ONLINE RESERVATION SYSTEMS DELIVER CONVENIENCE FOR GUESTS AND STAFF with AlleyTrak

By Corrie Pelc

When Chris Stewart, managing director of Starlite Lanes in Flagstaff, AZ, found out his current online reservation system was being discontinued, he immediately started looking for a replacement. “A reservation system allows our customers an outlet to book a lane and know that when they walk in the door, no matter how busy we are, they have a lane waiting for them. For a small center like ours, that can run anywhere from a two- to five-hour wait on any given Saturday,” said Stewart.

One of the reservation systems they considered was AlleyTrak. Stewart says one of the big selling points for them was the free two-week trial period the company offered. “They came in, implemented it for me, trained me, and then we got a free trial period for two weeks,” he recalls. “(They) didn’t charge us anything to install or give us our usernames.” After the two-week trial was over, the decision was easy. Starlite Lanes implemented AlleyTrak as their online reservation system in July 2022, and Stewart is thrilled with the results.

Easier and More Convenient for Guests and Staff

Since implementing AlleyTrak, Stewart says he has noticed it helps make the online reservation process easier for customers and bowling center staff. “The online reservation system provides our customers peace of mind that they will have a lane waiting for them once they complete their reservation.”

For example, with the older system, Stewart says guests would have to sift through 15 to 20 different time slots to find the available day and time they wanted to bowl. He explains that this would lead to extra communication with guests asking questions about pricing.

With AlleyTrak, Stewart says the programming allows guests to plug in the date they want to bowl and the number of people. “They simply hit check availability, and AlleyTrak brings up every time slot I have available for the parameters they set up,” Stewart adds.

New, Smarter, and More Efficient Systems

Reservation systems have come a long way since they were first introduced. The system automatically knows how many bowling lanes a guest needs depending on the number of people they bring. “Within my previous system, they could put 10 to 12 people down and only take one lane,” Stewart says. “That runs into capacity and safety issues.” With AlleyTrak, the moment a guest inputs they are a party of 12, Stewart’s system tells the customer right off the bat that two lanes are required. “The system will not physically allow them to reserve one lane — they have to select two,” he continues. This safety measure assures staff and guests that the correct number of lanes has been reserved.

Food and Beverage Upsells

While Starlite Lanes guests use AlleyTrak to reserve open bowling slots, Stewart says it is heavily utilized for birthday party reservations. The center has increased its food and beverage sales by offering birthday party guests the opportunity to prepurchase certain food items directly through the application.

“Most parties, because it’s younger kids [and] teenagers, they’re not looking for the full menu,” Stewart explains. “So, what we’re offering is our cheese and pepperoni pizza, hot dogs and fries, and sodas.”

Data! Data! Data!

As bowling guests make their reservations, AlleyTrak collects contact information, such as emails and texts, which can be valuable marketing tools.

When Stewart sees his reservations, the system tells him if they are new or returning customers. For example, the data gathered by the system were used to promote Starlight’s News Year’s Eve packages. A special promotion was offered to repeat guests to thank them for their patronage. “The data collection was helpful because it gave us email addresses. We sent a [special] email with an AlleyTrak link so our repeat customers could reserve a spot before we opened it up to the public,” Stewart said.

An online reservation system like AlleyTrak is an excellent convenience for guests and staff. These newer systems are more guest-friendly than ever while capturing new levels of data for your team to mine and use. Don’t get left in the 20th century; upgrade your online reservation system and see how valuable it can be to your bottom line.•