Per Hour Pricing Questions (not complaints!)

JC said:
I am super turned off by the "per person" pricing strategy. A party of three or four is likely to rent the table for much longer than some dude banging balls by himself. Unless you price them out that is. And they will probably get hungry and thirsty along the way too.

It's like these people are homeless and trying to stay dry from the weather for free the way it's treated.

I guess it's what ever people will tolerate.

The average person can't do basic math nor has simple logic and half of them are even stupider so here you have it.
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I do agree with you. But I'm not going to tell those 4 guys how to spend their money.

I know I wouldn't do it. For 10 bucks an hour, I would practice by myself. Our local establishment (sort of local... 25 miles away) charges $20 per table (7 ft) from 6pm till close. Doesn't matter how many are playing. The only 9 ft they have is a straight $10 bucks per hour.
 
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Pool halls should concentrate on the high margin items: alcohol and food. Table time can even be a loss leader if it brings in food and drink revenue.

Disclaimer: I am not an owner, merely a pool hall table consumer, on occasion.
 
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dquarasr said:
Pool halls should concentrate the high margin items: alcohol and food. Table time can even be a loss leader if it brings in food and drink revenue.

Disclaimer: I am not an owner, merely a pool hall table consumer, on occasion.
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You are in the upper half of common sense
 
If they are going to charge me by the player then I will need a table to practice on while waiting my turn at the competition table instead of sitting in my chair watching my meter run.

Idiots going out of business by the droves without a clue as to why.
 
The place where I play charges $5 per player from 5 PM to close (10 to 11 pm) on Tuesdays and Thursdays and $8 per player on other days. There is also hourly and group rates but I am not sure what they are. It has eight 9 foot Diamonds and maybe nine 7 foot Diamonds. Nice place but the area is a bit depressed and the owner is trying his best to keep afloat. I go there to support the hall and for friendly competition about 3 times per week. I have my own Pool table but I think it is important to support the sport by keeping Pool halls open. I used to play leagues but I am out of that because I don't care for some of the characters that play in them.
 
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JC said:
If they are going to charge me by the player then I will need a table to practice on while waiting my turn at the competition table instead of sitting in my chair watching my meter run.

Idiots going out of business by the droves without a clue as to why.
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BINGO!

Yes, any number of players greater than one player has an incentive to tie up multiple tables without paying any additional money under the current pricing structure.
 
DieselPete said:
So, what do your pool halls do and what do you think is the best pricing model to maximize revenue and keep people coming back?
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The best model is to charge per table, offer a discount for solo play during non-peak hours, provide decent or better food and drink at reasonable but profitable prices, and most importantly - welcome all customers equally regardless of whether they are playing for big money, playing to improve, playing for fun or playing just because. You should also have a challenge table near the bar/serving area that is winner stays on and creates a community that stretches from the guy who is never sure of the rules to the one who says oh go on then I will have a game for fun it's been a long session.

Not always easy, but it never ceases to amaze me that room owners don't aspire to it or something similar.
 
I have not seen a place with a long waiting time for a table in a while, so how they charge is not really an issue if people want to take up several tables. My most regular place is $5 an hour per player, no matter the time, with a $10 12-6 special, including weekends. It's not uncommon to see a guy at one table go to play at another table but leave his table with his stuff on it. If it's needed the staff will ask him if they can close it down and use for someone else. I have seen many groups of like 4-6 people grab a table, at $20-$30 an hour and spend 2/3rd of that time at the bar or outside smoking, which is great for the room vs a guy like me that often is playing solo or with two players and gives them $5 or 10 for non-stop table time. This place, and most others I go to, do a good bar and food business though and the bangers that are there to try to get laid vs playing pool bring in plenty in table time that they are not even really using the table for.
 
I believe our place do 10/table/hour. Cad. They promote league by offering league players 10$ flat rate all you can play if you come in solo or with another league player. 16 9fters.

I will play for 5 or so hours at a time, spend 30-40 after drinks and tip. Sat-sun afternoons. A quiet weekend afternoon of shooting pool is my therapy.

They are working on doing the kitchen. So a menu will be coming soon.

This is the way i like it. Regulars are treated well, bit of a family community feel. And promote the game.
 
CrankyThunder said:
I like the idea of a free challenge table.

Only pool halls around me are bars with a coin operated table or two.
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I had a hair brained idea one time. Have a challenge table, $1 a game fee. Win five games in a row, get a free draft beer. Ya just have to have some way of keeping track to a certain degree. But draft beer is cheap. Getting people out of the house when they are alone is not.
 
Surprised that they didn't just walk out the door when they learned that they were paying $40 an hour to rent a pool table and mostly stand around holding an idle cue....I sure would have. Rather have a customer for life than make a hit for a night.
 
SlateMan said:
I had a hair brained idea one time. Have a challenge table, $1 a game fee. Win five games in a row, get a free draft beer. Ya just have to have some way of keeping track to a certain degree. But draft beer is cheap. Getting people out of the house when they are alone is not.
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Place i used to frequent had a $1 challenge bar-box. They put ten balls in it so you could play 10b, 9b or 6b. Usual bet was $5/game. This thing was in action 24hrs/day. If you got on a roll and held it a while you could make pretty decent coin.
 
DieselPete said:
My local joint redid the tables and made a few other upgrades recently and slightly raised prices to play, to $10 per hour on the weekends. That makes perfect sense to me and I don't mind paying it.

What I don't get, and I'm curious what other pool halls do today, is that they charge that rate per person, with no discount for additional players. I'm practicing last night and looking over at tables with four players and thinking, "they get 1/4 the table time that I am right now, and they are paying the same rate. Why wouldn't they get two tables and double their table time for the same cost?"

Then it hits me that if they get two tables, the pool hall would lose the use of one table for no additional revenue per hour (they would still get $40 per hour, total). Heck, they could tie up four tables for an hour and there is no additional revenue to the pool hall.

The whole thing just strikes me as "wrong."

I thought about it on the drive home and arrived at this:
1) A pool hall should encourage people to pair up to keep tables open.
2) People get less playing time when they pair up, so if rates aren't flexible they have an incentive to tie up more tables.
3) Reflect those realities by charging something like $10 for one person, $16 for two, and $20 for three or more.

So, what do your pool halls do and what do you think is the best pricing model to maximize revenue and keep people coming back?
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They charge per person and not per table?
 
The best days used to be going to the pool hall on a rainy afternoon and shooting pool for hours.
Today happens to be such a day in California but where I live, pool halls don’t even open until 5 pm.
And the pool hall with the most tables is closed Mon, Tues & Wed. COVID has genuinely undermined
the future for pool halls in lots of regions. Limited hours, higher rates and deferred overhead costs due
to having been closed so long is making things a financial struggle for pool room operators and it just
is not an optimistic picture. Pool halls are going the way of drive-in movies for smaller towns and cities.
 
one person playing just plays. that pays for the table. when more are on one table they stand around and drink expensive beers.
why on earth charge them more for the table as they will be the ones making the room the most money.
 
JC said:
If they are going to charge me by the player then I will need a table to practice on while waiting my turn at the competition table instead of sitting in my chair watching my meter run.

Idiots going out of business by the droves without a clue as to why.
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I'm a big baby - I would say fine, we'll take 4 tables.

Seems like a silly pricing model. If I was a room owner, I'd rather have 4 people on 1 table, not putting any extra wear on my other tables, leaving them open for other customers (hopefully groups of 4), and hopefully having them all eating and drinking and spending more time there because they're not being pillaged for $40/hour. And as mentioned, a not empty room >>> ghost town for prospective customers.
 
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