Why We Built Bookabee

If you run children's activity classes in the UK — whether that's STEM workshops, dance classes, sports clubs, or music lessons — you already know the admin struggle. You spend your evenings chasing payments, copying names into registers, and wrestling with booking software that was never really designed for what you do.

We know because we lived it. Bookabee was born out of that exact frustration.

The problem we kept running into

My wife runs Inventors & Makers, a STEM and engineering franchise that delivers hands-on workshops in primary schools and nurseries across the UK. For years, we relied on existing booking platforms to manage term bookings, waiting lists, safeguarding data — all the things a children's activity business needs to run day-to-day.

And for years, we kept hitting the same walls. Some platforms were affordable but limited. Others were feature-rich but eye-wateringly expensive, charging 3% or more on every single transaction on top of hefty monthly fees. The ones built for children's activities lacked things you'd expect to be standard. The general-purpose tools didn't understand term-based booking, auto re-enrolment, or why you need to collect allergy information and photo consent at the point of booking.

Nothing quite fit. So we decided to build something that did.

How Bookabee is different

We didn't set out to build "another booking platform." We set out to fix the specific things that frustrated us — and that we kept hearing other providers complain about too.

Built around how children's activities actually work. Most booking tools are designed for appointments or one-off events. Children's classes run in terms. Parents re-enrol each term. Waiting lists matter when your Tuesday afternoon class is full but Thursday still has spaces. Bookabee is built around this reality from the ground up — term and block bookings, auto re-enrolment that keeps families coming back without the admin, and waiting lists that notify parents automatically when a space opens up. We've even built in mid-term bookings, so parents can join a class part-way through with pro-rated or full pricing — your choice.

Safeguarding isn't an afterthought. If you work with children, collecting medical notes, emergency contacts, allergy details, SEND requirements, and photo consent isn't optional — it's essential. In Bookabee, safeguarding data collection is woven into the booking flow itself. Parents provide it when they book, it's stored securely, and it's available to your staff on the day via digital attendance registers that auto-populate from your bookings. No more copying names from spreadsheets — staff just mark who showed up.

Franchise-friendly from day one. This is something almost nobody in the market does well. Because Inventors & Makers operates as a franchise, we needed a platform that supports multiple operators under one brand — with oversight of franchisee performance and separate dashboards for each operator. We built that into Bookabee because we needed it ourselves, and we know other franchise businesses are crying out for it too.

Online payments that just work. Parents pay via Stripe when they book. No chasing invoices, no awkward "can you bank transfer me?" messages. They book, they pay, it's done.

Pricing that doesn't punish growth. We looked at every competitor's pricing model and kept coming back to the same conclusion: providers shouldn't have to choose between affordability and features. Bookabee starts free on our Starter tier — no monthly fee at all, just 2.5% per booking plus Stripe fees. As you grow, our Grow tier at £19/month drops that to 1.5%, and our Pro tier at £39/month brings it down to just 1.0%. Compare that to the market leader charging £35/month plus 3.1% per booking, and the maths speaks for itself. Simple, transparent pricing — you can see exactly what you'll pay before you sign up.

We're rolling out gradually — and that's deliberate

Bookabee is live, but we're not throwing the doors open to everyone just yet. We're rolling out gradually, starting with our first customer: Inventors & Makers.

There's a reason for that. We want Bookabee to be rock-solid before we scale. By running it in production with a real business — one that processes real bookings, real payments, and manages real safeguarding data every single week — we get to find and fix issues in a way that no amount of testing in isolation ever could. Every pain point, every edge case, every "wouldn't it be nice if…" moment feeds directly back into the product.

This is the advantage of building software to solve your own problem. We're not guessing what providers need. We're living it.

Want to be one of our early adopters?

We're now looking for a small number of children's activity providers who'd like to join Bookabee as early adopters. You'll get hands-on support, direct input into the features we build next, and pricing that reflects the fact that you're helping us shape the product.

If you run classes, clubs, camps, or workshops for children and you're frustrated with your current booking setup — or if you're just starting out and want something built specifically for what you do — we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch at hello@bookabee.co and let's talk about whether Bookabee is the right fit for your business.