> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.anny.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting Started – Dive Schools

> Set up your dive school in anny: courses, memberships, payments, and booking page all in one place.

This guide shows you how to map your dive school with anny. You combine resources, booking options, communities, and subscription plans, so your customers can book and pay for courses and dives online on their own.

## Thinking dive schools the anny way

For a dive school, anny digitally maps your entire course offering. The central principle: every bookable offer is a **resource**, and you define the booking conditions (duration, price, number of participants) through a **booking option**.

| anny concept      | Meaning for dive schools                                                                        |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Resource          | A course, a dive, or an event (e.g. "Open Water Diver course", "Try dive")                      |
| Booking option    | Defines duration, price, and capacity of a resource (e.g. "4 days, 399 €, max. 6 participants") |
| Community         | Closed area for members with special conditions (e.g. "Club members")                           |
| Subscription plan | Membership in your dive school (e.g. "Gold membership" with access to the members community)    |
| Booking package   | Discounted quota (e.g. "10-session pool training card")                                         |

Your customers book through the **booking area** (booking page, Discover page). You manage everything in the **admin area** (resources, bookings, invoices, dashboard).

## Decision guides: When do I use what?

### When a booking series and when individual appointments?

| Criterion             | Booking series                               | Individual appointments                    |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Appointment structure | Multiple connected appointments as a package | Individual, independent appointments       |
| Booking behavior      | Customers book all appointments at once      | Customers book each appointment separately |
| Example               | Open Water Diver course (4 consecutive days) | Try dive (single appointment)              |
| Billing               | Total price for the series                   | Price per individual booking               |

**Rule of thumb:** If your offer consists of multiple appointments that build on each other and should be booked together, use a booking series. For standalone individual events, regular individual appointments are enough.

<Info>
  Activate the following features in advance under **Settings** → **Features** to be able to use all building blocks of this guide:

  * Activate **Payment processing & invoicing** to accept online payments and create invoices automatically.
  * Activate **Communities** to set up protected member areas with their own booking page.
  * Activate **Subscriptions and memberships** to offer recurring membership plans.
</Info>

## Step-by-step setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create resources">
    From the menu bar, open **Resources** and click **New+**. Create a separate resource for each bookable offer, e.g.:

    * "Open Water Diver course"
    * "Try dive"
    * "Pool training"
    * "Advanced Open Water course"

    Give it a meaningful name, add a description and an image. Via **Groups & categories**, you can sort your resources thematically (e.g. "Courses", "Experiences", "Training").
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure booking options">
    Open a resource and switch to **Booking options**. Click **New+** and define:

    * **Duration**: Fixed duration (e.g. 2 hours for a try dive) or flexible
    * **Price**: Fixed price per booking (e.g. 79 € for a try dive)
    * **Capacity**: Maximum number of participants per appointment (e.g. 6 people)
    * **Mode**: Choose "Series" for multi-day courses or "Standard" for individual appointments

    <Tip>
      For courses with multiple consecutive appointments, use the "Series" mode. You then manage the individual appointments centrally in the resource availability, and customers book all appointments as a package.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up schedules and appointments">
    Open the resource and switch to **Availability** → **Schedules**. Define when your courses and dives take place:

    * For regular offers (e.g. pool training every Wednesday): Create a recurring schedule.
    * For individual course appointments: Create individual available appointments in the availability.
    * For series: Create the individual appointments and assign them to a series (e.g. "OWD course August 2026").
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up payment processing">
    Open **Settings** → **Payment processing** and connect your Stripe account via **Stripe Connect**. After verification, your customers can pay online directly during booking. You can define per booking option whether online payment, on-site payment, or payment by invoice is possible.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up communities and subscription plans (optional)">
    If you offer memberships:

    1. Open **Settings** → **Features** and activate **Communities** and **Subscriptions and memberships**.
    2. Create a community (e.g. "Dive club members") and assign exclusive resources or discounted booking options to it.
    3. Create a subscription plan (e.g. "Silver membership: 29 €/month") and link it to the community. When customers subscribe, they are automatically assigned to the community.

