By Harvey Silverman, Contributor, Golf Business | Silverback Golf Marketing
Airlines don’t do it. Hotels don’t do it. Car rentals don’t do it. Restaurants don’t do it. So what is it that some golf courses have begun to do that other hospitality industries don’t?
How about charging a reservation fee for the privilege of booking a tee time on their websites?
Sure, some companies have charged a reservation fee for years and made a ton of money taking golfers’ beer money. However, one can argue that the golfer receives some value by accessing a bunch of courses and their availability in one location. It’s weak, but it’s valid.
I firmly believe that once you’ve succeeded in getting the golfer to your website to book a tee time and then telling them, “Hey, we’re happy you’ve decided to play here. Now we’re going to stick you with a fee, just to reserve your time,” degrades the hospitality – the “welcoming” aspect that smart golf courses strive to achieve. In short, it’s just plain wrong.
Where is this happening, and why? Follow me here. So far, I’ve found three courses that have installed a pretty robust A.I.-powered phone reservation system. One of the technology’s partners stated in a recent interview that 70% of tee times booked are over the phone. I know it’s taken far too long to train golfers to book online rather than by phone, but that number sounded way too high. In fact, it’s misleading because it includes tee times reserved at the 3,000-4,000 courses that do not have online booking capabilities. Holy Dark Ages, Batman!
I’ve tested the A.I. phone system a couple of times and given it no higher than a grade of C+. It does not sound robotic. In fact, it sounds pretty natural. But the background noise designed to make it sound “live” is annoying. Also, there can be an unnatural two to three-second delay before it answers difficult questions, if it can answer them at all. And it likes to say, “Just a sec.” Maybe that’s a local colloquial thing like “alrighty” or “you betcha.” The one big hole? I called on a Tuesday. I knew the course had a 14-day booking window, so I asked for a tee time on Wednesday. A.I. didn’t ask me which Wednesday. It defaulted to the next day. It should have asked and verified which Wednesday upfront instead of taking me through the reservation process only to learn upon confirmation that I wanted a time a week later.
I can get nitpicky about a couple of other things, but that’s not the point of this article.
The golfer will pay a non-refundable fee of $2.49 per person to reserve with the A.I. “concierge.” In other words, all of those golfers whose habits include calling to reserve a tee time will now pay for that privilege.
So won’t that drive people to book online, Captain Obvious? It should, but when they get there, they’ll learn they’ll pay the same fee to book the desired tee time.
Here’s why. A well-placed and respected source told me that it’s likely that the A.I. platform used to power the call-in reservation system uses a consumption model to generate revenue. The $2.49 fee sounds somewhat arbitrary, so my guess is both the course and the technology provider share the revenues. Rather than the golf course facing sizable variable costs, it chose to charge the golfers. However, the online fee is nothing but a money grab with no value to the customers.
A.I. is well on its way into the golf industry on multiple levels, and someone has to pay for it. One way or another, customers will likely be paying higher prices. We’re working hard to bring more new golfers to green grass and retain those who’ve already found us. Charging them for the simple act of reserving a tee time is antithetical to the welcoming philosophy adopted and strived for by smarter operators.