At a Glance • Key Takeaways
- Automated Efficiency: Streamline online bookings, live availability scheduling, and customer communication without manual intervention.
- Live Capacity & Conflict Prevention: Prevent double-booking across staff, rooms, activity sessions, or rental fleet assets in real time.
- 0% Platform Booking Fees: SmartBookings does not charge transaction fees or take percentage cuts of your ticket sales or customer payments.
1. How Ticket Pricing Works
In SmartBookings, prices are attached to Ticket Options within a category. This allows you to offer differentiated rates for various visitor demographics, bundle packages, or special promotional tiers.
Real-World Multi-Tier Pricing Setups:
- Mini Golf & Adventure Golf: Adult (16+) £9.50, Junior (4–15) £7.00, Senior (65+) £7.50, Family Foursome (2 Adults + 2 Kids) £28.00.
- Soft Play Centres: Child (3+) £11.50, Toddler (1–2 yrs) £7.50, Baby (Under 1) £1.50, Adult Spectator £1.50, Table Reservation £0.00.
- Trampoline Parks: 60-Minute Jump £12.00, 90-Minute Jump £16.00, Parent & Toddler Jump £14.00.
- Santa's Grottos: Child Experience with Gift £14.95, Accompanying Adult £2.50.
2. Creating Standard Ticket Options
1 Go to Sessions > Prices (EventTicketOptions.aspx).
2 Select your category from the Select event dropdown.
3 Scroll down to Add new price option and fill in the fields:
- Title: Name shown to the customer (e.g. Adult (16+) or Junior Golfer).
- Price (£): The baseline price for this ticket (e.g.
9.50). Enter 0.00 for free tickets or table reservations.
- Include in Qty: Must be ticked if this ticket claims a place from the session or course capacity!
- Places used: The number of places consumed per ticket (typically
1). If selling a 4-person family golf pass or a 4-person table reservation, set this to 4.
- Min Qty / Max Qty: Restrict how many of this option can be selected per order (e.g. Min
1 Adult, Max 6 Children).
4 Click Add option.
Critical Places Rule: Whenever Include in Qty is checked, always ensure Places used is set to 1 or higher. If places used is set to 0, bookings selecting that ticket won't count towards capacity limits and can cause minimum places validation errors.
3. Age-Band Restrictions
To prevent customers from booking infant tickets for older children or vice versa, you can assign age limits to each ticket option:
- Min Age: The youngest age permitted (in years, e.g.
3).
- Max Age: The oldest age permitted (in years, e.g.
11).
When customer details are captured during booking, the system verifies attendee birthdays/ages against these boundaries automatically.
4. Date-Specific & Peak/Off-Peak Pricing Overrides
Do you charge higher rates on weekends, school holidays, or special dates? SmartBookings allows you to override prices for specific dates without having to recreate the entire session type.
1 In Sessions > Prices, locate your ticket option in the prices table.
2 Click Edit next to the option.
3 Under Date / Time Specific Pricing, you can:
- Assign a special price for specific calendar dates (e.g.
£11.50 for weekend golf tee-times, vs £9.50 weekday).
- Limit an option to specific days of the week (e.g. Weekday Saver tickets only available Mon–Fri).
- Set time-of-day pricing rules (e.g. twilight golf rates after 5:00 PM).
5. Order-Level Minimums and Maximums
At the top of the Prices page, you can configure overall constraints for the entire order:
- Minimum order total (£): Requires the basket value to reach at least £X (e.g.
10.00) to proceed to checkout.
- Minimum tickets: Requires customers to select at least X total tickets (e.g. minimum 2 players for laser tag or golf).
- Maximum tickets: Prevents single bookings from booking out more than X places (e.g. maximum 10 places).
Ready to Automate Your Bookings?
Join hundreds of UK operators running on SmartBookings with 0% platform booking fees and automated payments.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I charge higher peak prices on weekends and school holidays?
In Sessions > Manage Prices (eventPrices.aspx), configure your standard off-peak weekday rates first. Then apply date-specific or weekend price overrides for Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays. The system dynamically presents the correct rate based on the calendar date selected by the visitor.
What is the difference between individual ticket prices and group or family bundles?
Individual ticket options charge a price per single attendee (e.g. 8.50 per child). Family or group bundles charge a single combined price (e.g. 28.00 for a Family of 4) while setting 'Places Used' to 4, ensuring full group pricing transparency while maintaining strict capacity control.
Can I enforce an adult-to-child supervision ratio at checkout?
Yes. In Sessions > Categories, you can enable supervision rules that require at least one adult admission to be present in the basket before the checkout button is enabled, ensuring compliance with local authority leisure licensing and child safety guidelines.
How do spectator or non-participating parent tickets work in SmartBookings?
Create a dedicated ticket option named 'Spectating Adult' priced either free or at a nominal fee (e.g. 1.50). You can choose whether spectator tickets deduct from venue capacity or whether they only contribute to catering headcount.
Can I offer early-bird discounted pricing for sessions booked 7 days in advance?
Yes. You can use marketing Promo Codes with advance booking conditions or configure tiered categories that discount admission for visitors who book online prior to arrival day versus paying full price at the reception desk.
Try SmartBookings Free
Ready to Automate Your Bookings & Boost Revenue?
Join hundreds of leisure venues, sports clubs, clinics, and equipment hire businesses. Set up your online booking system in under 10 minutes with 0% platform booking fees.
14-Day Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
Free Setup & UK Support
Start Free Trial →
Instant setup • Cancel anytime