Creating Exceptional Pickleball Venue Experiences

The rise of "eatertainment" venues marks a significant evolution in the hospitality industry, merging dining, entertainment, and recreational activities to create vibrant, multifaceted destinations. Within this context, pickleball has emerged as a popular attraction, drawing diverse crowds and enhancing the appeal of these venues. As these dynamic spaces grow in popularity, they face the challenge of delivering high-touch hospitality without over-relying on labor-intensive service models.

To address these demands, venues need to embrace hybrid service models that seamlessly integrate advanced technology into their operations. Such models allow venues to deliver outstanding guest experiences while maintaining efficiency and scalability. By combining advanced POS and mobile ordering solutions with innovative self-pour beverage walls and court reservation systems, venues can streamline service, reduce wait times, and enhance overall satisfaction. This approach creates a cohesive ecosystem of technology, ensuring a smooth and integrated experience for both guests and staff. This white paper explores how these interconnected technologies enable entertainment venues to tackle operational challenges and achieve sustainable growth.

The Power of Detail

When it comes to guest experiences in eatertainment venues, the difference between good and great lies in the details. Those small, personal touches of service can make all the difference in attracting and retaining guests. It all starts by asking a simple question:

“What can we do better to go the extra mile for our guests?”

By answering this question and implementing the identified practices, you can create a truly unique experience for your guests. A practical way to begin is through a straightforward guest journey mapping exercise.

Mapping the Guest Journey in Eatertainment Venues

Guest journey mapping is an exercise that helps you visualize and understand the entire experience from your guests' perspective. This process involves identifying key touchpoints and interactions that guests have with your venue, from the moment they discover your establishment to their post-visit reflections. Here’s how you can get started:

1. Identify Touchpoints: List all the potential touchpoints where guests interact with your venue. This includes online interactions (website, social media), pre-visit communications, the arrival experience, activity booking, dining and beverage service, entertainment activities, the overall ambiance, service quality, and follow-up communications.
2. Gather Feedback: Use surveys, reviews, and direct conversations to gather feedback from your guests. Understand what they appreciate and what areas need improvement.
3. Analyze the Journey: Look at each touchpoint from the guest’s perspective. Identify any pain points or areas where the experience could be enhanced.

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Considerations for Venue Operators

Data Points to Consider

• 33% of customers will never return to a brand after one bad experience.
• 92% of customers will leave your brand after three bad experiences.

Given these statistics, it’s clear that providing a seamless and enjoyable guest experience is paramount. Let's address some critical questions on every operator's mind:

• How do we optimize labor efficiency and keep costs manageable?
• How do we enhance the guest experience?
• How do we increase revenue while serving guests seamlessly?

Optimizing  Efficiency and Managing Costs

Labor costs are among the most significant expenses for hospitality businesses, often comprising up to 40% of total operating costs. Combined with the industry's traditionally high turnover rates, these expenses can create substantial financial pressure. At GoTab venues, labor costs account for 25.82% of total expenses, and they generate an impressive average of $83 in sales per labor hour. This labor cost percentage aligns with high-performing restaurants, and their sales per labor hour exceed the industry average by more than 1.5 times.

Labor management can vary significantly across different segments of the hospitality industry. A restaurant or fast-casual operation will have different labor needs than a large 20,000-square-foot venue. However, having more space doesn't necessarily mean needing more staff. These larger venues can offer a fresh perspective on hospitality by focusing on speed and convenience. A strategic approach to reducing costs without compromising service is through the use of kiosks and mobile ordering from GoTab, along with self-pour beverage systems from Pour My Beer, which integrate with GoTab RFID for seamless transactions. Through this integration, businesses have decreased labor costs by up to 20% without sacrificing the quality of hospitality or service. 

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Fun & Flavor at Pints & Paddle

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Pints & Paddle, a dynamic venue offering a wide range of attractions, including a 78-pour taproom, 10 state-of-the-art indoor pickleball courts, a scratch kitchen, and versatile event spaces, faced operational challenges during its first year in 2023. Managing food and beverage orders, operational tasks, and guest interactions simultaneously was a significant challenge. The complexity of using three separate systems for court reservations, event management, and a Pour My Beer self-pour wall made daily sales tracking daunting.

