How Wellhub and TotalPass actually work for a boutique studio

Wellhub and TotalPass both operate on a pay-per-visit model: the studio gets paid a fixed amount every time an aggregator user shows up to a class or session, regardless of whether that user comes once a month or four times a week. The per-visit rate is negotiated between the studio and the platform, and it usually sits below the price of a directly-sold drop-in class.

The aggregator charges the end user a monthly membership that grants access to a network of studios and gyms, and pays the studio directly, typically on a two-to-four-week settlement cycle. The studio doesn't control what the end user pays the platform — only the amount it receives per visit and, in some cases, how many spots it allocates to the aggregator per time slot.

The main advantage is access to a flow of clients the studio couldn't reach on its own: employees at large companies whose benefit is already paid for by their employer and who are simply looking for where to use it. For a new studio or one with off-peak slots that aren't filling, that's incremental demand with no marketing spend attached.

It also cuts acquisition friction: the aggregator user has already decided to invest in wellness — they're just choosing where, so the studio doesn't need to convince them to train, only to pick this studio over other network options. Managed well, the channel works as a front door: a share of those users end up preferring the studio enough to switch to a direct membership once they change jobs or the corporate benefit ends.

The most commonly cited risk — and the most real one — is cannibalization: if a client currently paying full membership discovers they can train at the same studio through their corporate benefit, there's no reason for them to keep paying the direct price. Without slot or capacity controls, the aggregator ends up competing with your own sales instead of adding to them.

The second risk is margin: the per-visit rate usually sits below your direct sale price, so a studio that fills its peak slots with aggregator users is trading higher revenue for lower revenue at exactly the moment of highest demand, when it needs it least. The third risk is dependency: a studio that builds a meaningful share of its occupancy on an aggregator becomes exposed to rate, network, or policy changes it doesn't control.

The decision depends less on the platform's reputation and more on your studio's specific situation: current occupancy, the mix of peak and off-peak slots, and how well-defined your direct membership strategy already is.

The most effective way to protect your direct sales is to treat aggregator slots as limited inventory, not an open channel: set a maximum number of aggregator spots per class, prioritizing off-peak slots over the peak hours where your direct membership already pays full price.

It also helps to clearly brief your front-desk and sales team that a lead arriving through an aggregator who shows high-frequency intent is a candidate for conversion to direct membership — with a simple message about savings and the extra perks of direct membership (priority booking, package pricing, promo access) instead of letting them stay indefinitely in the lower-margin channel.