Sweetspot and BookVisit Create the World's First Comprehensive Golf Package Solution

Sweetspot and BookVisit, two leading companies in their respective fields, have joined forces to develop a groundbreaking integration called Sweetspot Golf Package. This innovative integration and module will make the management of golf package bookings simple and seamless for customers.

With Sweetspot Golf Package, golf destinations can minimise administrative work and avoid double bookings, all while maximising revenue from golf packages. Visitors to golf club websites can easily access the package solution and initiate a booking. Furthermore, players are given the opportunity to manage their own cancellations according to the destination's cancellation policies.

By leveraging BookVisit's connection to hotel room Property Management Systems (PMS) and Sweetspot's golf booking platform, guests can conveniently book both hotel rooms and tee times before completing the booking process with online payment. The future lies in building smart online flows and supporting operational efficiency, says Fredrik Norbeck, Business Unit Manager at BookVisit.

One of the most exciting features of this integration is that Sweetspot collects data and analyses bookings to recommend optimal pricing for different seasons. This allows golf destinations to optimise revenue and increase bookings by offering the right golf package to the right customer at the right time.

We are confident that this groundbreaking integration between Sweetspot and BookVisit will revolutionise the golf destination industry in Europe by streamlining the booking process, increasing revenue, and providing a first-class booking experience for golfers, concludes Henrik Ahlin, CEO and founder of Sweetspot.

BookVisit Fredrik Norbeck Tel: +46 702 78 65 74 Email: fredrik@bookvisit.com

Sweetspot AB Henrik Ahlin Tel: +46 707 20 22 31 Email: henrik@sweetspot.io

BookVisit is the Nordic leading business development platform for hospitality. An all-in-one solution specialised in direct bookings and online sales. With the primary objective to help our customers boost conversion and generate up sales to achieve operational efficiency. BookVisit was established in 2012 and is a part of Visit Group.

Sweetspot is the market-leading, data-driven platform that helps golf facilities with revenue management and reaching their full potential. The company was founded in 2016 and today assists customers in the Nordics and the UK.

Sweetspot vill driva denna fråga främst via domstolen men finner det nödvändigt att kommentera en rad direkta felaktigheter som kommunicerats av SGF. Vi hoppas att nedan kan räta ut eventuella frågetecken och klargöra vår syn på saken.

I dagsläget finns det inte en välfungerande fri marknad inom området golfsystem eftersom SGF indirekt tvingar alla golfklubbar att betala för GIT. Det gör man genom att villkora betalning för GIT med övriga tjänster som man erbjuder. Exempelvis, vill man som golfklubb i Sverige kunna erbjuda sina medlemmar handicap krävs att man är med i förbundet och för att vara med i förbundet måste man betala förbundsavgiften. Själva förbundsavgiften finns bara i en form och i den ingår även betalning för GIT. Alltså villkorar förbundet betalning för GIT med övriga tjänster och det anser vi är fel.

Hur fungerar finansieringen av golfförbundets system GIT?

Förbundet tar dels ut en förbundsavgift, dels en medlemsavgift. Båda avgifterna baseras på antalet medlemmar hos klubben ifråga och är obligatoriska för alla klubbar i Sverige. Relevant i sammanhanget är även att GIT-avgiften inte räckt för att finansiera utveckling av plattformen vilket gjort att förbundet de senaste åren, via aktieägartillskott, tvingats tillföra GIT ca 22,6 miljoner. Dessa medel är alltså pengar som klubbarna betalat i tron om att de skall gå till andra saker men istället gått till utvecklingskostnader för GIT. 

Kan en golfklubb avstå från att betala för GIT?

Nej. Förbundet väljer emellertid att bara prata om att det står klubbarna fritt att använda GIT vilket är sant men undviker att nämna att alla klubbar ändå måste betala för det. Det senaste exemplet på denna retorik går att finna här, se frågan “Kan klubben välja att inte använda GITs bokningssystem”  https://golf.se/om-golfsverige/angaende-stamningsansokan-mot-sgf/

Vad vill Sweetspot åstadkomma med stämningen?

Med stämningen vill vi åstadkomma en fri, rättvis och välfungerande marknad för golfsystem i Sverige. På en väl fungerande marknad kan flertalet aktörer konkurrera med varandra och genom sin konkurrens utveckla och förbättra sina produkter. Vi tror att det kommer gynna golfen, golfklubbarna och i förlängningen naturligtvis golfarna.

Förbundet väljer att rikta uppmärksamheten mot klubbarna istället för att bemöta oss i de faktiska sakfrågor stämningen tar upp. För den insatte är det dock tydligt att Sweetspot stämmer Svenska Golfförbundet och Svenska Golfförbundet Golfsystem AB, inte klubbarna. 

