Surf Schools & Board Rentals

Surf schools are a natural hybrid — you offer both guided lessons (a tour) and self-serve board rentals (equipment rental), often using the same fleet of boards. Resytech handles both under one roof with shared equipment, instructor scheduling, and a unified checkout experience.

Why Resytech for Surf Schools

Surf businesses juggle lesson schedules, board inventory shared between lessons and rentals, instructor availability, weather cancellations, seasonal demand, and liability waivers for every customer. Resytech manages all of these while keeping your online and walk-in bookings in sync.

Setting Up Your Business: The Hybrid Model

The key insight for surf schools is that lessons and rentals are separate activities that share the same equipment. Lessons are a guided experience with an instructor, fixed times, and per-person pricing. Rentals are self-serve with flexible durations and per-equipment pricing.

Recommended Setup

Notice the quantity split — you have 20 soft-top boards total, but 8 are reserved for beginner lessons and 12 are available for rentals. This ensures lessons always have boards even during peak rental hours.

Why separate lesson levels? Beginner and intermediate lessons use different board types, may have different group size limits, different durations, and different pricing. Separate activities give each level its own rules.

Activity Types

Equipment Configuration

Go to Resources > Equipment:

• Soft-Top Board — Quantity: 20, Capacity: 1, Default Occupancy: 1
• Fiberglass Board — Quantity: 15, Capacity: 1, Default Occupancy: 1
• Longboard — Quantity: 8, Capacity: 1, Default Occupancy: 1

Custom properties:

• Size — 7'0", 8'0", 9'0" (so customers can pick the right board for their height/skill)
• Skill Level — Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
• Type — Soft-top, Fiberglass, Epoxy, Foam

Add-ons:

• Wetsuit ($15)
• Rash guard ($10)
• Leash (included or $5)
• Reef booties ($8)
• GoPro mount ($20)
• Lesson video/photos package ($30)

Rental Duration Options

For the Board Rental activity:

Lesson Schedule

For lesson activities, use Specific Times:

• Beginner Lesson: 8:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 1:00 PM (2 hours each)
• Intermediate Lesson: 9:00 AM, 2:00 PM (1.5 hours each)

Set buffer between lessons for board collection, rinse-off, and instructor break (e.g., 30 minutes).

Relevant docs:

• Activities & Equipment — understanding the activity/equipment relationship
• Your First Activity — hands-on setup walkthrough
• Configure Scheduling

Instructor Management

Instructors are managed as facilitators under Location > Facilitators tab.

• Assign each instructor to the lesson activities they're qualified to teach
• Resytech prevents double-booking — if an instructor is running the 10:30 AM beginner class, they can't be assigned to the 10:30 AM intermediate class
• View each instructor's schedule alongside lesson bookings on the calendar

Capacity Per Lesson

On each lesson activity's Manifest tab:

• Guest Limit — maximum students per session (e.g., 8 for beginner, 6 for intermediate)
• Guest Minimum — minimum students to run the session (e.g., 2)
• Age Restriction — minimum age for participants (e.g., 8 years old)
• Demographics — Adult ($75), Child 8–15 ($55), if you offer different pricing

Relevant docs:

• Facilitators & Guides
• Set Up Activity Manifest

Handling Weather

Surf conditions are unpredictable. Resytech gives you tools to manage this:

• Blackout dates — block days when conditions are known to be bad (planned closures, storm forecasts)
• Location-level blackouts (Location > Operations Blackout) close everything at once
• Activity-level blackouts — cancel just lessons while keeping rentals available (experienced surfers may still want to rent)
• Cancellation policy — set clear terms on each activity's General tab so customers know what to expect
• Refunds — process full or partial refunds through Stripe when you cancel due to weather

Taking Bookings

• Online lesson bookings — customers pick a lesson level, date, session time, and number of students
• Online rental bookings — customers choose board type, duration, and time slot
• Walk-in rentals — staff create bookings from the dashboard or Point of Sale
• Package bookings — a customer might book a lesson in the morning and a board rental for the afternoon in separate transactions
• Custom fields — collect height/weight (for board sizing), swimming ability, prior surf experience

Relevant docs:

• Booking Management
• Create a Booking

Payments

• Online payments via Stripe for advance bookings
• In-person payments via Stripe Terminal at the beach shack (Company Settings > Card Readers)
• POS for selling wax, sunscreen, rash guards, and snacks over the counter
• Pricing modifiers — charge more on weekends and during peak summer
• Down payments — collect a deposit for group lesson bookings
• Gift cards — "Give the gift of surfing!" — popular for birthdays and holidays
• Coupons — partner with hotels and hostels for referral discounts

Relevant docs:

• Payments & Billing
• Point of Sale
• Coupons & Gift Cards

Waivers

Every surfer — lesson student or renter — needs to sign a waiver. Create waivers under Resources > Waivers.

• Include liability language, ocean safety acknowledgment, and swimming ability confirmation
• For lessons, add an acknowledgment that the student will follow instructor directions
• Link waivers to both lesson and rental activities
• Parents sign for minors on the same waiver
• Send waiver links in confirmation emails so customers sign before arriving at the beach

Relevant docs:

• Digital Waivers
• Create a Waiver

Customer Management & Marketing

• Customer profiles — track who took lessons vs. who rented, skill level progression, visit frequency
• Tags — "Lesson Graduate", "Regular Renter", "Group Booking", "Hotel Guest"
• Automated workflows — send a "Ready to try the intermediate lesson?" email a week after a beginner completes their first session
• Seasonal campaigns — promote summer lesson packages in spring, wetsuit season specials in fall
• Surveys — collect post-lesson feedback to improve instruction quality
• Blog — publish surf condition reports, beginner tips, and local wave guides to attract organic traffic

Relevant docs:

• Customers & CRM
• Marketing & Automation
• Blog & Content

Reporting

• Lesson vs. rental revenue — understand which side of the business drives more income
• Instructor performance — bookings, revenue, and student ratings per instructor
• Board utilization — which board types are rented most, helping you decide where to invest in new equipment
• Seasonal trends — track revenue and booking volume by month to plan staffing

Relevant docs:

• Reporting & Analytics
• Track Equipment Performance

Getting Started

Ready to set up Resytech for your surf school?

1. Initial Setup — company profile and Stripe connection
2. Adding Locations — your beach shop or rental stand
3. Activities & Equipment — plan your lesson + rental structure
4. Your First Activity — create your first lesson or rental
5. Checkout Setup — brand your booking page
6. Go Live — pre-launch checklist and website embedding