Frequently asked questions

Answers to common questions about setting up and using Sailia.

Getting started

How do I get started with Sailia?

Follow the quick setup checklist to configure your account step by step. The only hard requirement before accepting payments is connecting Stripe.

Do I need to build a website to use Sailia?

No. Sailia automatically generates a booking page from your published activities and products. Customers can browse, book, and pay through this page without you needing to build or host a separate website.

Can I use Sailia with multiple locations?

Yes. Locations let you organize activities, POS terminals, card readers, and timesheets by site. You can filter the schedule by location and assign staff to specific venues.

What types of activities can I create?

Sailia supports three activity types: courses (scheduled sessions like surf lessons), hires (equipment rentals like kayak hire), and events (one-off or recurring events). All three share the same booking and payment flow. See Activities for details.

Bookings and scheduling

How do customers book activities?

Customers visit your booking page, select a session, choose tickets and participants, and complete payment through Stripe. The booking wizard guides them through each step.

Can customers book for multiple people?

Yes. Group bookings let a single customer book on behalf of multiple participants. The organizer handles payment and can add individual participant details before or after checkout.

What happens when a session is fully booked?

If you have waitlists enabled, customers can register their interest. When a spot opens up (due to a cancellation or capacity increase), the next customer on the waitlist is notified automatically with a link to complete their booking.

Can I process bookings in person?

Yes. The point of sale lets you create walk-in bookings, sell shop products, and process payments with a card reader or cash. POS bookings share real-time capacity with online bookings.

How do I cancel a booking and issue a refund?

Open the booking from your bookings dashboard, select Cancel, and choose a refund method — original payment method, store credit, or cash. See Cancellations and refunds for the full process.

Payments

What payment methods does Sailia support?

Sailia supports card payments (online and POS), Stripe Link for faster checkout, cash payments (POS only), invoice payments, and gift card redemption. All card payments are processed through Stripe.

Can customers pay in instalments?

Yes. You can configure instalment plans on activities so customers can split payments over time. The first instalment confirms the booking, and subsequent payments are collected automatically through Stripe.

How do refunds work?

You can refund to the original payment method (card refund via Stripe), issue store credit as a gift card, or process a cash refund. Card refunds take 5-10 business days. Store credit is available immediately. See Cancellations and refunds.

How do I view my payouts?

Stripe sends payouts to your bank account on a regular schedule. View payout details in the financial dashboard, including gross amounts, fees, and net payouts. If you use Xero, payouts are synced automatically.

Customers

How are customer accounts created?

Sailia automatically creates customer records when someone books an activity or makes a purchase. Customers can also create an account on your booking page to manage their bookings, memberships, and waivers. See Customer management.

Can families share an account?

Yes. Family accounts let customers group family members under a single account. Each member has their own booking history, waiver status, and can hold individual memberships and activity passes.

How do waivers work?

You create waiver templates with text blocks, checkboxes, signature fields, and file uploads. Link them to activities, and customers are prompted to complete them during checkout. You can track completion from the bookings dashboard.

Pricing and promotions

What's the difference between a membership and an activity pass?

Memberships are recurring subscriptions billed through Stripe with ongoing benefits like auto-applied discounts. Activity passes are one-time purchases that give customers a set number of sessions to redeem.

Can I offer discounts?

Yes. Discount codes support fixed amounts, percentages, and tiered pricing. You can set usage limits, date restrictions, early-bird and surge pricing, product restrictions, and more. Discounts can be entered manually or auto-applied.

How do gift cards work?

Customers purchase a gift card for a specified value and receive a unique code by email. The recipient enters the code at checkout to apply the balance. Gift cards are also created automatically when you issue a refund as store credit.

Staff and operations

How do I manage staff permissions?

Assign staff to permission groups that control access to the schedule, financial dashboard, POS, communications, and staff management. Start with minimal permissions and add access as needed.

How do timesheets work?

When auto daily timesheets are enabled, Sailia generates timesheet entries automatically from scheduled bookings — including setup and pack-down time. Pay rates are resolved per booking, with rate amendments overriding the default.

Can staff request time off?

Yes. Staff can submit availability requests through Sailia. Admins approve or reject them, and workflow triggers can automate notifications for both submission and response events. See Staff availability.

Integrations

Can I connect Sailia to my accounting software?

Yes. The Xero accounting sync automatically creates invoices in Xero for each payout, categorized by VAT rate and account code. Each invoice includes a detailed CSV breakdown.

Can I track bookings in Google Analytics?

Yes. Sailia fires tracking events during the booking flow. Connect Google Tag Manager or PostHog to capture booking_start and booking_completed events for conversion funnels.

What are automated workflows?

Workflows let you send automated emails and SMS messages triggered by events like booking confirmations, course reminders, waiver requests, and membership updates. Over 30 triggers are available across all areas of the platform.

Something not working?

Troubleshooting

Step-by-step solutions for common issues with bookings, payments, card readers, accounts, memberships, integrations, and discount codes.