Short answer: A booking marketplace such as Mindbody's charges a fee on the bookings it sends you, on top of your subscription and card processing. That fee is set out in your contract. For the full picture, also look at three things: whether regulars start booking through the marketplace, so a fee may apply to customers you already had; where the customer relationship and data sit; and how marketplace offers relate to your own prices. A marketplace pays off when it brings genuinely new customers who go on to book directly with you. Measure two numbers every month: the share of your bookings that come through the marketplace, and how many marketplace newcomers become regulars.
The pitch for a booking marketplace is easy to like: list your classes in an app that lots of people already use to find somewhere to train, and new customers turn up without you lifting a finger.
For a studio in a busy city, that discovery can be worth real money. Mindbody's consumer marketplace is the best-known example, and for many drop-in-heavy studios it is a main reason to choose Mindbody. The fee on marketplace bookings is set out in your contract. To judge the channel well, it also helps to look at what surrounds the fee: who ends up booking through the marketplace, how they go on to book with you, and how marketplace promotions sit next to your own prices. None of that appears as a line on an invoice, so it is worth measuring.
Below you get a formula, a worked example with clearly invented numbers, and a table to fill in with your own. We do not quote anyone's marketplace rates: they depend on your contract, plan and region, and they change. The number that matters is the one in your agreement.
How does a booking marketplace charge you?
A studio on a platform with a consumer marketplace usually pays in several layers, and they all land on the same bookings:
| Cost layer | What it covers | What to check in your contract |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | The software itself, often priced by plan and per location. | Your plan, whether the price is per location, and the contract term. |
| Card processing | Every card payment, whichever channel it comes through. | The rate, and whether it differs by card type or country. |
| Marketplace fee | Bookings made through the marketplace app or website. | How it is calculated (percentage, fixed amount or both), whether it differs for first-time and returning customers, and whether it applies only to someone's first booking or to every booking they make there. |
| Marketplace offers | Intro deals or discounted prices shown to marketplace users. | Who funds the discount, whether you can opt out, and whether there are rules on your prices in other channels. |
Card processing is not a marketplace cost: you pay it on direct bookings too, so leave it out of the sums below. For how the rest of a Mindbody bill is put together, see our Mindbody pricing breakdown.
A formula for the full cost of the channel
The fee rate tells you what one booking costs. To see what the marketplace costs your business, you also need to know how many marketplace bookings come from people who were already your customers, what marketplace offers take off your normal prices, and how many new customers actually stay.
Marketplace fee = marketplace revenue × your fee rate (+ any fixed amount per booking)
Fee on existing customers = marketplace revenue from people who were already your customers × your fee rate
Discount cost = bookings on a marketplace-only offer × (your normal price − offer price)
Total marketplace cost = marketplace fee + discount cost
Cost per new regular = total marketplace cost ÷ marketplace newcomers who became regulars
A "regular" here means someone who comes back and books directly with you, for example a class pack or membership bought on your own booking page within 90 days. Pick a definition and stick to it. And count a discount only if the offer exists only on the marketplace: an intro deal you also run on your own site is a cost of the offer, not of the channel.
Worked example (invented numbers)
A studio has 600 bookings a month, 100 of them through the marketplace:
- 60 marketplace bookings are from people who were already customers, at an average of €20.
- 40 are from new customers: 20 at the normal €20 and 20 on a marketplace-only intro offer at €12.
- Three of the new customers become regulars who book directly within 90 days.
If your fee is 10%, the sums look like this. The 10% is a round, hypothetical figure chosen to show the mechanics; it is not Mindbody's rate or anyone else's. Put the rate from your own contract in the right-hand column.
| Line | Example | Your figures |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace bookings per month | 100 | ______ |
| … of which from existing customers | 60 | ______ |
| Marketplace revenue | €1,840 | ______ |
| Your fee rate (from your contract) | 10% (hypothetical) | ______ |
| Marketplace fee per month | €184 | ______ |
| … of which paid on existing customers | €120 | ______ |
| Discount cost (20 × €8) | €160 | ______ |
| Total marketplace cost per month | €344 | ______ |
| New regulars from the marketplace | 3 | ______ |
| Cost per new regular | about €115 | ______ |
Two things stand out. First, more than a third of the total (€120 of €344) is a fee on people who were already your customers. That part does not bring in new customers. Move those regulars to your own booking channel and the cost per new regular drops from about €115 to about €75 ((€64 + €160) ÷ 3).
Second, whether €115 is expensive depends on what a regular is worth to you. If a new regular buys a €90 membership and stays eight months, that is €720 in revenue, and €115 to win them is a decent deal. If marketplace newcomers mostly book one discounted class and do not return, the cost per new regular rises and the channel is harder to justify. Over a year the example studio spends €4,128 on it: compare that figure with what other channels cost per retained customer.
When is a marketplace worth paying for?
A marketplace is a paid acquisition channel. It is worth it when it brings you customers you would not otherwise have found, at a price you are happy to pay. That is most likely when:
- You are new and have no other channel yet. With no reviews, mailing list or word of mouth, a marketplace can fill classes while you build the rest.
- Your market is competitive and drop-in heavy. Where people habitually open an app to find a class tonight, not being listed means being invisible to them.
- You have empty places in classes that run anyway. A booking in a spot that would otherwise stay empty earns you something, even after a fee.
