Fore!mula For Success - Proper Webpage Branding & Price Control Case Study - December 2010

Can Courses in Phoenix, AZ Survive Without a Third-Party Booking Engine as Their Main Reservationist?

During the 2010 golf season, Fore! Reservations conducted an exploratory case study with two golf courses in the Phoenix, AZ market. The purpose of this study was to determine if a golf course located in a market flooded with tee time resellers could survive without utilizing a third-party booking engine as their main online reservationist. Under the implementation guidance of Fore! Reservations, the participating courses made changes to their website and online tee time pricing strategy. Both courses continued to utilize third-party tee time resellers, but not as the course website's main booking engine. Fore! Reservations saught to prove that this is the best model for courses to follow when using third-parties in order to protect their brand, maintain tee time price integrity and encourage customer loyalty.

The case study’s three objectives, results and operator feedback are included in this analysis. The results were conclusive for both courses, as they were each able to shift consumers away from the third-party tee time reseller and back towards their own website. Each course remained steady on rounds and revenue in a market where third-party websites are the primary booking vehicle.

Objective #1 – Increase the Number of Online Reservations Made Through the Golf Course’s Website While Decreasing the Number of Online Reservations Made Through Third-Party Websites

Implementation Changes Made
Course A: A third-party website previously served as the course’s main online booking engine prior to the 2010 season. The third-party booking engine was replaced with the Fore! Internet booking links in March 2010. The course elected to keep a link to the third-party website on their webpage so customers could see the price differences, but it did not serve as the main booking engine.
Course B: A third-party website previously served as the course’s only online booking engine prior to the 2010 season. The third-party booking engine was replaced with the Fore! Internet booking links in March 2010. The course removed the link to the third-party website from their site.

Results
Course A: The golf course's Internet rounds increased 29% while third-party bookings decreased 37%.
Course B: The golf course's Internet rounds increased 25% while third-party bookings decreased 38%.

Operator Feedback
Course A: “We needed a strategy to fight the challenges in our marketplace where golfers are trained to shop on price only because of the heavy influx of third-party discounting. Regaining control of our tee time pricing strategy was the first step to distance ourselves from the price erosion we face in our area.”
Course B: “By participating in this study I discovered avenues available to me as a Fore! Reservations customer that could help move the needle on driving more golfers to our website to book more rounds online for as close to full price as possible. I quickly learned that by implementing Fore! Internet tools, our facility could retake control of the branding of our webpage.”

Objective #2 – Offer the "Lowest Price Guarantee" On the Golf Course’s Website to Help Regain Control of Its Tee Time Price Integrity and Webpage Brand.

Implementation Changes Made
Course A: To regain control of the course’s tee time price integrity, customers had to be retrained to become loyal to the golf course’s website; a challenge in the Phoenix market. The course accomplished this by offering the "Lowest Price Guarantee" on their website with green fee rates $2.00 lower than what could be found anywhere else online. In addition, the course raised their rates found on any third-party site to ensure their price integrity was kept intact and so customers knew the best value could only be found on their site.
Course B: To take back control of their webpage brand, the course offered the "Lowest Price Guarantee" on their website with green fee rates 5% less than what could be found anywhere else online. In addition, the course implemented all Fore! Internet tools on their webpage to enable the management of their own online specials.

Results
Course A: In 2010, rounds were up 2%, green fee revenue was up 4% and the course raised the revenue per round booked through third-parties by 2%. This is contrary to the previous season, when the course gave $100,000 in barter times to a third-party vendor while their tee times were sold on average for $20 less than their rack rate, consequently driving their profits down.
Course B: In 2010, the course also raised the revenue per round booked through third-parties by 3%. Overall, they made modest gains and started to climb out of their previous down years; significantly shrinking the percentage in revenues lost compared to previous seasons.

Operator Feedback
Course A: “By promoting that the best rate is found on our website, we increased rounds booked online as well as the percentage booked through our webpage versus a third-party’s. Customers are price sensitive so you can capture their attention very quickly by saying ‘Did you know you’ll always get the lowest rate and pay no booking fees at our website?’ By encouraging customers to book at our site, we made strides in shifting where their loyalty lies. For those that shop on price alone, now they come to our site where we control the price.”
Course B: “I believe we righted the ship this year. As customers became more loyal to our website they learned we offered the best deal so we were able to do more value-added specials and could discount less. This shift definitely impacted our turnaround this season.”

Objective #3 – Illustrate that a Course Can Regain Customer Loyalty to the Individual Golf Course.

Implementation Changes Made
Course A: Utilizing the "Lowest Rate Guarantee" pitch, the counter staff consistently promoted their website at all points of customer interaction so golfers were well informed of where they could find the best rate. The more customers that booked online through their site, the larger the course’s marketable e-mail database grew, helping increase retention throughout the season by promoting their rates to their customers.
Course B: The course implemented the Comeback Coupon (a feature available in the Fore! Reservations Point of Sale) as a means to incentivize third-party customers to book their next online reservation through the course’s website.

Results
Course A: The course retained a higher number of customers in 2010 and grew their customer database by 1,000 valid e-mail addresses (7% growth).
Course B: The third-party Comeback Coupon drove customers to the golf course's own Internet Specials Calendar where $18,444 in revenue was generated this season.

Operator Feedback
Course A: “The biggest impact we witnessed was the increase in customer loyalty which is where everything begins. Golfers may start on a third-party site to see the big picture of availability, but because of our efforts to separate our brand from others this season, more customers came to our site to book. Once they were on our site, the customer learned more about our course, and we became less of a commodity and more of a brand entity in their mind.”
Course B: “If you can get more customers to your website more often you have a better chance of creating a lasting relationship with them and getting a greater share of their rounds played.”

Case Study Takeaways on How to Properly Utilize Third-Party Tee Time Resellers:

Use your course’s webpage booking engine for online tee time reservations.
Brand your website and your e-mail marketing promotions.
Remove any third-party from your website.
Offer the “Lowest Rate Guarantee” on your website.
Train your customers to go to your course website to book online tee times.
Carefully monitor for invalid e-mail addresses dropped into your database coming from third-party reservation transactions. (Both courses discovered fictitious e-mails from third-parties).
Thoughtfully track the revenue per round from bartered tee times. If you determine your average revenue is decreasing and it is costing your facility money, eliminate barter all together.
Propose the third-party operate on a “commission-based” sales model. Pay them for rack rate tee times sold.
Google your course online to make sure there are no third-parties using your course name for their benefit.
Review third-party contracts carefully to ensure your business is protected.

The golf courses participating in this case study as well as third-party tee time resellers were not named in this analysis for the purpose of protecting all parties anonymity. For additional information about this case study, please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .