In this guide 6 sections
Choose leisure software by testing it on your own inventory of time: tee slots, campsites, rooms or tour seats. Check that bookings, member accounts, stock and the daily close share one record. Then run a real busy day through a trial copy before you commit.
Your product is a slot of time, not a stock item
A shop sells a unit and the unit is gone. A leisure business sells a tee time, a site for three nights or a seat on a departure, and once the slot passes unsold it is lost for good. No restock fixes that.
That one fact separates leisure systems from shop systems. The booking grid is the core. Ask every vendor to show it first, before reports, apps or payment screens, because everything else hangs from the grid and inherits its flaws.
A hotel system comes close, yet it assumes a room is the unit. A fourball on a tee sheet or a 40 foot rig on a gravel pad follows different rules.
- Tee sheet with interval, rotation and release rules
- Campsite grid with hookups and rig length
- Tour file with seats, supplier costs and departure dates
- Room or cabin calendar with housekeeping status
Test the rules, not the screenshots
Demo screens look alike. The rules underneath do not. Bring five awkward bookings from last season and have the vendor key them in live while your head professional or front desk lead watches the clicks.
A member who books a guest. A family who extends a stay into a booked night. A group that cancels half its seats. Each case shows whether the system holds a rule or only a note.
Watch what the clerk types by hand. Each manual field is a future mistake at 7 am on a Saturday.
Members, visitors and groups need separate prices on one record
Most leisure sites sell the same slot at different rates to different people. Members, visitors, juniors, seniors, societies, tour operators and corporate days each have their own price and booking window, and they overlap constantly.
The system should attach the rate to the person, not to the clerk’s memory. It should also carry the deposit, the balance and the cancellation terms on the same record. A paper diary cannot do this reliably.
Ask how a mid season rate change works. Old bookings should keep the old rate.
- Member class with its own booking window
- Visitor, society and tour operator rates
- Deposit, balance and cancellation terms per booking
- Guest passes and visit counts
Follow the takings from the gate to the ledger
Count what is sold beyond the booking. Cart hire, range balls, firewood, ice, pro shop stock, snack bar orders and excursion add ons all land on the same bill, and each needs its own stock line.
Ask where each sale is posted and who closes the day. The daily close should match the till, the card terminal and the bookings sheet in one report. If three printouts must be added by hand, the close will drift.
Check the accounting link too. Revenue should reach the ledger by category, with deferred deposits kept apart from earned income.
- Point of sale for shop, cafe and rentals
- Stock counts with reorder levels
- Card terminal and cash tally in one close
- Export to the accounting package you already use
Run a trial week before you buy
Pick the busiest week you can replay. Load last year’s bookings, members and prices into a trial copy, then let the front desk and the manager use it for a few real days.
Note every time someone reaches for a pen. Each one is a gap.
Finish by asking who owns your data on exit. Members, bookings and balances must export as plain CSV files whenever you choose.
Selection worksheet
Five rows on a single page, one per area: booking grid, rates, add on sales, daily close and data export. Columns across the page record what you need, what the vendor showed live, what was keyed in by hand and the written answer. A box at the bottom holds the trial week result and who signs off.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How many systems does a leisure business need?
Often one booking and billing system is enough, with the accounting package kept separate. Problems start when tee times, shop sales and members sit in three tools that never meet.
Can a hotel system run a campground or golf course?
It can handle rooms and cabins well. It rarely handles tee intervals, rig length matching or member booking windows. Test it on your hardest booking before you assume it will.
What should we ask a vendor first?
Have them key in your five most awkward bookings from last season, live, while you watch. How they handle the exceptions reveals far more than a feature list does.
Is a mobile app for guests essential?
Not always. Online booking and a clear confirmation message matter more. A guest app helps when check in, gate codes or tee time changes are frequent.