Stop losing lessons to no-shows.
Holdfast charges a pupil's lesson in full the moment they book, and keeps your standard no-show fee automatically if they don't turn up. Solo instructor or a whole school of them, every pupil pays the instructor who taught them, automatically.
No credit card. Free forever for a single instructor, only 3% + 20p per transaction on money that actually moves through Stripe.
- Paid in full
Priya N.
1hr lesson · Tue 10:30
- No-show fee kept
Mark O.
2hr lesson · Tue 12:00
- Completed
Sasha W.
Mock test · Mon 08:00
- Cancelled (refunded to balance)
Femi A.
1hr lesson · Wed 09:00
48hrs
the standard cancellation window most UK instructors already write into their terms
£30+
lost per missed lesson slot you'd already blocked out and turned other pupils away for
0
diaries to migrate, Holdfast sits alongside however you already book lessons
Three steps. No new calendar to learn.
Drop your link in
Add your Holdfast link to your booking page, Instagram bio, or wherever pupils message you. No diary to migrate.
Set your cancellation window
The standard 48-hour rule, or your own, held on the pupil's card and only captured if they no-show or cancel late.
Get paid either way
They turn up: you were already paid in full at booking. They no-show: you keep it automatically, no chasing on WhatsApp.
Two things nobody else in this space does.
No-show protection done properly
Most instructors either skip deposits or take a flat one. Holdfast charges a pupil's lesson in full at booking, straight from their balance, topping it up with their card for only what's short. No-show or cancel late and your own tiered policy keeps the right amount automatically; cancel with enough notice and it's credited straight back to their balance for a future lesson.
Drive-time-aware scheduling
Back-to-back lessons pull live drive times from Google Maps between one pupil's drop-off and the next pupil's pickup, and pad the gap automatically, warning you before a booking would leave too tight a gap to actually make it there.
Built to run a whole school, not just one diary.
Add instructors as your school grows. Each one gets their own login, their own book of business, and their own Stripe payout, while you keep one view over everything. See the “Running a school” tab below for the details.
Everything else a booking system should already do.
Not a stripped-down MVP bolted onto a payments form. Pick a category to see what's inside.
Recurring weekly lessons
Instructors and pupils can both set up "every Tuesday at 4" once instead of booking it fresh every week. Any week that clashes with something else is skipped automatically, not double-booked.
Batch multi-slot booking
Pupils select and confirm several lesson slots in one go, instead of repeating the whole booking flow one lesson at a time.
Real availability when you reschedule
Moving a lesson checks the same live availability engine as booking one, working hours, breaks, and drive-time buffers included.
A waitlist that actually matches
Pupils set a preferred time window and a cutoff date. When a slot frees up, only the pupils it actually suits get emailed.
Your week, laid out with travel time already factored in.
Day or week view, colour-coded by status, with a drive-time buffer shown between back-to-back lessons. Filter to one instructor or see the whole school at once.
"I already ask pupils to transfer a deposit"
Plenty of instructors do: a bank transfer before the first lesson, chased over WhatsApp. It works until it doesn't. The difference is what happens automatically between booking and the lesson, without you doing anything.
Bank transfer & WhatsApp
- Chase sort code and account details manually, every new pupil.
- A one-off transfer with no link back to your 48-hour policy.
- You have to remember to actually invoice the no-show fee after.
- No single view of who's paid, who hasn't, and who's been charged.
- Disputes come down to your word against theirs, with no record.
With Holdfast
- Payment is taken in full at booking automatically, no manual chasing.
- It's drawn from their balance first, topping up their card for only what's short.
- No-shows and late cancellations keep the right amount automatically, on your 48-hour rule.
- Turn up as planned? Nothing more happens, you were already paid.
- One dashboard with a timestamped record of every payment and fee, plus a permanent history if either of you ever disputes one.
Free to start. Pays for itself if you outgrow it.
No monthly fee unless you want one. Either way, nothing to pay until money actually moves through Holdfast.
Free
+ 3% + 20p per transaction on money that moves through Stripe
- No-show & late-cancel protection
- Drive-time-aware scheduling
- Packages, waitlist & promo codes
- Earnings, analytics & DVSA tracking
- Single instructor
Pro
1.5% + 20p per transaction, half Free's rate
- Everything in Free
- Built for one instructor
School
+ £3/month per instructor, 1.5% + 20p fee, 7-day free trial
- Everything in Free, per instructor
- Each instructor paid directly to their own Stripe account
- One school-wide overview, add or remove instructors any time
Once you're moving roughly £1,000/month through Stripe, Free's 3% costs more than Pro's £15 plus its lower 1.5% rate, so switching starts paying for itself from there. Running a school? Two instructors cost £18/month, five cost £27/month, no card needed until your trial ends.