Find the hours that are actually dead
Don't go on gut feel. Look at how busy each space was over the last four to six weeks, by day and by time. You're looking for blocks of two or three hours that are reliably quiet, not one slow Tuesday.
Look at idle time per space too. Sometimes it isn't the hours that are quiet, it's one table by the door or one court with poor lighting.
Pick a price that changes behaviour
A 10% discount rarely moves anyone. For off-peak to fill hours, the price usually needs to be noticeably lower, often 25% to 40% off your standard rate. That sounds a lot, but the alternative for that hour is zero.
| Venue | Standard | Off-peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Padel court | $40/h | $28/h | Weekdays, 7am to 4pm |
| Snooker table | $12/h | $8/h | Weekdays, 12pm to 5pm |
| Gaming PC | $5/h | $3.50/h | Weekdays, 1pm to 5pm |
Raise peak prices at the same time
If Friday and Saturday evenings are full and you're turning people away, those hours are underpriced. A higher evening and weekend rate pays for the off-peak discount and nudges flexible players towards quieter times.
Raise it a little at a time, and give regulars notice. Nobody likes discovering a new price at the counter.
Make the change automatic
Off-peak pricing falls apart when staff have to remember it. Someone forgets to switch the rate at 5pm, someone else applies it at 7pm because a regular asked. Set the windows in your system once, so a game is priced by the clock.
Decide what happens to a game that starts before the change and ends after it. The fairest way, and the easiest to explain, is to bill each part at its own rate: 40 minutes at the day rate and the rest at the evening rate.
Tell the people who can actually come
- Students and school-age players: weekday afternoons, especially for gaming PCs and table tennis
- Shift workers: late mornings and early afternoons
- Retired players: weekday daytime snooker and bowling leagues
- Coaches: off-peak court hire for lessons
A sign at the counter and a post on your socials is usually enough to start. Then watch the numbers for a month before changing anything.
Check it's working
After four to six weeks, compare the off-peak hours with the same hours before the change. You want more hours sold and more money in those hours, not just the same players paying less. If revenue in the window went down, the discount is too deep or it's on hours that weren't really quiet.
How playdesk handles off-peak pricing
playdesk lets you set rates by day (every day, weekdays, weekends or a named day) and time window, for the whole venue, a type of space or a single table or court. A game that crosses a window is billed at each rate for the right part, and booking estimates show the split. Utilisation and idle time per space, and period-to-period comparisons, show whether it's working. More on peak and off-peak pricing.