, limits. RentalTide bills members on its own schedule, retries failed payments, emails receipts, and applies the benefits whenever a member books.
Your members also get Tide Pass, a free app with their member card, their bookings and their plan. See Tide Pass.
Running a gym-style pass (one visit a day, one person, for a season)? Read Seasonal & gym-style memberships after this page. It covers usage caps, guest passes, seasonal tiers and notice periods in depth.
The Memberships page
The header shows Total members, Active tiers and Public tiers (tiers bookable online), with Scan card to scan a member card and Add Tier on the Tiers tab.
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Tiers | Your membership tiers. Each card shows whether it is Public; its menu has Edit Tier and Delete Tier. |
| Members | Every member, with search, filters, row actions and bulk actions. |
| Billing | What was collected, what failed, what is coming up, and who has no card. |
| Passes | One-time punch passes and season passes. These are not memberships. |
| Member app | Tide Pass: how many members use it, and announcements. See Tide Pass. |
Creating a tier
Click Add Tier. The tier editor has five tabs.
Basic Info
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tier Name, Description, Tagline | Shown to customers on the signup page and in Tide Pass. |
| Display Order | Where the tier sits in lists. |
| Active | "Make this tier available for purchase". |
| Show to Public | "Display on public booking page". Only public tiers can be bought online. |
| Scope | All Locations, or Specific Locations and the locations the benefits apply at. |
| Prerequisite Membership | Optional: a tier the customer must already hold to buy this one. |
Pricing
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Monthly Price, Yearly Price | The recurring price for each cycle you offer. At least one price is required. |
| One-Time / Lifetime Option | A single One-Time Price with no recurring billing. |
| Signup (initiation) fee | Optional, per cycle, charged with the first payment. |
Benefits
Discount rules. Add one or more rules with Add Rule. Each rule has a name, a type (Percentage or Fixed Amount), a value, what it Applies To (rental and add-ons, rental fees only, or add-ons only), an optional Max Discount, and optional inventory restrictions (Only these inventory items or All except these items). Rules don't stack: a booking gets the single largest discount that applies.
To limit how often a rule can be used ("one free session a day"), set Limit how often the member can use this: Max uses, a Period (per day, week, month, billing cycle or year), and whether it Counts per booking or per rental day. Over the limit, the booking still goes through at the normal price. See Seasonal & gym-style memberships.
Credits / Allowances. A balance members spend on bookings: Dollar Credits, Free Hours or Free Bookings, an amount, a renewal period (Monthly or Yearly), an expiry policy (Expire at period end, Roll over indefinitely or Roll over with cap), and a usage model (Deduct from total price, or Free hours that don't count against the rental). Credits can be limited to certain inventory. A booking uses credits or the discount, not both.
Priority Booking. Advance Booking Days lets members book further ahead than the public.
Booking Limits. Weekdays Only, Blackout Holidays, Max Active Bookings, Max Rentals At Once, Max Bookings Per Month and Max Hours Per Day. A booking over a limit is refused.
Guest Discount. Pricing for people the member brings: a Fixed Hourly Rate or Percentage Off Regular Price, Max Guests Per Booking, an optional usage limit, a rate for other guests, rate overrides by inventory or asset type, and rules for dependants by age.
Additional Perks. Free text shown with the tier.
Appearance
A Tier Image and a Features List shown on the public signup page.
Policies
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Allow Monthly Billing, Allow Yearly Billing | Which cycles customers can choose. |
| Minimum Commitment (Months) | How long a member must stay before they can leave. |
| Allow Cancellation | Whether members can cancel themselves. |
| Notice period (days) | Notice required before a cancellation takes effect. |
| Seasonal membership | A tier that only runs for part of the year (see the seasonal page). |
| Pause Policy | Max Pauses Per Year, Max Pause Duration (Days) and a Monthly Pause Fee. |
| Family / Group Options | Lets staff add family members, with their own Family benefits and Max Additional Members. See Family members. |
Members-only items
To make an item bookable only by members, open the item in Inventory and tick Members only ("Only customers with an active membership can book this online"). Eligible tiers limits it to certain tiers; leave it empty to allow any active member. Online, the customer must sign in as a member to book it. Staff bookings are not restricted.
Family members
A membership can cover the member's family. Each family member signs in as themselves and books with benefits you set for family, separately from the member's own.
