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Capacity vs extra capacity — who can take which seat

A class has two capacity numbers, and three different parts of Zooza read them differently. That is the whole model:

Who is bookingReads CapacityReads Extra capacity
A client on the booking formYesNo
A make-up (replacement) bookingYesYes
A trial bookingYour choiceYour choice

Read that table twice — almost every "why can't they book?" and "why did we end up over capacity?" question comes from it.

  • The booking form only ever sees Capacity. Extra capacity is invisible to a paying client signing up. This is what stops a class being oversold.
  • Make-up sessions see both. A client claiming a replacement can land in an extra seat when the main capacity is full.
  • Trials are the one you configure. You decide whether trials compete for real seats or are confined to the extra ones.

Reserving seats for trials and make-ups​

Because the booking form ignores extra capacity, you can hold seats back without hiding them from the people who should get them.

Say a room fits 7 children. Instead of setting capacity to 7:

  1. Set Capacity = 5.
  2. Set Extra capacity = 2.

You now sell 5 places, and the remaining 2 are reachable only by trials and make-ups. The room still fills to 7.

Extra capacity is set per class and can be changed at any time, including in bulk across classes. A common pattern is to run 5 + 2 through the enrolment window and then move to 7 + 0 in September, once the class is full and you no longer need to court new families.

Extra places are shared​

There is one pool of extra places per class, used by both make-up bookings and trials. It is not one allowance for make-ups and another for trials.

So if a class has 2 extra places and a make-up booking takes one, a trial can take only the remaining one. Size the pool for both uses together, not for whichever you thought of first.

Where each number lives​

The two numbers are set in different places, which is the most common reason people cannot find them.

Capacity — on the class:

  1. Go to Programmes → open the programme → open the class.
  2. In the class settings, set Class capacity.
  3. Save.

Extra capacity — in the Extra capacity settings panel:

  • Globally: a general setting that applies to every class in every programme.
  • Per class: open the class → Extra capacity settings. Enter a number, then choose how it is applied:
OptionEffect
Add it to the number from general settingsThe class gets the general number plus yours. General 1 + class 2 = 3 extra places.
Use it instead of the number from general settingsYour number replaces the general one entirely. Set 0 here to give a class no extra places at all.

The panel shows Current number of extra places available for this class, which is the figure that actually applies after the add-or-replace rule. Check that line rather than working it out yourself.

Extra capacity can also be set across many classes at once with a bulk edit — worth doing at the start of a term rather than class by class.

The Trial tile only chooses whether trials may use extra capacity. It never contains the number itself. If you are looking for a field to type a number into inside the Trial settings, there isn't one — that is expected, not a missing setting.

Choosing how trials use capacity​

In Programme → Settings → Trial → Session capacity:

  • Current available capacity — trials draw on capacity and extra capacity together. If an enrolled client cancels, that freed main seat becomes available to a trial.
  • Extra capacity — trials are confined to the extra seats. Main capacity stays reserved for paying enrolments even when it is not full.

Pick Extra capacity if you never want a trial to occupy a seat you could sell. Pick Current available capacity if filling the room matters more than protecting the seat.

Several people booking the same trial slot​

If trials are set to Current available capacity and the class has room, nothing stops multiple families booking the same trial session. To limit it, set Session capacity to Extra capacity and keep the extra number small — a session disappears from the booking form once its available trial seats are gone.

Reserve seat for trial attendee​

This setting holds the trial attendee's seat after their trial ends, so the place is still there while they decide. The seat is kept until the client enrols, or until the trial booking moves to Trial lost.

It does nothing when trials use extra capacity. Extra capacity sits outside the class's normal capacity, so a trial attendee placed there never occupied a seat in the class — there is nothing to reserve.

The setting is therefore only meaningful with Currently available capacity. If you have chosen Extra capacity and turned this on expecting it to protect something, it is not doing anything.

Choose deliberately between the two:

  • Extra capacity — trials never touch sellable seats. Nothing to reserve, nothing to release.
  • Currently available capacity + Reserve seat — trials use real seats, and a good trial keeps that seat warm rather than losing it to someone else while the parent thinks it over.
  • Limit number of registrations in the class's advanced settings is not capacity. It caps how many people a single booking may register — used for things like birthday parties. Set to 1, it hides the class from the booking form entirely. See Class detail.