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You’ve offered raises and bonus benefits to lifeguards, staff, and managers, but it seems like there are always more pool-goers than staff. It’s a feverishly hot summer day, and your employees are running between the pool deck, check-in desk, and concession stand. It’s hard enough trying to funnel new and long-term members through the entrance line, let alone keeping up with their membership records behind the scenes. To keep safety and fun top-of-mind, your staff are mainly manning the pool deck and concession stands, leaving little time for an organized office.
Staffing shortages threw a wrench in many pools’ operations this summer—making pool management difficult. In this guide, the pool and aquatic center management experts at CommunityPass will go over some lessons learned from this 2022 summer season and how pool management software can help you next season.
Table of Contents:
- What We’ve Learned About Pool Management In 2022
- How Pool Management Software Can Help
- CommunityPass: The Best Pool Management Software Solution
Keep reading to learn how to use pool management software to make your 2023 season better than ever.
What We’ve Learned About Pool Management In 2022
When you don’t have enough friendly faces upfront or poolside, it can make it tricky to provide the best possible experience for your guests. You try to smile and create an easy check-in and registration process, but we know all too well how quickly attendance tracking and staff planning can fall by the wayside as you become overwhelmed.
Here are some of the most common issues 2022 pool season revealed:
1. Pool Staffing Shortages
This hiring season was tough on many pools and aquatic centers. Regardless of the pay or environment, staff were hard to come by. Without enough staff to either work the pool deck or maintain the office, there wasn’t enough time for records management. This led to disorganized pool records and unplanned closings.
Still on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pool industry struggled with hiring just as other industries around the country. People were reluctant to apply for pool jobs, and the staff you did have wasn't always being used the most efficiently.
Running a tight ship can be stressful, but unplanned closing or restrictions due to being understaffed was a major hurdle for many pools this summer.
2. Influx of New Pool Members
Although the repercussions of the pandemic and economy seems to continue to affect the hiring cycle, more people than ever were heading to pools and aquatic centers this summer, likely due to the fact that many families are ready to get back to normal life, including their favorite recreational activities. This influx of new pool members had great potential to be profitable, but with unmatched staffing it ultimately caused poor member tracking and lack of anticipatory staffing.
Without pool membership management systems to keep records straight and track attendance rates, staff was not always being used to their fullest potential, or sometimes outright wasted on times of lower attendance.
How Pool Management Software Can Help
Even though the 2022 season had its fair share of roadblocks, it is useful to reflect for a better understanding of how to make season 2023 run smoothly. Let’s look at pool membership solutions to implement for next year:
1. Digital Attendance for Pool Staffing Shortages
With CommunityPass’s Digital attendance feature, you can automatically track guest attendance by having them check in. Use this feature to create automated reports for member attendance rates seasonally, monthly, and even by times of day.
Here are some of the ways you can use digital attendance by CommunityPass to help reduce your staffing shortages:
- Track attendance levels annually, weekly, daily, and for times of the day
- Use this data for smart prediction estimates to know how many staff will be needed for different weeks, days or even specific hours.
- Create reports to help with anticipatory hiring seasonally to be ahead of the game before you need it.
With CommunityPass, you can have guests and members check in on their smart device to record their attendance, and watch as CommunityPass builds your pool an attendance tracking calendar.
Use the automated digital attendance reports to make the most of your staff by scheduling them when they’re needed, and letting them go during slow periods. This feature uses smart prediction to determine how many staff members your pool will need at different times of the week and day. If you’re making the most of what staff you do have, and planning efficiently for new hires, your staff, patrons, and bottom line are sure to be grateful.
2. Online Membership & Payments for the Influx of New Members
With the influx of new pool members, time management can be difficult when your staff have to spend time manually registering and checking in new members. Use CommunityPass’s pool membership tools so guests can create their member profiles and add their preferred payment option online. Not only does this make registration more convenient for your members, but it also makes the process more efficient for your team.
If you prefer assigning entrance keyfobs to members, you can easily add ID numbers to their online profiles on your membership platform. Be sure to have your members use their phones or keyfobs for check-in\ in order to streamline the process, track attendance, and cut excess staff needs.
The less interaction members have to have with pool staff, the more efficient you can be with your staff’s time. Contactless entry makes it simple for members to enter and for staff to keep track of their activities.
Here are some ways to implement pool membership software to make the most of the staff you do have:
- Secure payment processing with members’ preferred methods of payment
- Customize online membership packages
- Offer contactless check-in
- Provide online payment reconciliation capabilities
Using pool membership management software cuts out unnecessary tasks for staff to keep them involved with creating the best experience for guests by keeping pool areas clean, safe, and friendly.
CommunityPass: The Best Pool Management Software Solution
CommunityPass’s extensive aquatics and pool software can help you get a hold on your pool management strategy and get on track for a successful season next year. CommunityPass’s features can help you build efficient workflows throughout every level of your business including membership managers, pool managers, and directors.
Using the right tools can make pool management easier and a more enjoyable process for everyone involved, including customers. Here are some of the benefits:
- Paperless and secure payment and records
- Organized and accessible membership records
- Easy facility management and usage tracking
- Staffing needs tracking
CommunityPass can help you prioritize your members' needs, all while making your pool a better place to work. With an online membership management system, you can easily communicate membership changes, payment plan offerings, and event details without spending oodles of time explaining in-person.
Members can complete all their account changes online, so you’ll be able to record data in their profiles over time without having to reconcile paper documents. Your members can also submit feedback, so you’ll know how to better meet their needs.
Keep your pool safe, efficient, and open next season with CommunityPass’s pool management software!
