Duets, Semi-Privates and Virtual Privates: Pricing and Scheduling

Two friends ask if they can train together. A long-time client moves across the country and wants to keep going over video. A couple wants one session a week instead of two. If you run a private-first studio, these requests arrive sooner or later, and each one raises the same questions: what to charge, how to book it, and what happens when plans change.

There isn't a standard answer. What follows are the common ways studios handle these formats, with the trade-offs of each.

Duet economics

A duet is one teacher with two clients. For the studio, the appeal is more revenue per hour. For the clients, it's usually a lower price each and the fun of training with someone they know.

Pricing tends to follow one of three patterns:

• Per person, below the private rate. Each client pays less than a private, but together they pay more than one private. This is the most common model.
• A flat fee per session, split however the pair likes. Simple, though it can feel awkward if one partner pays more often.
• Per person, at the private rate. Rare, and usually reserved for teachers whose privates are fully booked and who take duets only as a favor.

For a sense of real-world spread, one US health club, Gainesville Health & Fitness, lists its duets at $40 per person and trios at $35 per person, against privates of $60 to $80 (the page shows no date beyond a 2026 footer). Independent studios in higher-cost areas often charge well above that. The ratio between your duet and private rate is usually more useful than any single number.

A quick worksheet

If the duet total isn't clearly above your private rate, the extra coordination may not be worth it. One way to compare is the multiple: a duet total of 1.3 times your private rate is a very different business from 1.8 times. Which multiple feels fair depends on your market and how much extra work duets create for you.

Pairing clients

Duets work best when the two people are a good match. Things studios look at:

• Similar level. In a classical studio, where the work follows an order, a big gap in experience can hold one person back. Power Pilates is upfront about this on its studio booking page: its semi-privates are "a multi-level lesson," and clients should "expect to be scheduled with other clients that may practice at a different level."
• Compatible goals and injuries. A post-rehab client and a dancer chasing flexibility may want different sessions.
• Equal commitment. Mismatched frequency is the usual reason duets fall apart.
• Who brings whom. Self-formed pairs (friends, couples, family) tend to last longer than pairs you put together, though studio-made pairs can work for semi-private groups.

Some studios require each person to have a private or two first. Others take pairs straight in. It depends on how much individual assessment your teaching needs.

When one half of a duet cancels

This is where duets get complicated. The session can still happen, but the economics change.

Common approaches:

• The remaining client gets a private at their duet rate. Generous, and popular with clients. The teacher absorbs the difference.
• The remaining client chooses. Power Pilates' policy says that if a duet partner cancels 24 hours ahead, you'll be "given the option of taking your session at the private rate," moving to a semi-private, or rescheduling.
• The cancelling partner pays their share. If the cancellation is late, they're charged as if they'd come, and the other person trains as normal.
• Both are billed regardless. Some studios treat a duet as one booking that the pair owns together.

On The Pilates Business Podcast in June 2025, Seran Glanfield noted that 24 hours is "still pretty much the standard" notice for privates. Many studios use the same window for duets. Whatever you choose, it helps to write it down so both partners know before the first session.

Example wording: "If one partner cancels with at least 24 hours' notice, the other can keep the time as a private at the private rate, switch to another duet time, or reschedule. If one partner cancels with less than 24 hours' notice, that partner is charged their share and the session goes ahead for the other."

Wording around fees and cancellations can be affected by local consumer rules, so it's worth checking with a qualified professional where you are.

Semi-privates (three or four people)

Semi-privates sit between duets and small group classes. Pricing per person usually drops again, as in the trio example above. Scheduling becomes the main challenge: three or four people agreeing on a standing time is harder than two.

Some studios run semi-privates as fixed slots that people sign up for, more like a tiny class. Others build them around an existing group of friends. The first suits a busier studio. The second suits a teacher who wants to keep things personal.

Virtual privates

Virtual sessions became common in 2020 and many teachers kept them. They suit clients who move away, travel often, or can't get to the studio during a recovery.

Pricing

There are two main camps:

• Same price as in person. In a 2020 Pilates Anytime webinar, Lesley Logan said, "I haven't changed my prices at all," arguing that the teacher's expertise hasn't changed. John Marston's Pilates Anytime article from the same year also argued for charging the same, noting that virtual teaching takes more energy.
• A lower price. Other teachers charge less because they can't give hands-on cues, the client often has limited equipment, and there's no studio cost for that hour. Some keep a lower rate only for long-standing clients who moved away.

Neither is wrong. Same-price suits teachers who see virtual as equal work. A lower price suits teachers who want to keep distant clients without asking them to pay the in-studio rate.

Setup

• Equipment check. A mat-only client, a client with a home reformer and a client with a chair need different sessions.
• Camera angle. Side views are often more useful than front views.
• The link. Sending the video link with the booking confirmation, every time, saves a scramble.
• Cancellation window. Some studios use a shorter notice period for virtual, since no one is travelling.

Packs for each format

If you sell packs, decide whether a duet or virtual session draws from the same pack as a private. Options:

• Separate packs per format. Clear, but more balances to track.
• One pack, different credit values. For example, a duet uses less of a pack. Flexible, and harder to explain.
• Duet packs owned per person. Each partner buys their own, which simplifies cancellations.

The simpler your pack menu, the fewer awkward conversations about which session counts against what.

Where Wundaful fits

This is the problem we built Wundaful for: it handles private and duet sessions in the same book, and clients can text to book or check how many sessions they have left. It was developed inside a working classical studio in Santa Barbara. Any system that tracks duets per person and applies your cancellation wording consistently will do the job.

Questions to help you decide

• What should your duet total be compared with a private hour?
• Will you pair clients yourself, or take only pairs who arrive together?
• When one partner cancels, who carries the cost: the studio, the cancelling partner, or both?
• Do you see virtual sessions as equal work to in-person, or as a lighter service?
• Would separate packs per format make your life easier or harder?

Sources

1. PIlates Semi Private Sessions: Gainesville Health & Fitness, undated (2026 footer).
2. Power Pilates Flagship Studio: Private Session Plans: Power Pilates, accessed October 2026.
3. Pricing for Virtual Classes (John Marston and Lesley Logan): Pilates Anytime, April 8, 2020.
4. What to Charge for Online Pilates Classes: Pilates Anytime, John Marston, April 22, 2020.
5. Late Cancel Fees: How to Protect Your Studio Without Losing Loyal Clients: The Pilates Business Podcast, Seran Glanfield, June 30, 2025.