What is Book a Court?

Book a Court is an online court booking and payment platform that connects with PIN pad technology for easy access to courts and has the capability to turn on the lights.

What are the benefits of Book a Court?
The technology is giving everyone easier access to tennis courts. It’s simple to use for both players and club administrators, meaning more time on court for everyone!

By utilising Book a Court, your venue will able to benefit from:

• Reduced administration impact to volunteers
• Increase in revenue and sustainability of venue
• Greater ability to promote venues online via club website and social media
• Online payments
• Ease of venue access
• Attract occasional tennis players to your club.

Do our members have to book online?
While there is flexibility in configuration, it is highly recommended that all court users are requested to book courts online. Free member bookings are simple to make and ensures the member has reserved their court before arriving at the venue. If access to the courts is only via a PIN, then members will need to book to ensure their PIN is valid and opens the gate.

When will the PIN open the gate?
A player will receive a PIN when competing their booking online. The PIN will be valid from 15 minutes prior to the start of their booking time and expire 15 minutes after the end of their booking time. The PIN will not open the gate outside of these times.

How do our competition and coaching players gain access?
The platform caters for special booking types for coaching, competition and event periods. The venue administrator would enter these bookings into the system and generate a PIN code for the coach or competition administrator. When this PIN is entered the gate will unlock and remain unlocked until the end of the booking period. This will enable players and coaching participants to open the gate and enter without the need to enter a PIN.

Could a player get locked inside?
The gate lock will have a latch on the inside of the gate which means a person can exit at any time, regardless of whether they have a valid PIN or not.

Club Administration

How do we manage club memberships?
Clubs have the option to use the Membership Module within ClubSpark (same software platform as the Book a Court software) to manage memberships. By utilising this tool within the same platform, it enables members to use the same account to purchase a membership and book a court online – it also results in a seamless experience for members.

If club intends on providing discounted court hire rates to members, then up-to-date memberships will need to be maintained within the software.

Can you cater for our complex court pricing structure?
The software is quite flexible and caters for many scenarios. We suggest you provide your current pricing structure to [email protected] and we can confirm if the software can be configured to cater. This is also an opportunity for your club to review its pricing structure and perhaps refine it; the simpler it is for people to understand, then easier it will be to manage.

We have regular bookings for our coach and competitions, how do we manage this?
The club can easily set up recurring bookings and allocate them for coaching or competition.

What if power is lost to the facility?
The equipment supplied includes a back-up battery that can cater for power outages lasting up to 24 hours.

What determines when the lights are switched on?
Upon entry of a valid PIN, the access technology will request the lights for the relevant courts to be switched on. A sunset sensor will be set up and configured at the site to ensure that the lights only turn on when there is insufficient daylight.

When will the lights switch off?
The lights will be set to switch off 15 minutes after the booking period ends.

Our lights need a cool down period, will this create issues?
In-built system logic will ensure the lights do not turn off if there is an upcoming booking due to commence within the next 15 minutes.

Costing

What does it cost for the integrated gate access technology?
As a guide*, clubs should estimate that installation of the access control system will be $15,000. A National Court Rebate from Tennis Australia of $6000 may be available to clubs to reduce the overall cost.

*Guide only for a standard one access point solution. A definitive quote will be provided following a site survey. Potential additional costs will include labour for electrician to complete connections, gate/fencing modification costs, trenching and laying of communication conduit.

What are the ongoing costs to manage our court bookings online?
A 2.65% fee + 30c will be applied for all online payments taken (minimum $0.35). This fee is automatically deducted from total court hire fee paid by the player. For example, if a player pays $20 online, the club receives $19.17.

In addition, there is a mobile data charge of $40 per month (billed on an annual basis).

Installation

Who will install the gate access technology?
Clubs who will install gate access technology will work with Complete Security Solutions on finalising their installation requirements. The process will include completion of a site survey which will be completed by one of our team. The site survey, along with any follow-up information, will determine the total cost based on the individual site’s needs and will identify any additional work required prior to the supply and installation of the gate access technology.

Our facility does not have a clubhouse, can we still get gate access equipment?
Our installers can provide an external equipment enclosure to cater for outdoor solutions. The main consideration will be the ability to locate power at the site.

What pre-installation work will the club have to undertake?
Exact requirements will not be known until after a site survey and initial quote has been completed. Common tasks generally include:

• Installation of a 240v power outlet at the proposed location for the equipment enclosure
• Underground trenching and laying of communication conduit only if power cannot be run directly from equipment enclosure and along any existing structures i.e. along the top of the fence. Trenching requirements have been very minimal across existing venues.

What type of gate do we need?
The installers can attach and supply gate modification units to fit most existing gate structures. A suitable solution will be provided following a site survey.