At Rally, a swanky pickleball club located in Charlotte, North Carolina, their focus on craft cocktails, an elevated cuisine, and even a specialty coffee program creates a one-of-a-kind atmosphere that lends itself to high-caliber hospitality. Rally’s unique take on pickleball offers guests an immersive social experience that is sure to leave players feeling connected and welcome.
As a modern social club with ample opportunity for pickleball play and socialization, Rally seeks to provide an environment encased in first-rate hospitality from the time you enter their facility. “Connection is at the crux of everything Rally does,” says Barrett Worthington, one of Rally’s two co-founders. The venue itself includes four pickleball courts, a bar, cafe, and ping-pong area. Further, they have The Annex, which is a “club house speakeasy-style cocktail bar and private event space.” At Rally, they understand that hospitality extends to the aesthetics of a space, choosing peach and turquoise as their primary color scheme for the courts with a decorative lounge area. Within these two unique spaces, Rally hopes to offer guests a place to gather with one another to enjoy pickleball or even just a morning coffee or happy-hour meetups.
Their approach to hospitality begins with a purposefully designed place for guests to enjoy first-class pickleball courts and dining. A prime icebreaker activity, the game of pickleball itself fosters connection unlike many other sports. As such, Rally has rooted their pickleball experience in conversation and connection, rather than traditional pickleball programming often found in gyms, tennis clubs, or other pickleball clubs. Through a variety of leagues and seasonal programming, Rally seeks to help guests “meet [their] people” and buy into the social club environment cultivated at a venue like this one. Their inviting space encourages players to “arrive early and stay late to continue conversations with newfound friends.” Moreover, they make it a priority to offer programming for all levels of players, whether you are looking for an intense physical activity or a leisurely game.
In addition to the pickleball, Rally places a significant amount of resources on ensuring their dining experience is up to par offering craft cocktails and a chef-curated menu that is guaranteed to be hospitable to a wide variety of palettes. Included in the menu are “shareable bites that foster more connection and conversation.” The intentionality of the cuisine at Rally is highlighted by their staff, which they refer to as ‘Captains,’ who play a crucial role in executing the club’s hospitality strategy. The term ‘Captain’ is used to give ownership to their staff in the area of hospitality so they view their role as a “hybrid coach and host function” and seek to have close interactions with guests. The responsibility of Captains extends beyond taking a food and drink order and often entails giving tutorials, pointers, and occasionally evening playing with a group in need of a fourth player.
With such high expectations for themselves in regards to their hospitality, the team at Rally has identified several goals for themselves in this area to ensure they are delivering a first-rate hospitality experience. One of their core values is “magic moments – small acts of service that surprise and delight guests by anticipating their needs and exceed[ing] expectations,” says Megan Charity, Rally’s other co-founder. They believe they can provide daily ‘magic moments’ by offering guests exceptional service as well as genuine interactions. To accomplish this goal, they understand that the details matter and are not to be overlooked.
Guest experience is of utmost importance at Rally, hence their emphasis on creating unforgettable moments for each and every person who enters their venue. Just recently, they used Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to show an extra level of care for their players, crafting unique court reservation and appetizer packages and seeking to welcome both couples and ‘galentines’ groups. Rally’s Director of Operations, Becca Gass, went the extra mile by creating personalized Valentine’s cards filled with staff signatures and made it so that each group would leave with a polaroid keepsake of their time at Rally. Worthington notes that “at Rally, hospitality isn’t just about service–it’s about creating lasting memories.”
In addition to their mission to create these special memories, the team at Rally works tirelessly to ensure guests are provided an opportunity to form meaningful connections with each visit to the club. “Connection is at the center of everything we do at Rally,” says Charity, “More than 40% of our players come alone and 100% leave having met someone new.” One of her favorite examples of this connection-building is witnessing players who met at their Courts & Coffee program – a morning event centered around open play and cold brew from the Rally cafe – and then later made their own reservation to play pickleball together on the weekend. This community and connection building only happens because of the intentionality of everyone at Rally, from the top of their leadership team to their Captains.
Rally’s co-founders hold every person on their team responsible for maintaining their brand of hospitality through friendliness and warmth to all. Everyone is encouraged to “embody Rally’s values in all their interactions as they are essential to creating a welcoming and positive environment for everyone.” This level of hospitality requires leading by example. To exhibit first-rate hospitality toward their team, during training, Rally’s leadership team gathered information on each staff members’ favorite snack or drink so they could treat their team to this small but impactful gesture of hospitality. Rally’s leadership team expects to be the tone-setters for hospitality within the club while calling on their team to uphold a high standard of hospitality that is sure to reverberate throughout the club.
As Charity likes to put it, “Rally is a nexus for where active people socialize and social people get active” through pickleball. Rally’s deluxe design elements, chef-curated dining, and leisure opportunities converge to offer customers a highly intentional hospitality experience through and through. Each of the elements that comprise an experience at Rally were “carefully considered to bring people together and combat today’s pressing loneliness crisis,” says Worthington.