1. Set the family benefits on the tier. In the tier editor, Policies > Family / Group Options, switch it on, then add Family benefits with Add family benefit. They use the same rule card as Discount Rules: a name, a percentage or fixed amount, what it applies to, and an optional limit. For example:
- 10% off for family, with no limit.
- 1 free session a month for family: 100% off, limited to 1 per month.
Set Max Additional Members to cap how many family members a membership can have (empty means no cap).
To charge for family, set Additional Member Price (Monthly) and (Yearly). Each family member then adds that amount to the membership's price, from the first renewal after they are added (there is no part-period charge when you add someone mid-way). Leave it at 0 for free family members. The member's page shows the next charge with the family amount included.
2. Add the family members. On the member's page, the Family section has Add family member: pick an existing customer, or enter someone new by email. Remove takes them off; their bookings and customer record stay.
3. They book as themselves. A family member signs in on your booking page or member portal with their own email or phone, and gets the family benefits and access to members-only items. When staff start a booking for them (from their customer profile), their family membership is picked up automatically, and if staff pick the membership by hand in that booking it still gets the family benefits, not the member's.
How family benefits work:
- Limits count across the whole family, separately from the member's own allowance. "1 free session a month" is one a month for the family, and it does not use up the member's own sessions.
- Family members never use the member's credits or guest pricing.
- Only the member can change the membership. A family member cannot pause, cancel, change plan, change the card, or see invoices.
- With no family benefits set, family members can book members-only items at the normal price.
- Family members can use Tide Pass. They sign in with their own email or phone and get the member card, their bookings and the family benefits. Plan, payment card, receipts, pause and cancel are hidden for them.
Selling a membership
Every way of selling opens the same sale form:
- Customer: search for one, or enter a new customer's email, name and phone.
- Tier and Billing cycle (Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime (one-time)).
- Optional: a price override, a signup fee, credit toward membership, trial days, start billing on a later date, a home location, start paused, a note, and the welcome email.
How the member pays:
| Payment | What happens |
|---|---|
| On file | Charges a card the customer already has saved, and activates the membership. |
| Enter card | Staff enter a card; it is charged and saved for renewals. |
| Terminal | The customer taps or inserts their card on your reader. It "pays today and is saved for renewals". |
| Email link | The membership is created unpaid, and the customer gets a "Finish setting up" email to add a card (see Unpaid sign-ups). |
| Bill later | No link, no reminders and no invoices until a card is added. |
You can sell from:
- Memberships > Members > Add Member.
- A customer's profile: the Membership card's + Add, or Assign Membership.
- An order: the order menu's Assign Membership applies an existing membership to the booking, or creates a new one with what was paid on the order as credit.
- POS: Sell Membership in the cart. The membership is active once the sale is paid.
- The booking page, where customers can join while booking (a link with
?membership=<tierId>opens the signup).
The public signup page
Customers can join online at /membership/join/<locationId> (add ?tier=<tierId> to preselect a tier). They enter their email, name and phone, choose a billing cycle and enter a card. The page shows any signup fee, what is due today and the recurring price. Only tiers with Show to Public on can be bought there.
Billing
RentalTide runs membership billing itself:
- Invoices are created each hour for memberships that are due.
- Charges run every 15 minutes, on the member's saved card. RentalTide looks for the card wherever it was saved: online, in the member portal, in Tide Pass, or tapped on your card reader.
- A failed charge is retried after 1 day and again after 3 days. After the third failure the invoice is marked uncollectible and the membership becomes Past due.
- No card on file: the invoice stays open and is checked again daily, and the member gets a card request email (at most once a week).
Fees. Membership charges, the first payment and every renewal, carry a 1.25% platform fee plus card processing. That is much lower than the booking rate, because dues bill again and again. A charge taken on your card reader uses the in-person card rate.
Emails to members. Payment receipt, welcome, "Finish setting up", sign-up expired, add a payment method, payment failed, and, if you set up a sequence for them, renews soon and membership ending. Members on Tide Pass get the same news as a notification.
Unpaid sign-ups
A membership sold with Email link, or an online signup that was not finished, is unpaid until a card is added:
- It works for a 7-day grace period, then pauses itself.
- The "Finish setting up" email is sent again every 7 days, up to 3 times.
- After 90 days unpaid it expires.
