What Application for My Padel Club?

Choose the app your players and members can book and pay in within a few taps, your staff can run the whole day from, and whose total cost you understand before you sign. Test every option yourself as a player or member, as a receptionist and as the owner, and ask what it costs per month, per booking and per payment. PLAI is 100% free to run your venue: no subscription, no contract, no limits.

For most padel players and members, your club is first of all an app. It is where they look for a court, find a fourth player, pay their share and check the tournament draw. A good app fills courts while you sleep; a clumsy one sends players and members to the club down the road.

Test it as a player or member

Install the app, create an account as a new player or member and do what your players and members do every week:

• Book a court for tomorrow at 19:00. How many taps? Can you see the price before you commit?
• Find a game without partners. Can you join an open game, or create one that others can join?
• Pay only your own share. Can each of the four players pay their part, or must one person pay for everyone and chase the rest?
• Cancel and get refunded under the club's rules, without calling anyone.
• Follow the club: its posts, tournaments and messages, and a group chat with your regular partners.
• Use it in your language, on both iPhone and Android.

If you get lost, your players and members will too.

Test it as your staff

Then sit at the front desk with the tool your team will use:

• See the day ahead: every court, every booking, who has paid.
• Book for a customer on the phone, move a booking, block a court for maintenance, change the opening hours for a holiday.
• Sell at the desk: court hire, rentals, drinks and the shop on the same till.
• Refund a booking without the owner's password.
• Give each person the right access. A coach sees their sessions; a part-time receptionist does not export your sales.

Desk time is expensive. A tool that saves five minutes per booking saves days every month.

Test it as the owner

Finally, check what you need to run the business:

• Pricing: peak and off-peak prices, member prices, session packs, credit and memberships (see subscriptions, credits and packs).
• Events and tournaments with registration, payment, draws and results.
• Reports you can read in a minute: occupancy by court and hour, revenue, new and returning players and members.
• Money: who holds the payments, when they reach your bank, and what each payment costs.

Ask what it really costs

The subscription is only part of the price. Before you choose, ask every option for the full picture:

• a monthly or yearly fee, and whether it rises with courts, staff or bookings;
• a fee per booking or per payment, and who pays it: you or the person booking;
• the card processing fee, and whether it is included;
• set-up, training or hardware costs;
• the minimum contract length and the notice to leave.

Add it up over a year for a realistic number of bookings. A tool that is cheap per month can be expensive per booking, and the reverse.

A club-branded app or a shared app for players and members?

A club-branded app carries your name and shows only your club. It reinforces your brand, but every new player or member has to install it first.

A shared app lists many venues, players and members in one place. Your club keeps its own page, prices and community, and you are visible to players and members already looking for a game nearby, including visitors and newcomers.

A club that wants new players and members, or runs open games and tournaments, gains most from being where players and members already are, and keeps its own identity, prices and rules there.

Switch without losing players and members

1. Pick a quiet week, not the week of your biggest tournament.
2. Bring your data across: customers, members, remaining packs and credit, recurring bookings.
3. Announce the change two weeks ahead: why, what improves for players and members, how to get the app. A QR code at the desk and on each court helps.
4. Run a short overlap, then close the old system on a set date.
5. Help in person during the first days, with someone at the desk who sets the app up with players and members.
6. Ask for feedback after a month and fix what bothers players and members.

Three months later, compare the share of bookings made in the app, court occupancy, open games filled, no-shows and desk time spent on bookings and payments.

Run your padel club on PLAI

Pay nothing. Get everything. PLAI is 100% free to run your venue: no subscription, no contract, no limits. It is one free app for players and members and one platform for your venue:

• Players and members find your club, book a court, join open games, pay only their share, follow your posts and tournaments, and chat with their groups.
• Your team runs the day from the calendar and the till, with roles and rights for each person.
• You set prices, member privileges, packs, memberships and credit, run tournaments, message customers, and read occupancy and revenue in the analytics, with an AI assistant beside you.
• Payments made online are paid out to your business, with card fees about three times lower than Stripe's standard rate in France of 1.5% + €0.25 per standard European card (source: Stripe pricing for France, read 4 November 2026).

Your club keeps its own public page on plai.live, with your prices and community. See everything venues get on PLAI Business.

FAQ

Related reading: Implementing online payments in your club · How to build loyalty among your padel players.