3 Tips To Increase Rental Demand For Your Sports Spaces (Post COVID-19)
Athletic Space Rentals. Without them you couldn’t play in your favorite adult league and your kids wouldn’t be able to participate in camps, clinics, practices and tournaments.
Athletic spaces are in very high demand, however, certain facilities are able to separate themselves from the crowd, attract phenomenal tenants and drastically increase their revenue by finding ways to attract and retain phenomenal long term renters.
Oftentimes, non-profits, private schools and small to midsize sports facilities struggle to compete with the well-known large facilities in their communities. Partly because the core focus of their organizations focuses on their internal programs, students and other initiatives, whereas large facilities CORE business revolves around their athletic spaces, which rentals play a big part in.
TODAY IS YOUR DAY. Time to compete with the big names and provide an unparalleled experience for your renters. Below are three simple tips to incorporate into your athletic space rental process to increase your rental demand, land high-quality tenants and add even greater value to your community.
MAKE THE PROCESS EASY
People hate jumping through hoops to get what they want. Why make the rental process confusing, cumbersome and annoying?
Let me phrase this another way. Let’s say you don’t currently have access to an indoor gymnasium and you need to find space to run team practices.
Facility 1 indicates that they do offer athletic space rentals (YAY!) but you have no idea what days are available, what times are available, there are no pictures so you don’t know if it’s a hardwood court, rubber court, how many hoops it has, parent seating etc. As they request on the website, you call and no one picks up. You leave a voicemail in their general mailbox and as an added step you email the contact listed on the page.
Facility 2 indicates they also offer athletic space rentals (YAY!). They utilize a service that allows you to see each individual space (multiple pictures of each at that!), amenities, reviews of previous renters who have used the space (all 5 stars! WOW!) and more. You also have the ability to enter the dates and times you’re looking for and can see instantly if those times are available. To your delight, they are! This facility even allows you to complete the rental agreement digitally, attach required documents in the comfort of my own bean bag chair and complete payment. Just like that you’re done (now you can catch up on This Is Us!). Request is in and accepted minutes later by the facility. Wow! That was easy…..and now this facility has your business for years.
Facility 1 responds back 5 days later, but now it’s too late. I’ve already found my place and won’t be in the market to find an additional space for quite a while. If I do, I’ll just rent more from the place who provided the best rental experience.
Take home message- Make the process EASY for your renters. As a double whammy, this also results in making the process much easier for you and your team.
PROVIDE ADD-ON OPTIONS FOR MORE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different” — Coco Chanel
Each year, millions of parents are trying to plan a memorable birthday party or experience for their children. Many of which are hosted at facilities. However, once the space is booked, they’re still left with having to manage other additional purchases to make that birthday experience special.
Each year, tournament organizations across the country are looking for new spaces to rent for tournaments, but spend additional time and resources to find and hire “Scorekeepers”, “clock operators” or “referees”.
The list goes on and on. Most facilities don’t even consider or offer “Add-on” options for renters requesting to utilize the space. Let’s see how this can create a massive win for your facility.
Lets say I work for a hospital, oversee employee health initiatives and I want to create an adult basketball league for our employees. I have NO idea what to do to get started. This is a new service we’re looking to offer to attract more employees, provide them with an outlet to stay healthy and connect with their peers.
I’m browsing an athletic space directory such as AthletiCalendar and see several courts and stumble upon your basketball court. I see you have options for me to “Add-on” to my rental request. I haven’t seen this on any website or rental process before….. I’m intrigued to say the least.
I see an option to “Add-On” referees (SWEET, I’d have no idea how to find them otherwise), “Add-On” for a scoreboard operator (JACKPOT!), “Add-On” for uniforms (ARE YOU KIDDING ME!). As a facility you’ve completely helped me streamline the organization of this entire league and for that, I’ll never look anywhere else again.
The “Add-On’s” can be customized based off what you are willing to offer. Some platforms such as AthletiCalendar may also be able to offer “universal” add-on’s (such as referees) to assist with this offering to your customers.
The bigger picture is not only did you land a fantastic renter, but your $75/hour rent, just increased significantly due to your “Add-on” options.
Take Home Message- Provide an unforgettable experience for your renters by providing “add-on” options, which save them time and money and gain a customer for life.
ADD YOUR SPACES TO A MARKETPLACE
We kind of hinted upon this in the previous two posts. With the emergence of different marketplaces for all sorts of things (shared spaces, tools, music studios and even personal swimming pools!) it’s surprising it took so long for the development of a sports specific marketplace. With that being said this is a fantastic way to get a lot of eyeballs on your spaces.
Not only do you get the masses to see your different spaces, but you’ll be able to provide that streamlined process that is so important (as mentioned above). Data shows consumers prefer “simple purchasing processes”, by being added to a directory and allowing renters the ability to easily find your space and reserve you have a much higher probability of landing the tenant of your dreams!
AthletiCalendar provides non-profit organizations, schools and small to midsize sports facilities with an athletic space booking software to help them create successful athletic space rental processes and programs. Furthermore, AthletiCalendar consults organizations on strategies and techniques to land new tenants and provide an unmatched experience for renters.