- You turn newcomers into direct customers. You welcome them in person and offer a pack or membership on your own booking page.
- Your cost per new regular beats your alternatives. If it is lower than what ads or an intro campaign cost you per retained customer, the marketplace is earning its keep.
What to look at besides the fee
Your regulars start booking through the marketplace
This is the first thing to check, and the easiest to act on. A member finds your class in the app, or simply prefers it, and from then on books there. Whether that costs you anything depends on how your contract defines a marketplace booking: is there a fee when an existing customer books through the app, or only when a new customer pays there? If every marketplace booking carries a fee, it applies to each booking that customer makes there.
Regulars are the core of a studio's bookings. In our European studio booking report (17 boutique studios, 8,100+ bookings over 12 months), 55.6% of all bookings were paid with credit from a membership or class pack. Those are the customers it pays most to keep on your own booking channel.
Where the customer relationship sits
When someone finds you through a marketplace, the app is where they search, book and get their reminders, and the app shows them several studios. That is what a marketplace is for, and it is also why it pays to invite regulars to book with you directly. Check what customer data you receive from marketplace bookings and what you may use it for. To send someone your newsletter you will typically need their own consent, which you have to collect yourself.
It becomes concrete if you ever change system. Your own member list comes with you; customers who only know you as a listing in the app may not follow.
How marketplace offers relate to your own prices
Intro deals for marketplace users can fill a class, and they also shape what people expect your class to cost. A newcomer who paid €12 in the app may hesitate at €20 on your own site, and a regular who spots the offer may wonder why they pay full price. If you take part, decide which classes the offers apply to, keep them for first-timers, and make sure your own intro offer is at least as good.
How to measure it in your own studio
You need an export of your bookings and about half an hour a month. Track these five numbers:
| Metric | How to calculate it | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Marketplace share | Marketplace bookings ÷ all bookings | Rising month after month while total bookings stay flat |
| 2. Existing customers on the marketplace | Marketplace bookings by people who had booked with you before ÷ all marketplace bookings | A large or growing share |
| 3. New customers via the marketplace | People whose very first booking with you came through the marketplace | Falling while metric 1 rises: more of the fee goes on customers you already had |
| 4. Conversion to regulars | Marketplace newcomers who book directly within 90 days ÷ all marketplace newcomers | Most never book a second time |
| 5. Cost per new regular | The formula above | Higher than other channels cost you per retained customer |
To split new from existing customers, match the email address on each marketplace booking against your customer list. A spreadsheet with one row per marketplace customer (first booking date, channel, and whether they later bought directly) is enough.
How do you move regulars to your own booking channel?
By making direct booking the obvious choice:
- Make it the easiest option. A link to your own booking page in every email, on Instagram and on Google, and a QR code at reception.
- Sell prepaid products directly. Class packs and memberships bought on your own page tie regulars to your channel. Check whether your marketplace contract has rules on price differences between channels.
- Welcome every newcomer in person. Learn their name and tell them about your intro offer or membership before they leave.
- Ask for consent at the first visit. A newsletter sign-up gives you a channel you own.
- Give direct bookers a reason. A member price, or earlier access to your most popular classes.
Other ways to find new customers
If you rely less on a marketplace, new customers have to come from somewhere else. The channels that most often bring regulars rather than one-off visits are a Google Business Profile with reviews, referrals from members, gift cards, local partnerships (physiotherapists, running clubs, workplaces) and an intro offer on your own site, which works like a marketplace deal except that the customer ends up in your own system. Each costs time or money too, so measure them the same way: cost per new regular. Our guide to seven ways to get more members for your studio goes through them with the numbers to track.
Why Class Booking has no marketplace
Class Booking deliberately has no consumer marketplace. We build the booking system, not a directory of studios. That means no marketplace or referral fees, no other studios promoted to your customers, and a member list that is yours. You pay a flat monthly price (€10, €30 or €50 depending on the plan) with no commission on top of Stripe's standard fees.
The trade-off is real: we do not bring you discovery, so your new customers come through your own channels. If your measurements show that a marketplace brings you regulars at a good price, that belongs in the comparison. Our Mindbody vs Class Booking comparison sets out which studios each one suits.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Mindbody marketplace charge?
It depends on your contract, plan and region, and it can change, so we do not quote a figure. Find the rate in your agreement or ask Mindbody, including how it is calculated: percentage or fixed amount, first-time customers only or every booking. Then put it into the formula above.
Is a booking marketplace worth it for a new studio?
Often, at least at first. A new studio without reviews, a mailing list or word of mouth can fill classes through a marketplace while it builds its own channels. It stays worth it as long as marketplace newcomers become regulars who book directly, at a cost per new regular below your other options.
How can I tell whether my regulars book through the marketplace?
Export a month of marketplace bookings and match each customer's email against your existing customer list. Anyone who had booked with you before is an existing customer. If they are a large or growing share, check whether your contract charges a fee on their bookings.
Can I use customer data from marketplace bookings for my own marketing?
That depends on the marketplace's terms and on data protection law. Check what data you receive and what you may use it for. For newsletters you will typically need the customer's own consent, so ask for it yourself when they visit.
Does Class Booking have a marketplace?
No. Class Booking is a booking system with your own booking page and studio website, not a directory of studios. There are no marketplace or referral fees, and your customers are not shown other studios. The flip side is that you bring in your own new customers.
Keep your customers in your own system
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