Det finns inget i vår stämning som syftar till att påverka hur SGF är organiserat, dess medlemsklubbar, deras beslutsprocesser, hur man organiserar eventuellt samarbete avseende GIT eller ens GIT:s existens. Att vår stämning skulle utmana den svenska modellen stämmer inte, tvärtom anser vi att förbundet har en nyckelroll att spela som administrativt ansvarig bland annat för handicap, medlemsregister, tävling och juniorverksamhet. Vi utgår ifrån att förbundet förstår detta vilket ger den enda rimliga förklaringen att de vill skapa opinion och utnyttja sin monopolställning till att sätta sig på mindre aktörer. Ett beteende vi tyvärr har alltför många exempel på. 

Sweetspot's business concept is to build a business platform that collects and ensures accurate data on all transactions and in addition delivers insights and functionality that increase golf facilities' revenues with the help of Revenue Management.

Revenue Management means selling the right service, to the right person, at the right price, at the right time optimally packaged. This means that you need to know your customers' perception of the value of a service and optimize your pricing and availability for tee times according to this and offer it to the right customer segment.

In practice, this means that the golf facility's focus is shifted away from working with volume, i.e. more members, more guests or more partners to increase its revenue. Instead focus on which target groups we have, which we want to attract and how we can optimize our revenue towards these customer segments.

Below, Sweetspot presents four different steps a golf facility can take to significantly increase its revenue.

Make sure that greenfee prices are high on attractive tee times

The right pricing at attractive tee times creates financial incentives to pay the annual fee to the facility and creates a large membership value. Members do not have to play many rounds on attractive tee times if the price is high on green fees to justify paying the annual fee. Low prices and discounts on attractive tee times create the opposite effect and drive members away from annual memberships.

Set the right price for less attractive times

High prices at attractive tee times create demand for tee times that have lower prices and are less attractive. Green fee guests will move away from the best times and towards tee times with lower attractiveness to get a reasonable price. This in turn creates great accessibility for the club members to the attractive tee times. At most clubs, members are the most important customer and should be prioritized in terms of accessibility too attractive tee times to increase the value of membership. Filling these tee times with green fee guests reduces the possibility of reaching the number of rounds I want to play and makes it difficult to justify my annual fee and willingness to pay decreases.

Each golf club has a small group, 10 - 15% of members, who are responsible for the largest part of all play at the club (about 50% of the attractive tee times). By limiting the current full membership so it contains a maximum limit of the total number of bookings at the best tee times, you create better accessibility and enable more people to take part of these tee times. This ensures that members who usually don’t get to play as much now remain as full time members since their number of rounds goes up on expensive, attractive tee times. Their willingness to pay remains.

However, the willingness to pay and the demand for golf is the highest among those who play a lot on attractive tee times. By introducing new memberships where you are offered better accessibility than before, more rounds at attractive times, plus a few other benefits, the club can now charge substantially more of this target group. 

Limit the number of simultaneous bookings strictly

By severely limiting the possibility of booking several attractive tee times in advance, you open up for much better accessibility for all members. There is a great demand for more simultaneous bookings and you as a club can also take advantage of this demand and thereby increase your membership income. By diversifying memberships based on how many simultaneous bookings are included, the club can increase its revenue and offer something that some target groups consider important.  Membership with several simultaneous bookings requires a higher price, while the less active member can choose a membership that fits its level of play better with less number of simultaneous bookings included in the offer to perhaps a lower price. 

Are you interested in knowing more about how Sweetspot analyzes your data, serve it in best in class business intelligence dashboards and combine that with uses of strategic revenue management to help golf facilities reach their full potential please contact:

A word with Sweetspot - article in CMAE news magazine

The Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) are delighted to announce a new partnership with Swedish based software company Sweetspot

Golf tech frontrunner Sweetspot partner up with CMAE

The Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) are delighted to announce a new partnership with Swedish based software company Sweetspot.  

Sweetspot has in recent years revolutionized the golf business in Sweden with its data-driven revenue management platform. Now they partner up with CMAE.

“I have followed their development on the Swedish market and when they now decided to go international, our discussions were great since they enjoy education as much as we do, Torbjörn “Toby” Johansson, Director of Education CMAE commenting. 

“We are excited to become a partner with CMAE and its members. The partnership will serve as the first step towards a more strategic and knowledge-driven context in the European golf market. We want to be an active partner and, together with the experience and knowledge within the CMAE organization, develop the golf facilities in Europe – says Henrik Ahlin, CEO and founder of Sweetspot.

Sweetspots mission is to help golf facilities worldwide reach their full potential. The company was founded in 2016 with operations in Sweden and will expand to the European market during 2022.

For further information please visit https://sweetspot.io or contact Henrik Ahlin henrik@sweetspot.io , Gustav Andersson on gustav@sweetspot.io +46709 653 395

Tel | +44 (0) 2476 692359 | Mob | +44 (0) 7900 604814

News

Sweetspot x BookVisit Press Release

Stämningen mot SGF

A word with Sweetspot - article in CMAE news magazine

Press release CMAE Sweetspot