- The email has a Not interested anymore? Cancel this sign-up link. It cancels only an unpaid sign-up, which then shows as Canceled.
The member page
Click a member on the Members tab to open their page.
Header. The member's status, Book (opens a new booking with the member selected and their membership applied), and a menu with Pause or Resume, Change tier, Send card request and Cancel at Period End.
Billing. Recurring or one-time, the price, the Next charge (after any account credit), and the credit balance. With no card on file: "No payment method on file" with Send request. Charge now appears when an invoice is open or failed. Add card or Update card.
Invoices. Each charge as Paid or Past due, with the number of attempts and the failure reason. Actions: Retry now, Resend receipt and Refund.
Refund asks first. It shows the amount, the member and the payment date, lets you refund part of the payment, and takes an optional reason. A payment refunded in full shows Refunded.
Upcoming bookings. The member's next bookings, each opening its order. A booking that has started shows "In progress" until it ends.
Member. Email, phone, member since, how they joined, and notes.
Family. The member's family members, with Add family member and Remove (see Family members).
Subscription. The tier (with Change tier), the cycle, the price and the renewal date. From here you can Change price, Change date, Switch to yearly (or monthly), or give a Free month, with Pro-rate price difference where it applies.
Payment method and Benefits: each capped benefit as "X of Y used" with when it resets and the bookings that used it, then the credit balance, lifetime earned and lifetime used.
Changing a member's tier
Change tier asks for the new tier, the billing cycle, the price and a reason. Nothing is charged now: the new price applies from the next renewal. Free days and limits follow the new tier straight away, counting bookings already taken. Don't cancel and sell a new membership to change tier, or the member's history stays on the old one.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Current. Benefits apply. |
| Canceling | Active, and ends at the end of the current period. |
| Trialing | In a free trial. |
| Past due | The last charge failed three times. Benefits stop until it is paid. |
| Paused | Paused by you, by the member, or because an unpaid sign-up's grace period ended. |
| Pending | Not started yet. |
| Canceled | Ended. |
| Needs card | Shown instead of the status when there is no card to charge. |
Only Active memberships get benefits when booking.
The Members tab
Columns: Member, Tier, Status, Billing, Price, Benefit, Since and Actions. An Override badge marks a member on their own price, and a phone icon marks a member signed in to Tide Pass ("Uses the Tide Pass app").
Row actions: View Details, Manage Billing, Send email (five templates), Pause Membership, Resume Membership, Cancel at Period End and Cancel Immediately.
Bulk actions (select members first): Comp memberships, Change billing date, Switch billing cycle, Add free month, Adjust credits, Pause, Resume and Cancel memberships.
Export downloads the member list as a CSV.
The Billing tab
Cards for Collected this month, Failed / past due, Upcoming (30 days), Needs payment method, MRR and Active subscriptions, with lists of Failed, Upcoming, Needs card and All payments (the last 180 days). Request cards emails every member without a card, with a subject and message you can edit.
How members get their benefits
Online. On your booking page, "Have a membership? Sign in for discounts" signs the member in with a 6-digit code sent to their email or phone. Their discount is applied automatically, and a Use credits switch spends credits. Signed-in members also check out faster: their details are filled in, there is no card form when nothing is due, and they can pay with their card on file. See Checkout. Members on Tide Pass are signed in already.
Staff bookings. Pick the member in Select a membership. Starting a booking from a customer's profile, or with Book on the member page, selects their active membership for you.
A benefit counts only for an Active membership that covers the booking's location, and only for the member who owns it. Usage of a capped benefit is recorded on the booking and given back if the booking is cancelled.
Troubleshooting
Discount not applying. The customer must be signed in as a member, the membership must be Active, the tier must cover the location, and the item must not be excluded by the discount rule. A benefit over its usage limit is skipped, and the booking is charged the normal price.
A member was charged nothing and shows Needs card. There is no card to charge. Use Send request on the member page, or Request cards on the Billing tab for everyone at once.
Past due. The card failed three times. Ask the member to update their card (member portal, Tide Pass, or Update card on their page), then use Charge now.
Credits not refreshing. Credits renew on the member's billing date, not on the first of the month.
A tier doesn't appear online. Turn on Active and Show to Public on the tier's Basic Info tab.
See also: Tide Pass, Seasonal & gym-style memberships, Member portal, Memberships API.