Fore!mula For Success - Third-Party Billing - January 2009
With the tight economy, marketing dollars are stretched to capacity as the competition for both new and existing customers is intensifying. Fortunately, with just a simple few clicks and keystrokes, Fore! Reservations Users have ready access to dozens of valuable marketing tools and features that can help courses employ successful marketing strategies such as third-party billing.
Whether or not your golf course is located in a destination location, third-party billing provides an easy and convenient way to attract new customers to your golf course. Courses typically partner with area hotels to offer a type of "stay and play" golf package for hotel guests. The hotel books and bills the reservation, oftentimes in exchange for a discount off the rack rate or a "net rate." This rate can help serve as an incentive for the hotel to send potential golfers to your course. By establishing cooperative relationships with these area hotels, restaurants or other third party vendors, courses gain access to a whole stream of new customers.
Located in Bandon, Oregon - a tourist drive-through area along the southwest coast of the state - Bandon Crossings Golf Course is an 18-hole public course, and a newcomer to the area, having just opened in the summer of 2007. "We have significantly different seasons here, and though the weather can be on and off during the winter months, we have plenty of great days for golfers to come out to play. This is when the ‘stay and play' packages with the local Best Western are especially popular," says Chris Young, Bandon Crossings Head Golf Professional. "People will check the forecast and book their hotel reservations at the last minute."
In 2008, its first full year of operation, approximately 10 percent of the course's 18,000 rounds were booked through third-party arrangements with local hotels and bed and breakfasts. "It's been really great," Chris says. "While it is definitely a revenue builder for us, it is also an awareness builder. Because we are so new, we're getting our name out there through the hotels."
"It's really a very simple process as well," states Chris. "The hotel books the reservation and gives the customer a voucher that is good for unlimited rounds of golf during their stay at the hotel, a cart and range balls. To ensure the customer never sees the receipt, we ring the transaction through once the players are on the course." Bandon Crossings then bills the hotels monthly, based on the number of players. All of this functionality is built into the Fore! Reservations system and is very simple to utilize.
"We've also negotiated various price breaks with the hotels based on the number of players they send us each month," Chris adds.
Similarly, Brian Wursten, General Manager at Falcon Ridge Golf Club in Mesquite, Nevada, has negotiated agreements with seven hotels in the vicinity, which he says account for some 20,000 of his 50,000 annual rounds. Located about an hour north of Las Vegas, Falcon Ridge has in fact, joined forces and formed a cooperative with nine other courses in the area to market their courses and secure reservations. "We're located in a town of about 17,000 people and all the courses are looking for business. When people come to town, they typically play three or four different locations during their trip. It really makes sense for us to work cooperatively together. We all set and manage our own rates and discounts and then bill the hotels on a monthly basis."
"I would encourage everyone to take advantage of the third party billing feature in the software because it's a guaranteed revenue generator," Chris Young says. "It gets people here who wouldn't normally play or who simply don't know about us. In this economy, people are looking for deals and specials, and this is a great marketing feature that doesn't cost a thing."
If you'd like additional information about setting up the third-party or hotel billing feature, please contact Fore! Reservations support at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (630) 789-9784. For upcoming issues of Fore!mula for Success, we'd love to hear your successes with attending Regional Users Conferences and hosting charity events at your course. Call us at 630-789-9705 or contact us via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will include it in a future issue of Fore!mula for Success.
