Highgate School, named the London Independent School of the Decade, based in North London, is renowned for its outstanding educational standards and state-of-the-art facilities. Their sports facilities at Mallinson Sports Centre, offers provision for squash, tennis, badminton, swimming, cricket, netball, and football.
The challenge
Recognising the untapped potential within their excellent facilities, the school identified two challenges that needed solving. First, to enhance their school lettings management process to reduce the time spent on administrative tasks for an already busy team. Second, the school aimed to tackle the task of boosting bookings, both to enhance income generation and foster greater community involvement. At the beginning of 2023 Highgate School took a proactive step towards addressing these objectives.
The solution
Bookteq, powered by Playfinder, provided a comprehensive solution to address Highgate School’s challenges. The implementation included the integration of Bookteq’s online booking system and Playfinder’s facility marketplace, leveraging both platforms to streamline bookings and enhance the facility’s visibility.
The results
217 extra bookings
In the first 6 months of implementation, Playfinder generated 217 additional bookings for the school, averaging 36 extra bookings per month. By July, over 20% of all bookings at the school were made through the Playfinder marketplace. This highlights the success of Playfinder in increasing awareness and attracting new users from the local community to the school’s facilities.
Reducing admin by up to 38%
The implementation of self-service options, including the Bookteq online widget (on the school’s website) and listing their facilities on the Playfinder marketplace, significantly reduced manual bookings. In the first month of the partnership 14% of bookings were completed using self-service methods, a trend that kept rising. By July 2023, 38% of all bookings were executed via self-service methods, resulting in a proportional 38% reduction in the time allocated by school staff for manual booking capture.
Over the first 7 months the average percentage of bookers that used self-service bookings was 25%, a percentage that’s set to increase with the uplifted adoption of self-service options by customers.
This graph shows the increase in adoption of self-service bookings through the; Bookteq online widget, Bookteq customer portal, and Playfinder marketplace app and website.
Playfinder marketing
Playfinder actively promoted Highgate School’s facilities through various channels, including email newsletters to 11,000+ Playfinder facility bookers, social media posts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and a printed banner at the facility. This marketing mix successfully increased awareness of the school’s facilities, translating into higher bookings and improved venue utilisation.
SEO Google ranking improvements
Through their Playfinder listing, Highgate School achieved high rankings on relevant search queries. Ranking in the top 3 on Google’s search results for queries such as; ‘Play sport in Highgate’, ‘Hire a pitch in Highgate’, and ‘Play squash near Highgate’. This increased their online visibility and reach in the local sports community.
A promising future for Highgate School
The collaboration between Bookteq, powered by Playfinder, and Highgate School has already demonstrated remarkable success. However, when examining the upward trends in self-service adoption and the booking data, it’s evident that this is just the beginning of a larger transformative journey. The partnership not only boosted booking numbers but also brought about substantial reductions in administrative workload. The outcome was further driven by Playfinder’s marketing initiatives and the noteworthy enhancements in SEO rankings. These factors collectively position Highgate School’s sports facilities as an increasingly preferred choice within their local community, promising a future filled with more bookings and less admin.
To explore how Bookteq can benefit your school’s facilities, schedule a free demo today. Experience a more streamlined and effective approach to sports facility management with Bookteq and Playfinder. Unlocking your facility’s potential is just a click away!
