You're onboarding a member who doesn't want a dedicated desk but plans to drop in a few times a month. A small team wants access to shared space without committing to a full-time office. Tracking that by hand and charging for it fairly quickly turns into busywork. Day passes solve this: they cap how often someone uses shared space, deduct automatically at check-in, and give you clean usage data by member and location.

Day passes sit at the point where access, billing, and reporting meet, and they govern one resource type specifically: hot desks. One day pass is spent each time a member checks in and out at your space, so day passes are directly linked to check-ins. You hand them out by adding them to a billing plan or assigning them manually, and you can review how many remain on any Member or Company profile.

A day pass is a usage right for hot desk access, the kind of pass a member uses to grab any open hot desk instead of a reserved seat (dedicated desk or office desk). Each check-in/check-out pair uses one day pass. Day passes are automatically deducted, so you don't adjust anything per visit. Learn how day passes interact with check-ins →

You can, however, control whether a day pass is deducted upon check-in. To do that, you must open the member's profile in the Flex Admin Portal and turn on Use Day Passes. When this toggle is off, the member can check in, but no day pass will be deducted from their balance, which is the single most common reason a balance may look stuck for your members. When you assign day passes through a membership or a one-off plan, this setting is automatically turned on for the member who purchased the plan or membership. But if you manually assign day passes to a member or company, the setting is not automatically turned on, so you must activate it yourself.

When discussing how day passes are consumed, you need to understand that they are tied to the hot desk resource type. This matters because you may have renamed that resource type in your space to something like 'Flex Desk' or 'Drop-In Desk' to match how you talk about it with members. The display name is yours to change, but the underlying resource is always the hot desk resource, and day passes apply only to it.

Day passes can belong to one person or a whole company, and they can be renewed monthly or exist as a single fixed batch. Keep reading below to understand these distinctions.

There are two types of day passes, based on their recurrence: one-time and recurring. Recurrence determines how long day passes last and whether unused day passes carry over into the next month. Choosing the right type of day pass keeps a member's balance aligned with what they actually paid for and with your business strategy.

Recurring day passes are a batch of day passes issued monthly (usually assigned through a membership). These day passes remain valid throughout that month and reset on the first day of the next month. Unused recurring passes don't carry over, so a member who receives 5 day passes a month always starts the month with 5; if they only used 2 day passes in May, they won't start June with 5+3=8 day passes. Use recurring day passes for memberships, where access to your space renews according to your billing cycle.

One-time day passes are a fixed batch that remain active until used up or until expiration (you can configure how long they will be active). They do not reset or expire at the end of each month. Use one-time day passes for drop-in access and one-off purchases, where the member buys a set number of day passes and works through them at their own pace.

Half-day passes reward short visits by charging only half a day pass. A check-in that lasts half of your business hours or less costs 0.5 day passes instead of a full day pass, so a member who pops in for the morning keeps more of their balance. If your workday is 8 hours, any check-in of 4 hours or less deducts 0.5 day passes.

This setting is configured for the hot desk resource type and applies to every hot desk check-in tied to a membership plan once you turn it on. Since it changes how much members are charged for day passes, state plainly in the plan description whether half-day passes are available, so nobody is surprised by their balance and can make the most of their allowance.

Members get day passes in one of three ways, and the way they get them determines whether the Use Day Passes setting is turned on automatically:

The mechanics of adding day passes, whether through a plan or by hand, are covered in the task articles below.

These are the habits that keep day passes predictable across a busy space.

What is a day pass?

A day pass is a usage right that grants a member access to an unassigned, shared workspace for one day. Each check-in and check-out pair counts as one day pass used.

How do members get day passes?

Members get day passes in three ways: as a one-off purchase, as part of a membership, or from an admin who grants them directly. The way they receive the passes also decides whether the Use Day Passes setting turns on automatically.

Which resources do day passes apply to?

Day passes apply only to hot desks. They don't cover meeting rooms, private offices, or dedicated desks, so a check-in must be on a hot desk to use a day pass.

What's the difference between one-time and recurring day passes?

One-time day passes stay active until they're fully used, with no reset at the end of the month. Recurring day passes are issued monthly, reset at the start of each month, and don't roll over if unused. This means that if you grant 5 day passes to a member each month, that member will always start the month with exactly 5 day passes, regardless of their usage.

What are half-day passes, and when are they used?

Half-day passes deduct only 0.5 of a day pass for a check-in that lasts half your business hours or less. If your business hours span 8 hours, a check-in of 4 hours or less spends half a day pass instead of a whole day pass.

Why aren't day passes deducted when a member checks in?

If day passes aren't deducted, the member's profile has the Use Day Passes setting turned off. Open the member's profile in the Flex Admin Portal and turn that setting on, so that day passes are deducted at check-in. Day passes issued through a membership or one-off plan turn this setting on automatically, but day passes you grant manually from the Admin Portal don't.

What happens when a member runs out of day passes?

When a member uses their last day pass, subsequent check-ins may incur your standard drop-in rates unless you grant additional day passes. The member's allowance must include at least one valid day pass so that their check-in can draw from it.

What happens when you grant day passes to a company?

When you grant day passes to a company, every member of that company can draw from the shared pool, but only if each has the Use Day Passes setting turned on. Usage is summed and shown on the company's profile, so you can track it by member and location.

Now that you know how day passes work, go through the following articles: