The Might of the Mouse

That sweet sound you’re hearing is the “click-and-play” of online tee-time booking.

by Sheryll Alexander (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
March 2006
 

Would you love to hire a staffer who books rounds of golf 24/7/365, and always gets the exact required information from each and every patron? If your course, club or resort has an online booking service, then you already have such a “virtual employee” hard at work, saving you and your organization time and money.

But does such a Web interface really increase service efficiencies? And which features are particularly useful? Here’s an update on how some properties are using the newest in golf software and online systems to try to provide “best in class” service.

“Our online tee time system was responsible for booking 23 percent of our rounds the past two seasons,” reports Joe Wisocki, certified PGA professional, General Manager and Director of Golf for The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, part of a Tower, Minn. resort and casino property that was named “America’s Best New Upscale Public Course” in 2005.

“[Online booking systems] allow staff more time to focus on service issues with less phone interruptions,” says Wisocki.Guests at his resort can do more than just book tee times online, he adds; they can also request outing information, book room packages, and buy merchandise at the online golf shop. “We currently use the online tee time, reservation confirmation and golf shop [components of a software system] that we installed when we opened in 2004,” Wisocki says. “Online purchases from the shop are now roughly 10 percent of sales.”

Expected Service

 

More and more, as reservations and orders for almost everything in modern life are being made routinely on the Web, online tee time technology is fast becoming the standard for golf clubs and resorts. Members, guests and meeting planners now almost expect to use these user-friendly systems, and many clubs, resorts and hotel groups offer services to book rounds of golf and room packages together.

Tom Enders, Senior Golf Marketing Manager for Marriott International, says the “Rounds and Rooms” system recently launched by his company (www.marriottgolf.com) is focused on “giving golfers the opportunity to reserve tee times when it is most convenient for them.” The new Marriott website currently encompasses 60 courses at 45 facilities in 13 countries, cumulatively offering more than 1,000 holes of championship golf, and is being billed as the only worldwide system to offer one-stop online tee time and lodging booking services.

Online golf solutions, Enders believes, provide the flexibility that more golfers are looking for in today’s marketplace. “Golfers have always been forced to find a resort, book a lodging package, and then call for tee times,” he notes. “Now, we provide an entire system for reserving a complete golf vacation online, with a choice of 29 premier courses.”

Integration with online booking, Enders adds, “ensures real-time availability for golfers booking tee times, and is the key to the success and efficiency of online golf solutions, because it minimizes the golf associate’s involvement in online reservations. This ultimately allows golf associates to spend more time taking great care of golfers at the club each day.”

An End to Phone Hang-Ups

 

Golf Director Dave Scott of Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., says his club subscribes to an online service that allows players to book tee times directly onto the club’s tee sheet. “We do about 300 rounds per month off the [online] engine,” Scott says. Like Marriott Golf, Shingle Creek also uses technology to book golf and hotel packages, as well as a shopping cart for buying merchandise and gift certificates. “Guests love it because they don’t have to call,” Scott explains.

Meeting planners also love the system, he adds, because it features online tournament registration for all golf events. “We build each event its own Web page and give [meeting planners] the link,” he continues. “People can sign up and enter all of their database information for the event.”

Operationally, Shingle Creek loves the tool, Scott says, “because you get all of the database information from these guests” that can be analyzed and used to find new ways to re-market to established customers.

Another huge operational and service advantage, notes one online system’s vice president of sales, stems from the time not spent on the phone for administrative duties that staff can put to more productive use. As studies have shown that booking a round of golf by phone takes an average of 2.5 minutes, this executive notes, “One hundred rounds a month booked online [would therefore save] 250 minutes, or over four hours of someone just [taking orders] on the phone.”

Even more time savings come when booking systems are integrated with other in-house software packages, to free staff from onerous paperwork.

“All of our software interfaces with hotel billing and daily sales audits,” says Scott. “This saves a lot of time and gives us great flexibility in reporting.” C&RB

 

To comment about this story, suggest topics you'd like to see covered in future issues of C&RB, or just ask a question, contact editor@clubandresortbusiness.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summing It Up

• As reservations and orders for almost everything in modern life are now being made routinely on the Web, online tee time technology is fast becoming the standard for golf clubs and resorts. Members, guests and meeting planners now expect, and prefer, to use these user-friendly systems.

• Studies show that even the best pro shop staffers still need two and a half minutes to take a tee time reservation over the phone—so booking just 100 rounds a month online can free up four hours that can be used to provide much more valuable customer service.

 

• When booking systems can be integrated with other in-house software to interface with billing and daily sales audit functions, even greater time savings can be created for staff, through reduced paperwork.

 

 

Ideas for Technology

 

That Looks Good Enough to Eat…Tired of having your F&B staff spend a lot of time (and money) preparing tastings for prospective wedding or banquet customers, only to have everything go to waste when the business goes elsewhere? At Houston’s River Oaks Country Club, the number of tasting requests has been greatly reduced since management created a “digital culinary library” with high-resolution photos of all of its banquet and specialty menu items. Using the Picasa Photo Organizer, a freeware program, all of the menu images are now stored in electronic albums and can be quickly shown on demand, no matter what direction the conversation may take, to prospective clients on a large-screen monitor in the club’s conference room. Prints or CDs with the images can then be given to the prospects as takeaways, and e-mailed as enticing enhancements to followup proposals.

 

In addition to cutting down on actual tastings, River Oaks says the library has helped to streamline its booking process and improve the consistency of delivery from its banquet kitchen when events are actually held. The credit for the last benefit goes largely to a 50-inch plasma display screen that was added to the kitchen as part of a recent renovation; the flat screen is now used to project reminder information and “guiding principles” to the on-duty staff and show the specific dishes to be prepared. Club members have been so taken by how the display screen gives the kitchen a “high-tech” feel that they now frequently stop in to show it off to guests. The screen is also used for Guest Chef dinners, so visiting chefs can enhance the experience by showing photos and dishes from their native regions.

 

Projected Revenues…Computerized projection technology has also been put to good use at The Valley Club in Sun Valley, Idaho, where a network of PCs, projectors and communications servers now creates “electronic tournament boards” that are displayed on large (6’ x 5’) screens throughout the club. Originally conceived as an added attraction for the pro shop during club tournaments, the club also discovered the value of projecting onto a screen in the bar, where crowds quickly gathered to watch real-time postings of the action that was unfolding out on the course. The club now also makes use of the technology during non-event periods, to display weather reports, make announcements, and promote club events.

 

Got a great technology idea to share? Send it to editor@clubandresortbusiness.com