As the first official pickleball club in Miami, Florida, it was important for DETA Pickleball Club to make a good first impression on the Miami community and ensure the administrative aspects of their club were well-organized. For this reason, DETA chose to work with CourtReserve for their backend management system to help them run their club confidently, knowing they can focus on pickleball and CourtReserve will handle reservations and other overhead tasks. Offering a variety of management tools specifically designed for pickleball clubs, CourtReserve brings value to their clubs through their dynamic reservation system, providing digital waivers to customers, point of sale features, and other add-ons the clubs can choose based on their requirements.
Having done thorough research on the various applications in the pickleball club management world, DETA Pickleball decided CourtReserve was best suited to meet the needs of their members as well as their staff. At DETA Pickleball, they use the system for things such as marketing, processing billing and payments, managing their customer database, and more. Further, because the uses for CourtReserve are so plentiful, everyone from DETA Pickleball’s day-to-day staff to their leadership team has a reason to use the system. To ensure all levels of their staff are adequately equipped to use CourtReserve, DETA Pickleball provides training to “show [their] staff how to do the different things they will need to know how to do,” says Stéphane Jolicoeur, the Director of Pickleball at DETA Pickleball. Additionally, CourtReserve maintains their own resources available to customers regarding best practices and information on how to utilize various features.
According to Jolicoeur, the process of onboarding CourtReserve and getting their club set up with the application was “very smooth…and seamless…[as they] give you a give you a grace period where you can start building your system and set you up with information and someone to help you.” As with virtually all systems when first integrating them into your organization, there are sure to be some errors here and there upon going live. “Other than the typical new system obstacles,” says Jolicoeur, “[they] had nothing alarming.” DETA Pickleball has found both the training and set up process to be relatively headache-free, allowing them to not waste valuable time installing the program and working through kinks so their staff can dedicate time to serving their members and ensuring the best pickleball experience for all who play at the club.
One of the key features of CourtReserve is that they offer a mobile application for both end-users and the client, serving a variety of purposes for both parties. For club members, the app allows them to see what courts are available during what times and make reservations that fit best with their schedules. The app “makes it much easier for people to check what [the club has] going on any given day or moment,” offering users real time information and updates about what programming may be available. Jolicoeur is confident that “having the ability to check and reserve/book on the spot [has] certainly increase[d their] numbers.” On the client side of things, DETA Pickleball staff are able to use the CourtReserve app to proactively communicate club updates to members and keep them informed about what is going on at the club throughout the week. Jolicoeur considers the app as “essential for [their] staff and players as [they] can do everything from there.” The versatility of the mobile app brings value to both clubs and their members as there are many features that allow them to do their job more efficiently and engage more thoroughly with the club.
Having a backend management system is crucial for any club wanting to grow at scale and simplify their overhead administrative tasks. “Of course there’s a cost to it, but the value that the system/application brings to your business, like automation of specific tasks, quickness of transactions, [and] keeping track of things… makes it well worth it,” says Jolicoeur. In particular, DETA Pickleball heavily utilizes CourtReserve’s communication functions to send messages to customers via email, push notifications, and text. The ability to communicate in a timely and efficient manner with members can be a determining factor in their experience at your club. The application’s capability to reach member’s via their phone is also essential as people spend so much of their time on their phones, giving the club even greater assurance that the message was received and can be acted upon by members.
While each club is going to value a backend management system a bit differently based on the makeup of their club, for DETA Pickleball, the most prominent ways the system benefits the club is through “time and effort–the amount of time saved by using a system and the ease and simplicity of doing different tasks.” The features of a backend management system can frequently expedite regular, tedious tasks of a club’s staff, allowing them to use their time more productively and save labor costs. Jolicoeur appreciates the time-saving features of CourtReserve and believes it ultimately saves the club money in the long run. As they say, “time is money.”
Having done his own research for DETA Pickleball, Jolicoeur believes CourtReserve “could fit most clubs” due to its ability to adapt to each club’s specific needs from a backend management system. He suggests investing in your own research prior to committing to an application to ensure it is the right fit for your club.
Because CourtReserve is constantly looking to improve their features and add new features to the system, clubs will continuously be able to integrate new functions and enhance their backend management. In his experience working with CourtReserve, Jolicoeur highlights that they “listen to their customers and try their best to accommodate or provide what’s necessary to make things better for [the club and] their customers.” In return, this relationship brings great value to the client and club members alike.
While there are a variety of backend management systems on the market, CourtReserve was specifically designed with pickleball clubs in mind, making their features especially worthwhile to clubs. DETA Pickleball has certainly enjoyed their partnership with the system. Regardless of which application you choose, having a system in place to manage backend tasks such as communication, billing, and others, can be an extremely helpful tool as a club trying to better execute administrative tasks and grow the club.
