Update January 2025 - Changelog

📢 Major Update: Fixes, Clarifications & New Features

We want to start this update by acknowledging some recent issues regarding the new checkout engine, especially for business partners using Terms. For everyone affected by these bugs, we sincerely apologize.

We always work with the intention of improving the platform, but sometimes in the process of change, things are missed, and we fail. When that happens, it is heartbreaking. To put this in context, changing a checkout engine is incredibly risky. The previous engine was built in 2018, and we kept building on top of it until we simply couldn't anymore.

Currently, Baluu is home to a diverse group of partners: roughly 30% run term-based businesses (daycares, kids' classes, football academies), 30% run yoga/wellness businesses, and 30% run events and experiences (workshops, tours). We realize this issue disproportionately affected the term-based businesses—a massive part of our community—and for that, I am deeply sorry.

🛠️ Critical Checkout Engine Fixes

We have resolved the following specific issues with the new checkout engine:

Guest Counts: Tickets with more than 1 guest were incorrectly counting as a single person, affecting availability. (Fixed)
Bundle Visibility: The "Book Now" button was failing to display Bundle options in some scenarios. (Fixed)
Mixed Bookings: When a user selected a Term Ticket plus a Drop-in via a Bundle, the system was creating multiple bookings for the Drop-in incorrectly. (Fixed)
Term Pricing: Clicking "Book Now" for a Term was incorrectly selecting only a single session and charging the wrong amount. (Fixed)
Drop-in Attribution: Drop-ins purchased within a Term context were being applied to all sessions instead of just the selected date. (Fixed)

💡 Clarification: Bundles vs. Terms vs. The Basket

We realized we haven't explained the intended design of "Bundles" and "Terms" clearly enough, which led to some friction.

Bundles: Designed as a monetary incentive (e.g., "Buy 4, Get 5"), not as a shopping basket for selecting multiple different sessions with different requirements.
Terms: Designed for interconnected courses (e.g., a diploma where you must attend all sessions), not for unconnected drop-in classes (e.g., a "month of yoga").

The Solution: Building a True Basket 🛒

We understand many of you used Bundles to mimic a "Shopping Basket" experience. We appreciate your resourcefulness, but we know it causes issues with add-ons and questions.

Conclusion: We are officially building a Basket Feature. This will be the proper way for customers to select multiple dates and pay once. It will be optional for partners to enable.
Immediate Changes to Bundles: To prevent errors in the meantime, we have disabled add-ons when paying via a Bundle and forced required questions to be answered.

🚀 New Features & Improvements

1. QR Code Scanner

Make check-ins faster! You can now access the scanner via the Global Actions menu, Session Detail page, or Restricted View.

⚠️ Important: We only started generating QR codes for confirmation emails today. Bookings made prior to today do not have a code (you can resend the email to generate one).

2. Calendar & Dashboard Upgrades

"Check In" Column: Added directly to the main session page. We are moving away from the separate "GuestList" page to streamline your workflow.
Show/Hide Cancelled: A new toggle to keep your view clean.
Customizable Columns: Reorder or hide specific question columns in your view (preferences are saved to your device).
Add Booking/Session: New buttons added directly to the Calendar for faster management.
Flickering Fixed: The calendar filters no longer flicker; they wait for you to click "Apply."

3. Tech Migration Complete

We have finally moved all management pages to our new tech stack! This was an 8-month process, but it ensures the dashboard is faster and future-proof for years to come.

4. Updated 'Add Booking' Flow (Manual Bookings)

We have completely redesigned the process of manually adding an attendee to better align with the standard customer experience.

Why the change? Previously, you would simply select a customer and manually type a price. While flexible, this meant the system couldn't track guest counts (since that data lives on the Ticket level) or generate accurate financial reports/invoices.
The New Flow: The process now mirrors the customer checkout flow. You will now select specific Tickets and apply Discount Codes. This ensures your reporting, guest counts, and income calculations are 100% accurate.
New 'Payment Link' Option: You can now manually reserve a spot for a client but choose to send them a Payment Link instead of taking payment immediately. This allows you to secure the booking while letting the system handle the payment collection and automated emails for you.
Customer invoices and Income: With this change, we will also start automatically generating invoices based on bookings (both platform and external). These invoices can then be sent to clients with a single click. (Work in progress)

Other Notable Updates:

Inbox Feature: Receive notifications directly inside the website.
Custom Fonts: You can now upload custom fonts in Theme Customization.
Waiting Lists: The waiting list popup is now available on the "Dates" step, allowing users to join even if no dates suit them.
Mobile Forms: Customer forms now use a responsive "sheet" view on mobile for better UX.

🔮 Looking Ahead: Q1 2026 Roadmap

To keep you fully updated on our direction, here is our priority list for the first quarter of 2026. We are tackling these items in the following order:

1. The Basket Feature: Our top priority. We are building the ability for customers to add multiple bookings to a single cart. This will be released for the Baluu Hosted Website first, followed swiftly by the Web Components (widgets) for your own sites.
2. Enhanced Payment Links: Once the Basket is ready, we will update the Payment Link feature. This will allow you to send links that direct clients to a robust checkout experience powered by the new Basket engine.
3. AI Chatbot (Web-Based First): We have encountered some delays regarding Meta's strict policies on phone numbers for third-party businesses (WhatsApp integration). Consequently, we are pivoting to release a Web-Based Chatbot first. This allows us to deliver the feature sooner and train the AI on real customer data while we navigate the complexities of the mobile integration.
4. Business Subscriptions: We are finalizing the tools to allow you to sell recurring subscriptions to your clients.

Thank you for your patience and loyalty as we continue to build a better platform for you.