A flat hourly rate charges the Friday 7 PM player the same as the Tuesday 10 AM player, though one hour sells out days ahead and the other sits empty. Time-of-day rates fix that, but only if each rate has a clear job.
A higher peak rate earns more from hours that would sell anyway. A lower off-peak rate is worth it only if it brings in bookings you would not have had. This guide shows how to find your windows, test each rate before you set it, and keep packs and member rates from undoing the work.
Find your peak hours in your bookings
Use four to eight weeks of your own bookings, not a feeling about which nights are busy. Mark each hour of the week by how it sells.
- Peak: sells out days ahead, and you turn players away.
- Shoulder: fills on the day, or fills some weeks and not others.
- Off-peak: stays mostly empty.
In Onsuki, the Busiest Times report shows bookings by day of the week and hour. It counts each booking at the hour it starts, so a two-hour booking from 6 PM shows at 6 PM only. Check the court calendar to see how long your evenings stay full. Outdoor courts and indoor bays can sell very differently in the rainy season, so look at each kind of space on its own.
Test a discount before you set it
A peak premium has one risk: regulars who move to another venue. An off-peak discount has a quieter one. It lowers the price for everyone who already books that hour, not only the new players it brings.
Here is an example with made-up numbers. An off-peak hour sells two bookings a week at ₱700, which is ₱1,400. At ₱500, it needs three bookings, ₱1,500, just to come out ahead. If the hour already sells well, leave it at your base rate. Discount only the hours that are truly empty.
Set a base rate and a few windows
Keep your base rate for most of the week, then add a peak window and, where it passes the test above, an off-peak one. Keep it to a few prices a day, so players can remember them. Here is an example, with a base rate of ₱700 an hour:
| Window | Days | Hours | Rate an hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off-peak | Weekdays | 8 AM to 3 PM | ₱500 |
| Base | Every day | All other hours | ₱700 |
| Peak | Weekdays | 6 PM to 10 PM | ₱950 |
| Peak | Weekends | 7 AM to 11 AM | ₱950 |
In Onsuki, the court type's Rate is your base. Turn on Peak and off-peak rates and add a row for each window, with its Days, From and To times, and hourly Rate. Two rows can't cover the same day and time, and Onsuki tells you which rows overlap. See Courts.
Start each window where demand starts
A two-hour booking from 5 PM to 7 PM, with peak starting at 6 PM, is part base and part peak. Onsuki prices each hour by the window it falls in, so that booking is one hour at each rate. Players who start early pay less for the early hour, and nobody argues at the counter.
Charge extra players to match the booking
Padel is usually played in fours, pickleball in twos or fours, and a golf bay may hold a whole group. Decide how many players the rate includes, then what each extra player adds.
- Per booking charges an extra player once, however long the booking runs. It suits one- and two-hour court bookings.
- Per hour charges for each hour. It suits long bay sessions, where a fee per booking shrinks the longer the group stays. A ₱100 fee per booking on a three-hour session is about ₱33 an hour.
In Onsuki, you set how many players are Included and the fee for Each extra player on the court type. Players see the fee beside the player count before they book.
Price packs against the hours regulars book
A pack of hours gets you paid up front by players who come every week. In Onsuki, an hour from a pack is the same hour at any time of day, so a peak booking uses no more of the pack than a morning one. That makes the pack's discount depend on when its holders play.
Using the rates above, a 10-hour pack at ₱6,300 works out to ₱630 an hour. Against the ₱700 base rate, that is ₱70 off an hour. Against the ₱950 peak rate, it is ₱320 off, and a player who books all ten hours at peak saves ₱3,200. Price the pack against the mix of hours your regulars actually book, not against the base rate alone.
- A pack pays for the court only. Extra player fees and a coach are paid separately.
- If a player cancels a booking paid from the pack, the hours go back. The pack itself is not refunded.
- Court time is sold in its own package, apart from classes or products, with its own expiry.
Give members a rate on purpose
A member rate is a discount you give to people who have already paid you. Decide where it does the most good: at peak, it rewards loyalty in the hours worth most to you, which is also where a discount gives up the most, since those hours would sell at full price anyway; off-peak, it costs little and pulls members into hours you need to fill.
In Onsuki, each rate row has a For setting. Choose a plan and the row applies only to players who hold it, and it wins over the public rate at the same time. For pricing the plans themselves, see how to price class packs and memberships.
Onsuki prices every court and bay booking by its window, its players, and the player's plan. See Courts.
