As indoor golf continues to grow across North America, operators are constantly refining their booking policies to balance customer convenience with revenue protection. One of the most common questions we hear from facility owners is:
“How much should we charge customers at the time of booking?”
To help answer this, ActiveBooker analyzed booking and payment settings across 150+ indoor golf facilities using our platform. The results below offer real-world insight into how your peers are handling security deposits and upfront payments.
Important note:
The data reflects public / non-member bookings only.
Based on our research across ActiveBooker-powered facilities:
This breakdown highlights a clear trend:
👉 The majority of indoor golf operators now collect money upfront.
Facilities that require 100% payment at booking typically do so for a few key reasons:
For high-demand facilities—especially during evenings, weekends, and league hours—full payment acts as a strong commitment from the customer and ensures bays aren’t left unused.
Best suited for:
Nearly one-third of facilities opt for a security deposit, typically ranging from 25% to 75% of the booking value.
This approach strikes a balance between customer flexibility and operator protection:
Partial deposits are often paired with clear cancellation policies, such as:
Best suited for:
Only a small percentage of indoor golf facilities do not require any upfront payment.
While this may lower barriers to booking, it also comes with risk:
Facilities using this approach often rely on:
Best suited for:
There is no one-size-fits-all answer—but the data shows where the industry is heading.
When deciding how much to charge at booking, consider:
Operational goals: Predictability vs. flexibility
Across 150+ indoor golf facilities using the ActiveBooker platform:
If you’d like help testing different deposit strategies or adjusting your booking rules, ActiveBooker makes it easy to experiment with any type of deposit percentage—without disrupting your customers.
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