Expected to open at the end of Q1 2024, The Dink House will be Carmel, Indiana’s newest indoor pickleball facility boasting eight well-cushioned courts, a players lounge, and a members-only kitchen and bar area. Thomas Davidson, one of The Dink House’s managing partners, and his team “set out to create a semi-private club where members maintained unlimited access to the facility while building the culture that surrounds private clubs around the county.” With a vision based on years of experience in the indoor facility management space, Davidson and the team at The Dink House have curated a unique and sophisticated membership tier structure to compliment their hope for the club to become a premier pickleball facility in the Indianapolis metro region.
The philosophy behind their membership structure is simple–”to provide a[n]…exclusive experience to [their] membership.” One of the goals for their tiered-membership is to limit the total number of membership opportunities within each tier. Their hope is to protect their membership base and ensure uninterrupted access to the facility while also having the ability to entertain non-members. Recently, The Dink House revamped their structure to focus on members having “access to the club and the ability to maximize their playing experience.” Both of The Dink House’s partners have been involved in the development of the membership structure and they visited with a number of Founder level members to help advise on necessary adjustments made during the update process.
In order to offer approachable options for every type of player, The Dink House went with a four-tiered structure consisting of the Founder, Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels. Within this structure, each tier comes with a different initiation and annual fee as well as varying amenities. While their initial approach for membership included an hourly court fee and fees associated with drop in and open play sessions, the newest update removed these fees for all membership tiers as well as other limitations. With a Founder level membership, you pay a higher initiation and annual fee and receive 24/7 access to the facility, 3 complimentary guest passes per month and a $5 fee for any additional guest passes, and are able to reserve a court up to 14 days in advance. Each subsequent membership tier pays a lower initiation and annual fee and receives slightly less amenities, such as less access to the club and fewer days to reserve courts ahead of time.
The thought behind having these four tiers is to offer the “highest” tier membership unlimited pickleball access, which only consists of a limited number of individuals, giving the exclusive experience an elevated appeal. From there, they built the additional tiers out “based on a slightly less accessible standard.” The Dink House provides perks for each tier associated with the level at which that membership tier stands within the structure overall. The scaling of the tiers “fit a model [they] saw across the country at venues that had similar formats in place.” With the four different tiers, in addition to guest play options, The Dink House hopes to offer a valuable option for all pickleball players in the area.
With the variations at each level, members can expect sure value from their chosen tier. Currently, The Dink House has “business professionals, retirees, and juniors all set to maintain membership opportunities at the club.” The wide spectrum of their target audience is supported by the plethora of membership options. Their goal is to include a vast range of “skill levels in order to provide an exceptional playing experience while [their] membership grows the game within” the Carmel community.
Using their connection to the Amatuer Pickleball Association, Davidson and his team were able to conduct quality market research to determine the specific prices associated with each tier. They “utilized a number of data points from [the Amatuer Pickleball Association’s] tournament history with venues around the country to map out a structure that their [their] goals of being a semi-private club.” One thing they kept in mind through this process is that they do not intend to be a 1000+ membership club because they want to maintain a strong focus of membership access to the facility. For this reason, they narrowed their research to membership formats from existing clubs that aligned with their goals. Using information from other clubs, as well as the “input of players that has expressed an interest in becoming a member before [they] even announced the facility to the public,” Davidson and his partner were able to set the pricing for each membership tier.
One of the unique features of a Founder level membership is the 24/7 access to The Dink House facility. During conversations with potential members during the club’s planning stages, they highlighted their desire to be able to play whenever they wanted. In response to this expressed desire, Davidson identified a “reservation system that allowed remote access so all members will have a remote key available to access the facility based on their membership level.” While pros and regular staff will be present during normal business hours, those interested in late night and early morning pickleball sessions will certainly have that option.
In order to maintain a high quality experience at the club, Davidson and his team have a firm idea of what they would like to see at The Dink House in terms of the total number of members within each tier. In theory, each tier “has a max acceptance for membership…but that number may fluctuate based on [the] interest level from one membership level to another.” However, the Founder level will cap out at 100 members, which is a hard ceiling in order to protect membership access to the facility. In total, Davidson expects club membership to be no higher than 700 members in total as “protecting [their] membership and their access to the facility remains a priority.” At this time, they are estimating to have approximately 250 members upon opening their doors in a few months.
The Dink House’s thoughtfully crafted membership structure lends to a diverse membership base and many opportunities for growth within the club. While they understand that membership based organizations are not for everyone, The Dink House is looking forward to welcoming both members and guests to their facility in late Q1 2024 and hopes to provide a quality option for indoor pickleball in the Indianapolis metro area.
