Tennis and squash: courts that guard themselves

Tuesday, seven in the evening — peak time. The phone at the front desk won't stop, the notebook holds three different handwritings and two crossed-out bookings. Two pairs are arriving on Court 2 at seven: one called yesterday, the other "booked through Marko" last week. Nobody knows which Marko. Meanwhile on Court 4 the coach is waiting for his private-lesson student — except the recreational players who duly paid at the front desk are already playing there.

That's not sloppiness, that's mathematics. Four courts, two coaches, a peak from five to nine, and a notebook that doesn't know a coached lesson takes up two things at once: a person and a court. Sooner or later two bookings land on the same spot, and you give away a free hour while apologising at the net. What follows: how to set up bookings so the court guards itself.

Why a notebook can't guard a court

Paper tracks one axis: time. Your schedule has two: courts and coaches. A booking that says "Ivan, Tuesday 7 pm" names neither the court nor whether a coach is needed — and it's exactly in those gaps that clashes are born.

Three things a notebook structurally cannot do:

• It can't see the court and the coach at once. A tennis-school lesson occupies both. You write down the coach, and the court is "implied" — until someone else pays for it at the front desk.
• It can't say no. At peak time the front desk flips pages and calculates from memory. "I think it's free" becomes a booking.
• It lives in one place. The coach can't see what the front desk has just written in, and a recreational player has to call — right at peak time.

The result: a double-booked court once or twice a month, hours given away as apologies, and regular pairs who quietly take their game elsewhere.

The court is a resource with its own column

The key shift: the court has to exist in the calendar as a resource — a separate column with its own availability, just like a coach. In Appointa you add each court as a resource of the kind Space: Court 1 to 4, Squash 1 and 2. The calendar has a Staff | Resources toggle — one click and instead of coaches you're looking at courts, each with its own column and blocks shown as gray bands. You drag a booking from court to court whenever a reshuffle is needed.

The internal name can be "Court 3 — clay, dome in winter" while clients see just "Court 3". You can add up to five photos to a resource, so clients see in the app what the court looks like. Resources are included in every plan, starting with the free Starter, and they don't use up staff seats — a court isn't a salary.

And a rental without a coach goes into the same calendar: the person on duty enters the booking, and a dropdown offers the courts (taken ones are marked right away) or leaves "Any available" so the system assigns one itself.

A coached lesson takes the coach and the court — together

On the service "Private tennis lesson" you switch on one field: Requires resource — Space. From that moment every booking reserves the coach and one free court, in a single move.

Online that means a double check: a slot simply doesn't appear in the offer unless both the coach and at least one court are free — when the courts are full, there are no slots, even if the coach is yawning. And when two clients race for the last free court in the same second, both requests pass through the same check inside one transaction: one gets the booking, the other gets a clean message that it's taken. Not a double-booked court — a message.

The client doesn't pick a court: the system assigns one, and the confirmation screen and the day-before reminder both say, for instance, "Space: Court 2".

Rain, clay, floodlights: block the court and the slots disappear

Outdoor courts answer to a boss above you — the weather. At three in the afternoon the sky darkens and you know there's no play after six. Instead of ringing round every evening booking, you open Court 1 and 2 and block them from 4 to 9 pm with the reason "rain". The slots vanish from the booking page that instant.

If the block overlaps existing bookings, the system warns you and asks for confirmation — you move those bookings indoors or cancel them. Clients are notified automatically: push and email, and those without the app — with the SMS add-on enabled — by SMS. Cancellations and reschedules reach even people who muted reminders, because nobody should travel to a soaked court.

The same mechanism covers maintenance: a full-day block for redressing the clay, servicing the floodlights or putting up the dome in November. "Squash 1 — floor varnishing 8–14" keeps the court out of the offer until two, then it fills up again on its own.

A standing slot for regulars: Wednesday at 8, all season

Every club has pairs who play like clockwork: the same two, the same Wednesday, September to June. For them there's the recurring appointment — set it once and it stands week after week, with a confirmation and a reminder before every visit. Nobody calls, and the best evening hour doesn't accidentally go to someone else. More in the guide to standing appointments.

A note from practice: services that require a court as a resource don't support recurring appointments yet. So tie standing slots to services without a resource — conditioning work, training in the club gym, or lessons with a coach who always works on the same court anyway.

A reminder the day before — and SMS for those without the app

An empty court at peak time is an hour that never comes back, and most gaps are born of forgetfulness. That's why a reminder goes out automatically the day before each booking: by email and push, and to clients without the app — with the SMS add-on enabled — by SMS, with a one-tap cancellation link. Whoever can't make it cancels at noon instead of leaving a gap gaping at seven.

The gap isn't patched by phone either: the waitlist automatically offers the freed slot to the first person who asked for exactly that time — and for those without the app that notice arrives by SMS too. Details in the waitlist guide, and the full arsenal against gaps in the guide to reducing no-shows.

Hour packages and payment that stays at the club

Tennis school runs on packages: ten hours with a coach, paid up front. On a paper card, sooner or later you hear "I definitely have five left". A package with a countdown kills that argument: the system knocks off an hour at every visit, and the balance — "4 of 10 left" — is visible to both the club and the client. The same number, in black and white.

And the money? Payment stays at the club: memberships, rentals and lessons are settled at the front desk as always. Appointa charges nothing — it runs the bookings, the courts and the records, and the money goes straight to you. You issue the receipt on your own cash register or, for businesses in Croatia on the Pro and Premium plans, as a fiscalised invoice from Appointa itself.

The maths: what the notebook costs you

Take a mid-sized centre: four courts, two coaches, a 5–9 pm peak, court rental at €20 an hour, a coached lesson at €40.

• A double-booked court — twice a month, conservatively. You gift the wronged pair an hour (€20), and when the clash lands on a coached lesson, its €40 is gone too. Around €80 a month directly — not counting the regular pair who, after the second apology, take their eight bookings a month (€160) elsewhere.
• Silent no-shows — three forgotten coached lessons a month: €120. Coach on the court, court empty, takings zero.
• Phone and copying — an hour a day of writing in, flipping pages and calling. With online bookings it drops to minutes; at a modest front-desk wage, €150 a month.

Total: around €350 a month, over €4,000 a year — plus the damage that never shows up on an invoice. On the other side of the price list: Starter is free up to 30 appointments a month, and a centre with a full peak fits into Pro at €20 or Premium at €40 a month.

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Two pairs on the same court at seven in the evening? In Appointa every court has its own column, a coached lesson takes the coach and the court together, a rain block removes the slots that instant, and confirmations and reminders (email and push, and by SMS for clients without the app with the SMS add-on) guard every hour. Try the demo for your industry — free, no card required. And the Starter plan is free — up to 30 appointments a month.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you stop two pairs from booking the same court?

The court has to exist in the calendar as a resource with its own column, not as a side note. A slot isn't even offered online unless both the coach and at least one court are free, and at booking time both are locked inside one transaction. When two people race for the last free slot, one gets it and the other gets a clear message that it's taken.

What happens to bookings when it rains?

You block the outdoor courts for the hours the rain takes, with the reason "rain 16–21", and those slots vanish from the online offer that instant. If the block overlaps existing bookings, the system warns you, so you move them indoors or cancel, and clients are notified automatically: push, email, and — with the SMS add-on — by SMS for those without the app.

Does the client pick a court when booking online?

No — and that's deliberate. The client picks the service, the coach and the time; the system assigns a free court itself, and times without a single free court simply aren't shown. The assigned court appears on the confirmation screen ("Space: Court 2") and in the day-before reminder, and photos of the court can be viewed in the app.