Online waivers: members sign before their first booking

Without online signing, members tick your waiver once before their first booking. With it, they sign it: they type their full name and date of birth, and every signature is kept as a record of exactly what they read. Signing online starts on the Starter plan.

1. Switch it on

1. Open Settings, Features and turn on Online waiver. Studios that existed before this feature came out have it off until the owner turns it on; surf and kitesurf schools, massage, spa and retreat businesses start with it on.
2. Open Settings, Privacy and legal, tab Documents for your members.
3. Under Online waiver, turn on Members sign the waiver online.
4. If you want a fresh signature every year, also turn on Ask again every 12 months.

The owner and admins can change these switches. Below Starter the switch is locked. A studio that turned it on keeps it after moving to a lower plan, and can still turn it off.

Note: Until you publish a waiver, nobody is asked to sign. The card says so while that is the case.

2. Write the waiver

1. On the same tab, select Edit (or New version) next to Liability waiver.
2. Under Starting template, pick the text closest to what you run: Yoga and Pilates, Surf and kitesurf, Massage and spa or Retreats. It starts on your business type.
3. Select Start from elastudio’s template. The text fills every language your studio uses.
4. Fill in or delete every item in square brackets. Publish stays off until nothing is left.
5. Use Preview, then Publish.

A template is a starting point only. Have your lawyer review it before you publish: elastudio does not say it will hold up where you operate. Each template has a line asking you to delete it after that review, so it cannot go out unread. No template asks members about their health.

3. How members sign

Before their first booking, on your booking pages or the booking embed on your website, members see Sign the waiver:

1. They read the text in their language.
2. They type the Full name of the person taking part (typing it is their signature) and their Date of birth.
3. They tick I have read and agree to this waiver and select Sign.

If the date of birth shows someone under 18, a parent or legal guardian signs too: their full name, the Relationship, and their name typed again as the signature. The guardian must be someone other than the person taking part.

Each signature keeps the version, the language shown, the time, the IP address and the device. The signer gets an e-mail with the signed copy attached. The same signing step also comes up when a member buys a class or requests a private session before signing.

Sign at the desk

When someone arrives without signing, open their profile in Members and select Sign at the desk. The form opens on your screen in the waiver’s language. Hand the tablet or phone to the person (or their parent or guardian) to read and sign. You are recorded as the person who handed it over. The owner, admins and front desk can do this.

Booking someone who has not signed

When staff add a member who has not signed to a class from the roster, elastudio shows No signed waiver. Choose Sign at the desk, or write a Reason to book without a signature and select Book anyway. The reason is kept in the activity log.

Where you see signatures

• The member’s profile shows Signed on a date, Not signed yet or Needs a new signature, and a Waiver signatures list with each version, date, how it was signed, the guardian and Valid until.
• Download the signed copy gives the exact text they saw with the signature record. The owner, admins and front desk can download it.
• The class roster and check-in show Waiver not signed next to anyone missing a signature. Teachers see it too.

When members sign again

• When you publish a new version, tick Members accept this version again at their next booking if the change matters. Members then sign the new version before their next booking.
• With Ask again every 12 months on, a signature lasts 12 months.

How long signatures are kept

Signatures are the record of what each person signed, so they stay even if the member asks to delete their account: until 5 years after their last booking, and for someone who signed as a minor, until 5 years after they turn 18 when that is later. Then they are deleted automatically. They are also part of the member’s data download.