 |
 |
Parks & Rec Business
| How Not To Be Caught With Your Pants Down: Booking Reservations and Avoiding Disaster By Melanie Minch Sue Smith is a staff member at the Good Times Park Facility in Everyone’s Town. Last February she received a phone call from her friend, Alice. After many years, Fred had finally popped the question on Valentine’s Day, and the big event was to be June 15. “We’re going to need 200 chairs set up in Rose Park,” pleaded Alice. “Oh, please tell me that I can reserve that date, that park and those chairs!” “Sure, no problem,” said Sue. They talked excitedly about the wedding and how lovely Alice would look in her beaded strapless gown, surrounded by fully flowering rosebushes. When Sue hung up the phone, she wondered why her bum boyfriend hadn’t proposed to her yet, so … she forgot to write any of the reservations in the book. Two weeks before the wedding, Alice called to beg for 25 more chairs. “Everyone is coming, and we’re all so excited! I’m sure Rose Park is just going to be perfect!” Unfortunately, no chairs were available. In fact, Rose Park had never been reserved for Alice and Fred. Another wedding party reserved that spot and those chairs. Alice turned into Bridezilla, and Sue lost a friend. Obviously, this story is fiction, but it’s not an unfamiliar scenario for park and recreation facilities. Relying on fallible people and hand-written entries is often a recipe for disaster. Add several people taking reservations in different locations, and the chances of being caught with one’s pants down and creating a group of unhappy customers are compounded. Software To The Rescue Scheduling software, like Book King, can save time and money, and avoid frustration. Book King transforms the old-fashioned, and often misinterpreted, pen-and-ink reservation book into an easily used scheduling program. Sue, in the above story, could have used this software to check for park and chair rental availability. Then, if she had concentrated for only a moment, it would have been easy to reserve Rose Park and 200 chairs for June 15. When Alice called back, begging for more chairs, Sue could have quickly checked chair inventory and told Alice if more chairs were available to seat her growing guest list. “I Don’t Even Want To Tell You What We Did Before.” Vicki Blumberg, Recreation Superintendent for Chatham County Park Services, is happy with Book King, which she has used for about five years. “I don’t even want to tell you what we did before. Basically, everything was manual.” Chatham County has seven parks and facilities, and each park has three areas. There are also four sports complexes. Also, Chatham County is visited by many “out of towners” for family reunions. They call in, availability is checked on the computer program, and reservations are made. Vicki says, “It will not allow you to double book.” Big Selling Point Is Small Cost In The Corporation of the Township of Cavan-Monaghan (population 8,500) in Ontario Canada, Brian Millet is the Manager of Community Development & Facilities. His department uses Book King to organize the park system’s rentals and reservations. “At the time we purchased BK,” relates Millet, “we looked at other options and cost was the big reason. You know there is other software that is just way too expensive for a small municipality.” For a small population though, the Township has many parks and facilities. All 21 are booked on one software program. “It’s server based,” explains Millet, “and kept on the server that Book King owns out in the Vancouver area in British Columbia. We don’t store any of the data on-site; it’s all stored on their server, and they have redundancy backups to ensure that everything is saved.” Like many other small park systems, the Township at one time did all its booking in an actual book. The biggest problem was double bookings. Millet says, “Someone would phone in, the staff would forget to write it down. But this software will not let you double book.” Time Saver Book King saves time because it is always available. If someone phones into the park or recreation facility late, night staff can go online to check if a booking or rental is scheduled. Blumberg especially enjoys this feature. “I can be at my house on the weekend if someone calls, and with a password I can check anything I need to. I don’t have to be at my office. So that’s a great feature.” Reporting For Duty Book King also develops reports. Blumberg says, “As you know, county government is notorious for wanting different statistics, and I can pull them up quickly, including the number of rentals per facility and the amount of revenue produced per facility. So things like that are particularly helpful when I have to get reports for my director.” Customer Service Millett is sold on Book King’s customer service. The City of 29Palms Parks & Recreation Department in California is using Book King on a trial basis. Kary Minatrea, the Program Supervisor, says, “After a couple of days of training, we were up and running.” After the Internet connection is set up, Minatrea plans to have online registration. She says the software and service “are definitely helpful.” Book King publishes a quarterly newsletter that that offers advice on new and existing features, such as online registration, professional report capabilities and ticketing. The toll-free number is handy for information and customer service. |
All contents contained within this website may not be reproduced or disseminated without expressed written permission from the Publisher.