VIPKID Booking Frenzy: A Full Explanation
There are so many terms and phrases to learn as a new VIPKID teacher. Who is Bao Bao? What is the Hutong? These are all the questions I had when I first started teaching with VIPKID. But I was most curious about a phrase that was regularly thrown around between veteran teachers: the VIPKID booking frenzy.
As a VIPKID teacher, you’ll want to know what the booking frenzy is and why it’s important. I’m here to explain the meaning behind this popular phrase and how you can benefit from it.
What Is The VIPKID Booking Frenzy?
The word “frenzy” is defined as a state of uncontrolled excitement. And that is exactly what happens when VIPKID classes are available for parents to book.
VIPKID teachers are allowed to plan their schedules as far out as they’d like, however, parents aren’t allowed to book classes until two weeks beforehand. When classes finally open for the following week, parents rush to secure bookings for their students. This is called the booking frenzy.
What Time Is The VIPKID Booking Frenzy?
It’s important to know when the VIPKID booking frenzy happens because this is when many parents want to book classes. Having your schedule prepped and ready will help you secure bookings for the following week.
The booking frenzy occurs every Monday at noon Beijing time. For those in the Central Time Zone, this means the booking frenzy happens at 11:00pm on Sunday nights (10pm starting November 3 – daylight savings).
What About Priority Bookings?
You’ll notice that some of your teaching slots might be booked before the VIPKID booking frenzy occurs. This is because students that have already taken classes with you have priority to book the same time slots.
For example, today is Wednesday, September 4th. If I taught a student at 8:00am, that student has priority booking rights for 8:00am on Wednesday, September 18th. If I open that class time, that student will be able to book it before any other student and before the booking frenzy.
What If I Don’t Open Classes Before The VIPKID Booking Frenzy?
Some teachers worry that if they don’t have their schedules planned out two weeks in advance, they will miss out on all of the students. The truth is, parents book classes throughout the week, not just during the booking frenzy.
If I don’t know what my schedule looks like in two weeks, I won’t open any classes. Instead, I open classes when I am confident about my schedule. This avoids confusion or the need to cancel (dun dun dun!) any classes.
It’s true that the VIPKID booking frenzy can result in MANY bookings, but don’t worry if you miss it. You can still be fully booked even if you don’t partake in the booking frenzy.
If you’re having difficulty getting bookings, be sure to read through my post: How to Quickly Get Bookings with VIPKID. Pay special attention to #6; this trick has worked for all of my referrals and even for me when I was a new VIPKID teacher.
How Do I Open A VIPKID Booking?
An obviously important thing to know as a VIPKID teacher.. how the heck do you open a VIPKID booking? In my opinion, the VIPKID teaching portal can be very hard to navigate at first.
To open classes and plan your teaching schedule, head over to your teacher’s portal dashboard and click on the “Bookings” tab. From here, you’ll see a calendar that maps out the current week.
When you want to open a teaching slot, simply click on one of the boxes. A smaller window will pop up that looks like the picture below:
As soon as you select “course”, the box will turn blue. That means your class is open and students will be allowed to book it.
Optional: Choose the short notice button if you want this class to be available for short notice bookings. With short notice bookings, students are allowed to book classes up to one hour before the class start time. Check out my recent post to learn more about short notice bookings: 5 Benefits of VIPKID Short Notice Classes.
The Wrap-Up: VIPKID Booking Frenzy
The booking frenzy can be a lot of fun. For me, watching my class schedule fill up each week is exciting. Now that you know what the VIPKID booking frenzy is, you can take full advantage of this critical time in the VIPKID world.
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Wow, thank you for the link to the national parks postcards! That’s a great deal, and the cards are beautiful. I’m gonna send some to my nieces in Russia. 🙂 P.S. I just taught my first three days with VIPKid and loving in.
Yay! So happy to hear this!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!