Are you utilising club software to profitably manage online tee times at your golf club?
If you haven’t already done so, consider making 2010 the year you start to embrace club software at your golf club.
With technology changing so quickly these days, do not be left behind when it comes to managing your club and maximising revenues from its most perishable and valuable asset – the Tee Time. Once that tee-time slot has come and gone, it is lost forever and can never be sold again.
In an attempt to address this issue, many clubs have turned to the World Wide Web for help. With both club members and green-fee players now connected to the internet, the ability to tap into this market place is invaluable. Five years ago, golfers could only book tee times during the opening hours of the pro shop, and this significantly limited the ability to sell available slots.
How have things changed?
The scenario, five years ago. Two friends meet in the pub on a Friday evening, discuss their week and decide to play golf the next day. From this point it is a complicated situation. In the morning they get up early to organise and call their clubs for availability. After numerous calls to the clubs and back and forth to each other they finally book a time and arrange to meet at the club.
The current scenario. Two friends meet in the pub on a Friday evening, discuss their week and decide to play golf the next day. From this point the solution is simple. One of the friends picks up their iphone, logs in to an online tee time provider and searches for available times. The two confer and book the ideal tee time for them both, there and then.
Nowadays, with the help of internet services and online tee-time providers, golf clubs are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. This allows the very best opportunity for those vital tee times to be sold and not lost. However, in order to sell tee times online via these third-party websites, a fee is normally paid every time a tee slot is sold.
But there is another option. You can sell these tee times online yourself – with full control, integration to your pro-shop tee-booking system, and, most importantly, no sellers’ fees to pay – just 100% profit for you and your club.
What are the key areas to consider?
Design of Your Web Page
You need to customise the look and feel of your online tee-times page to coordinate with your main website, including selecting similar colours and uploading club logos and pictures. Design an easy to use “work flow” and layout so that you can organise the content of the site to project the relevant information to your customer. If your club doesn’t have a website, make your web bookings page your main club website.
Reservation Confirmations and Tracking
When making a reservation, the online tee-time solution you choose needs to automatically send a confirmation message to the player with all the details of the reservation. The better solutions allow you to customise the contents of this message, adding cancellation policies, rules or other important data. You should also add your club logo to keep the message tied into your marketing efforts and in line with your website.
Once logged in, players and members should be able to easily see the reservations that they have already booked, and should have the ability to send a confirmation message to other players in their group. Features like these reduce the number of no shows and make life easier for the member, increasing the whole member/visitor experience.
Resellers
The ability to create reseller accounts which allow hotels and tourism agents to book reservations is vital. This is an area that needs a great deal of control but can really increase tee time revenue dramatically. You need to have the ability to mark specific slots for their use, and monitor closely their prices and incentives. Marketing is also key when dealing with resellers, as email campaigns aimed at resellers help take advantage of tourist and green fee payers. Tracking and reporting on the tee times sold through resellers allows you to maximise their involvement and manage your yield efficiently.
A Recommendation, by PGA Member – Steve Salter
Steve Salter, PGA Member and Head of Golf & Leisure for NFS Hospitality, gives his opinion and recommendation regarding online tee times. Since joining NFS a year ago, Steve has investigated and researched all the available products on the market, and now shares his conclusions.
"The results of my research are simple, but here are just a few of the key areas in this decision process that may be of interest," he says. "In my opinion, if you are running a public/green-fee paying golf course only, then third party online tee time companies are perfect for increasing revenue. This may change over time as marketing information and CRM become more prominent for public golf clubs, but ‘to get the ball rolling’ – excuse the pun – these companies are ideal."
"For private members clubs and members clubs that take green-fee payers also, then a more controlled approach is needed by the manager or club secretary," Steve continues. "The advantages are clear: controlling online tee times yourself gives you the ability to capture that vital information about visitors to your club; data that can then be used in marketing campaigns, and when prospecting for new members. You also control when and how much they pay, allowing you full control of yield management. On the other hand, if people booking online are already members, then you are making their overall experience of being a member more interactive and enriching."
With only a few fully integrated, online tee time products on the market, it is paramount that you do the right research. "Always remember that information capture is key to growing your membership, and, in turn, improvement of the member experience is vital for their retention."
The new, innovative approach with IBS WebRes
NFS Hospitality is pleased to provide IBS WebRes, a web-based tee-times reservation system that is completely integrated with the IBS tee sheet. WebRes provides a link that can be added to your existing website, connecting players to the tee sheet and allowing them to book their tee time online. The WebRes system will respect all of the rules, restrictions, pricing and discounts established in the Tee Time module, allowing you to have complete control over access to the tee sheet.
With WebRes, there is no need to pay per-booking fees to third-party tee-time marketers. You can use your Tee Times customer database and the power of the internet to bring added revenue to your facility.
In addition, WebRes allows you to develop and implement slick marketing campaigns by using your existing customer and member database to create email promotions that send players directly to your tee sheet, thus driving revenue on your "off" days. You can then track the success of each promotion with a number of powerful reports.
The WebRes system is the most secure, online tee-time system available in the industry today. You control who has access to your tee sheet and the information provided on the web page; and settings can be updated as needed to meet the needs of your club.