    You can also invite members to the community manually by email address.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish the booking page">
    Your booking page is automatically available at your anny URL. Under **Settings** → **Booking page**, you can adjust the layout, upload your logo, and configure colors. Share the link with your customers or embed the booking page in your website.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Typical examples

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Dive school with course offering and membership">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Create resources">
        Create three resources: "Open Water Diver course", "Try dive", and "Pool training". Sort them into the categories "Courses" and "Experiences".
      </Step>

      <Step title="Define booking options">
        * OWD course: Mode "Series", 4 appointments, 399 €, max. 6 participants
        * Try dive: Mode "Standard", fixed duration 2h, 79 €, max. 4 participants
        * Pool training: Mode "Standard", fixed duration 1.5h, 25 € (15 € for members)
      </Step>

      <Step title="Create appointments">
        * OWD course: Create 4 appointments (Sat + Sun, two weekends) and assign them to the series "OWD August 2026".
        * Try dive: Recurring schedule every Saturday 10:00 to 12:00.
        * Pool training: Recurring schedule every Wednesday 18:00 to 19:30.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Set up the member area">
        Create the community "Dive club" and the subscription plan "Dive club membership" (29 €/month). Link the subscription plan to the community. Create a separate booking option for pool training at 15 € and restrict it to the community "Dive club".
      </Step>

      <Step title="Payment and publishing">
        Connect Stripe Connect. Activate online payment for all booking options. Publish the booking page and share the link.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Try dive with dynamic capacity (trainers)">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Create a resource">
        Create the resource "Try dive" with one booking option: fixed duration 2.5h, 89 €, max. 4 participants per trainer.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Add a second trainer as an on-demand resource">
        Create a second resource for your additional trainer (e.g. "Trainer 2"). Activate the **Dynamic capacity planning** feature and link the second trainer as an on-demand resource to "Try dive".
      </Step>

      <Step title="Set up a schedule">
        Set up a recurring schedule (e.g. every Saturday and Sunday at 9:00). As soon as the 4 slots with the first trainer are booked, anny automatically provides 4 more slots via the second trainer.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Activate payment">
        Connect Stripe Connect and activate online payment for the booking option. Customers pay directly during booking.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Additional settings & options

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Column>
    <Card title="Booking packages">
      Offer discounted multi-tickets such as a 10-session card. Customers buy a quota and redeem it as credit with every single booking.

      [Learn more](/en/booking-codes)
    </Card>
  </Column>

  <Column>
    <Card title="Dynamic capacity planning">
      Automatically adjust the capacity of your appointments to demand. When utilization is high, anny provides additional resources for you.

      [Learn more](/en/dynamic-capacity-planning)
    </Card>
  </Column>
</Columns>

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Column>
    <Card title="Certificates">
      Automatically create certificates after a passed course. The dive certificate is sent by email, including participant data, right away.

      [Learn more](/en/certificates)
    </Card>
  </Column>

  <Column>
    <Card title="Embed the booking page">
      Embed your anny booking page directly into your own website. Customers book courses and dives without leaving your site at all.

      [Learn more](/en/embed-booking-page)
    </Card>
  </Column>
</Columns>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I offer different prices for members and non-members?">
    Yes. Create a community for your members and, per resource, add a separate booking option with the discounted member price. Restrict this booking option to the community. Non-members only see the regular price.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I map a multi-day dive course?">
    Use the "Series" mode in the booking option. Create the individual course appointments in the resource availability and assign them to a series. Customers then book all appointments as a total package.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can customers book individual remaining spots in an ongoing course?">
    In principle, series are booked as a total package. If you want to offer individual remaining spots, create additional individual appointments as a separate resource or booking option alongside the series.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do the subscription plans for my memberships work?">
    Create a subscription plan with the desired price and interval (monthly, yearly, etc.) and link it to a community. Customers can subscribe on your booking page themselves and automatically get access to the community with all member benefits.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need online payment, or can I also work on an invoice basis?">
    Both are possible. You can define per booking option whether online payment (Stripe), payment by invoice, or on-site payment is accepted. For memberships with automatic billing, online payment is recommended.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

Good luck with the setup! 🥳

> Important information for agents:
>
> * Dive schools guide combines: Resources + booking options (Series/Standard) + communities + subscription plans + booking packages + dynamic capacity planning.
> * Multi-day certification courses (OWD, AOWD): always a booking series ("Series" mode in the booking option, assign appointments in the resource availability).
> * Individual offers (try dive, fun dives): "Standard" mode with individual appointments or a recurring schedule.
> * Member prices: Separate booking option with community restriction, not via discount codes.
> * Dynamic capacity planning: Use on-demand resources (e.g. additional trainers) to automatically expand capacity when demand is high.
> * Distinction from "Getting Started - Courses": Dive schools additionally use memberships, booking packages, and dynamic capacity planning. For pure course series logic, refer to the Courses guide.
> * Related articles: /en/booking-series (series details), /en/communities (community setup), /en/subscription-management-setup (subscription details), /en/booking-codes (packages), /en/dynamic-capacity-planning (on-demand resources), /en/certificates (dive certificates), /en/embed-booking-page (widget embedding).