scheduling

Class Utilization

Also called: capacity utilization, studio fill rate, class fill rate

Class utilization is the percentage of total weekly class capacity that gets filled — a healthy boutique studio runs 60–75%, with peak classes near 90% and off-peak as low as 35%.

The math: if your schedule has 40 classes × 15 capacity = 600 weekly seats, and 410 get booked, your utilization is 68%. It's the single number that tells you whether your schedule shape matches actual demand.

60–75% is the healthy range for a profitable studio. Below 55% means you're paying instructors for empty rooms — payroll exceeds class revenue on too many slots. Above 80% sounds great but means you're turning members away at peak times; you've under-built capacity for the demand you have.

Look at utilization by class time, not just the weekly average. A studio running 68% overall might have Tuesday 6:30pm at 95% (constantly waitlisted) and Friday 1pm at 28% (consistently empty). The right move is to add a second 6:30pm class on Tuesday and either kill or move Friday 1pm.

Utilization is also the input for instructor pay model selection. At 60% utilization, flat-fee pay rates keep the math predictable. At 85%+, per-head bonuses align the instructor's interest with the studio's — both win when the class is packed.

Example

A reformer pilates studio runs 25 weekly classes with 8 reformers each — 200 weekly seats. Bookings total 138 — 69% utilization. Peak times (Tue/Thu 6pm, Sat 9am) run at 95%+; mid-day weekday classes sit at 40%. The studio adds one Tuesday 7pm class and drops the Thursday 11am — utilization climbs to 74% without adding net capacity.

Related

More terms in scheduling

Waitlist
A waitlist is an ordered list of members who want a spot in a fully-booked class — they're auto-promoted into the class when someone cancels.
Peak vs Off-Peak
Peak times are the high-demand class slots — typically weekday 6–9am and 5–7pm plus Saturday morning — where classes consistently fill; off-peak is everything else, where utilization drops to 30–50%.
Assigned Seating
Assigned seating lets members reserve a specific spot, bike, reformer, or mat when they book — instead of grabbing whatever is open on arrival. Studios run it in one of three modes: off, clients pick, or auto-assign at booking time.