OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Maximising pool appeal Yet in spite of its growing lesson provision and revenues, GLL’s pool-side revenue split is interesting, with lessons accounting for just 50%. The remainder comes from swim memberships (10%), pool hire by clubs and schools (10%) and an impressive 30% for casual swim. How have they achieved this? “First of all, alongside online booking, we’ve ensured good availability of good times to come and swim. We very rarely close a pool for lessons only, while increased staffing levels mean there’s no need to shut pools between lessons or sessions for staff breaks,” says Clark. “It all maximises the amount of time we have available for casual swimming; with swimming an important USP over the budget clubs, we need to ensure it’s available to people all the time. “We also encourage parents not simply to watch their child in a lesson, but to swim themselves at the same time, either on their own or bringing their other child(ren) to enjoy our facilities.” He continues: “We’ve also done quite a bit of work around naming conventions. In the past, there were 50-odd names for different pool sessions. COVID gave us a chance to reset and only reintroduce what was really needed. Now, for casual swim, we have two programmes: Swim for All, where you’ll always still have a few lanes available for lane swimming; and Swim for Fitness, which is just lane swimming. “Any specialist sessions take place alongside or as part of these. For seniors, for example, we recommend the best Swim for All session for their needs. It’s about opening up every session as widely as possible rather than creating niches, maximising appeal and pool usage by sharing the space as much as we can. “A pool has to be so many things to so many different people, and our programming is in a better place now than it ever was pre-pandemic.”
We open up every session as widely as possible, maximising appeal and pool usage by sharing the space as much as we can.
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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