How to Increase Revenue in Off-Peak Hours at Your Sports Facility

Unlocking the full potential of your sports facility means maximizing bookings at all hours, not just peak times. Along with seasonality, as any facility manager knows, bookings are slim in the mornings or late at night. As a result, facility owners often close their doors outside of peak hours, leaving revenue opportunities on the table for those savvy enough to develop them.

‍

Having worked with hundreds of sports facilities through the Swift scheduling software, our team has consistently seen the most profitable facilities maximize bookings in their off-peak hours. In this post, we’ll outline a few strategies you can implement to boost your off-peak bookings and revenue. Let’s show you how!

Tapping Into Off-Peak Hours

‍

Developing revenue in off-peak hours may seem easy, but it’s not just about opening up earlier or keeping the lights on later. Creating programs targeted towards these hours and the clientele that are available to book them is key to growing your revenue.

Holiday Camps

‍

A tried and true revenue stream is offering day camps for young children during the holidays. With many parents still working through the holidays, or let’s face it, wanting some free time themselves, offering a program during the day to substitute schooling is a no-brainer. 

‍

These camps can be larger week-long programs for holidays like Christmas hBreak, Spring Break, etc, or miniature day camps for Memorial Day. Are kids off school? They likely need somewhere to blow off steam and get out of Mom's hair!

‍

By opening up your camps to novice athletes you might also get new clients for your lessons or memberships. At the same time, try marketing your camps to your existing clients by offering them a discounted rate!

‍

Don’t forget to collect signatures on a liability waiver to ensure any injuries or unforeseen accidents won’t hurt your business.

‍

Leagues & Entertainment

‍

Depending on the specific sport you cater to, you can leverage existing technology and/or square footage for adult recreational leagues or entertainment events like corporate parties, stag & does, date nights, and birthday parties on weekends and evenings.

‍

Baseball and Golf offer unique cases to simulate gameplay in an indoor environment. Despite simulators like HitTrax or Trackman being an expensive initial investment, you’ll likely purchase this technology for your main clientele anyway. Why not leverage the “cool” factor for your weekend warriors as well?

‍

A common example we’ve seen with baseball facilities is offering Home Run Derbies or 3-on-3 (4-on-4, etc) League Play using HitTrax’s simulated games feature late into the evenings. For those new to the sport you can always turn on the distance boost to ensure everyone is having an enjoyable experience.

‍

Partner with Local Trainers & Practitioners

‍

If your facility has a weight training space, consider partnering with local personal trainers to boost revenue during the morning hours. Some trainers may be comfortable with a flat rate agreement - meaning even if they have a cancellation, you still get paid! Whereas a percentage rate from each of their sessions can create a symbiotic relationship.

‍

Depending on your level of trust, you can give these trainers an access code or key to the facility furthering your profits by eliminating a need for a staff member on site! To keep bookings centralized, you can give outside trainers access to your calendar with staff permissions.

‍

One great way to connect with trainers in your area is through a platform like Trainerize.me. 

‍

Those with available multi-use space can go beyond the weight room and team up with wellness practitioners such as massage therapists or physiotherapists to further boost morning and afternoon revenue.

‍

Expand this relationship by encouraging members to seek out your partnered practitioners for their rehab and injury needs. Depending on your revenue split, you could create special memberships offering discounts or credits toward these practitioner's services. 

‍

Going as far as marketing your facility as taking a “holistic approach to athletic development” may intrigue new clients by knowing you have everything they need under one roof. This will also create opportunities for your peak-hours revenue to feed into the off-peak times. Think of it this way, it’s easier for Johnny to get out of class early to see his physical therapist than it is for him to go hit in the cage.

Booking Made Better With Technology

‍

Outside of new service offerings, utilizing the latest technologies in sports facility management is another way to superpower your bookings.

‍

Smart Locks

‍

Modern facilities are moving towards 24/7 access with advancements in smart lock technology. Companies like Igloohome allow you to generate unique one-time codes for bookings - enabling you to keep your facility accessible day & night without the need for front desk staff.

‍

Alone, this technology can become tedious as generating codes may become a manual process depending on how complex your bookings are. This is where modern facility management software like Swift comes in handy.

‍

Facility Management Software

‍

Modern software like Swift can empower your clients to book online, create recurring revenue through memberships, and create value adds by offering credits, and so much more.

‍

New this summer will be smart locks integration with several of the most popular hardware to seamlessly integrate codes and remote access to your facility for bookings and members.

‍

If you are curious to learn more about facility management software you can visit our comparison page. To hear the advantages of Swift, you can book a demo with a member of our staff.

‍