www.bookcourts.co.uk
HBI Consulting Ltd
Phone 01892 530 100

Squash court booking system

"The squash player's best friend"

• How the squash court booking system works
• Booking courts with the website
• Other website features
• Booking courts with the touch screen
• Management System
• Costs and provision of service
• How to implement this court booking system at your squash club
• Contact Us

Management System

The system can be managed by the squash club's committee members.

Accessing the Management System

Administrators are given a username and password and a web address to access the Management interface for the court booking system.

Block bookings

The administrator(s) can block courts for club tournaments, repairs, team matches, and other club events. The administrator can make these block bookings well in advance, so that when the courts become available to members, they are already reserved.

The block booking process is exactly the same as the process for booking courts at the club, the only difference being the ability to choose any date.

Membership management system

The membership management system is very easy to use.

To implement the system, we would import a club's existing members into the system in a single batch and allocate all the usernames, passwords and PIN numbers. The members can be categorised as necessary.

All members are either "active" or "inactive". Only "active" members can log in to the website or use the touch screen to book courts. The administrator can click on a membership category (or "All members") and either "active" or "inactive" to find members in the list (alphabetical order).

To update an existing member's details or active/inactive status, simply click on the member's name. Please note members are expected to keep their contact details up to date when they login to the website.

To add a new member, the administrator only needs to enter the first name, surname, membership category and email address. The system will automatically allocate a username, a randomly selected memorable word as a password, and a unique PIN.

Then, the administrator simply clicks a link to send these login details and some instructions by email to the new member. The "send login details" link can also be used if a member asks the administrator for forgotten login details.

Members database download
At any time, the administrator(s) can download the members database as a CSV file which can be used for a Mail Merge using Microsoft Word and Excel (and other word processing software).

Court Cancellations

This court booking system could be used to implement a court cancellation policy. The system keeps automatically records court cancellations made within a pre-determined amount of time prior to the court start time (48 hours prior for example). The system could be used to impose cancellation fees, or just to gauge the level of cancellations. Obviously, it may not be appropriate for all clubs.

In any case, the Management System shows a list of cancellations, which could be prinited and posted on the club bulletin board, or given to the club steward so that he or she can collect the fines. The list shows the courts that were cancelled and when the court was cancelled or if the club steward flagged it as a "no-show".

Once the fines are paid, the administrator can "delete" the cancellations.

Brief Case Study: The Tunbridge Wells Squash Rackets Club (TWSRC) only has three squash courts which are always fully booked in the evenings from 6 PM to 9 PM. As such, any late cancellations resulting in the courts not being used are a waste of court time, an annoyance to members who would have wanted to play, and a loss of revenue for the bar and club. The club had always imposed a £5 fine when a court is cancelled within 48 hrs of the start time if the court is not re-booked or if the court remains booked and goes unused ("no show"). The £5 fine was also meant as an incentive for members to release courts that they booked but weren't going to use. However, it was nearly impossible to collect the court fines, and many courts went unused. Since this booking system has been implemented at TWSRC, the situation has improved tremendously. The system automatically records the time at which courts are cancelled and creates a list of cancellations which is posted on the club premises. The fines are rarely disputed and, as most are paid, the booking system actually pays for itself! Everyone benefits from the new system. When members cancel courts, it is more likely that the courts will get re-booked (the system sends out email notifications and members can book courts using the website) and they won't get fined for a cancellation. Members who didn't have a court for a given date are relatively likely to get one from a cancellation. Click here for more information about the Tunbridge Wells Squash Rackets Club and its court booking rules.

Web pages

The management system also allows the administrator to create web pages for the club website. The administrator(s) can create sections (such as "Membership Information", "Noticeboard", etc) and then populate these sections with web pages. The system includes a simple text editor to format the text, and also lets the administrator upload images to display on the web page and documents that can be downloaded from the website (such as a Membership Application Form).