With its expansive layout and diverse gaming options, Pints & Paddle required systems capable of efficiently handling high volumes across various areas while delivering essential features for operational efficiency and insights. This need for efficiency led Pints & Paddle to adopt GoTab, which seamlessly integrates with Pour My Beer and Court Reserve, the system for handling court reservations. By embracing a Handheld POS and QR ordering for tables in the dining area, RFID cards for the self-pour tap wall, and strategically placed kiosks, the venue transformed the guest experience, offering seamless ordering and efficient service at every turn. Early results have been promising, with the integration contributing to an 8% reduction in labor costs in the restaurant area alone.

Enhancing the Guest Experience

What are the common pain points associated with guest visits, and how can we make their lives easier? To be a successful venue, a perfect harmony has to exist between the product, and the customer. Your drinks can be great, food can be amazing, and decor can be beautiful, but for guests to return, the experience from pre arrival, on site, to post visit has to be seamless, as it is not enough for guests to just be served on site. To start, we broke this guest journey down into 3 steps.

1. Pre-Arrival- 

By engaging guests with personalized communications and exclusive offers, venues can set the stage for an exceptional visit. Offering early access to event tickets, personalized dining recommendations, or exclusive discounts allows venues to anticipate guest needs and foster loyalty.

Creating unique moments before arrival can transform preparations into opportunities for delight. For example, personalized welcome messages, tailored activity suggestions, or sneak peeks of new attractions can elevate the guest experience. These thoughtful touches encourage social media engagement, boosting the venue’s visibility and reinforcing its reputation as a leader in hospitality and entertainment.

Driving Revenue and Enhancing Guest Experience

The pre-arrival phase also presents revenue-generating opportunities. By promoting special packages and upselling exclusive experiences, venues can maximize revenue before guests arrive. Leveraging guest data to create targeted offers encourages guests to enhance their experience, increasing overall spending. Pre-ordering meals and drinks ensures that guest needs are anticipated, providing a seamless and enjoyable experience. Offering mobile ordering and payment options further enhances the guest journey, allowing them to focus on entertainment without hassle.

Key Pre-Arrival Engagement Strategies

Send personalized communications with offers based on previous guest preferences.

Provide exclusive pre-arrival packages or early access to attractions.

Enable seamless pre-ordering of meals, drinks, and services.

Offer a chance to join exclusive vip clubs or loyalty programs so they can get access to special deals or packages.

2. On Site

Once guests arrive at your venue ensuring a seamless and enjoyable experience is crucial. A smooth check-in process sets the tone, allowing guests to quickly begin enjoying their visit without delays. Streamlined payment transactions support this convenience, enabling guests to easily order food and drinks from anywhere in the venue using their mobile devices. This flexibility ensures that hospitality is always at their fingertips.

Guests can effortlessly close out checks from their mobile devices, reducing wait times and enhancing convenience. Features like shared tabs make splitting payments easy and stress-free, allowing groups to focus on fun rather than logistics. By offering convenience without compromise, guests can immerse themselves in the venue's entertainment offerings while you focus on operational efficiency. Mobile ordering and seamless transactions create a relaxed environment where guests can fully enjoy their time without disruptions.

Key On-Site Guest Experience Strategies

Implement seamless check-in processes to minimize wait times.

Enable mobile ordering and payment options for ultimate convenience.

Focus on operational efficiency to enhance guest satisfaction.

Increase hospitality touchpoints and surprise and delight moments for guests.

3. Post-Visit

Maintaining engagement after a guest’s visit is crucial for building long-term relationships and encouraging repeat visits. Offering membership options with exclusive benefits can create a sense of value and provide incentives for guests to return. Personalized thank-you messages and tailored follow-ups based on their visit further strengthen their connection to your venue.

Enhancing the post-visit experience can include sharing memorable photos from their visit, offering discounts or special deals for their next trip, and providing vouchers for feedback. These high-level strategies help guests feel appreciated and foster loyalty, ensuring they remain enthusiastic about returning and engaging with your brand.

Whether you're opening a new venue or revamping your current operations, it's crucial to evaluate your guest journey, assess your technology, and modernize your processes. If you're ready for a transformation, check out our Eatertainment POS Features and request a demo today.

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