How much are you willing to pay for activities like this?

[Ohdoleavemealone]

Last March we were meant to launch an inflatable theme park but thank to Covid it never opened.
We intend to open during the next half term but are having trouble deciding on a pricing structure.
For background, we have decided to use a school as our premises instead of a commercial property which means we have access only to the school hall and toilets. We can only fit in 10 tables to start with due to social distancing. This means we have to carefully balance the price to make sure we our making enough money and being good value. This is proving tricky.
Would people mind giving their honest opinion on the price structure below? If you haven't been to one of these, it is a bit like a trampoline park, but a giant bouncy castle instead.
For the prices below you will get :
1 hour bounce
A table allocated to your group (can mix 2 households) in full view of the only exit.
Table service
Everyone at the table is elligible to bounce, whether for 10 minutes or an hour.
Staff are instructed to play with and entertain the kids so the parents can drink their coffee in peace.

Numbers will also be quite low making it safer thna places like flip out.
Prices :
table of 2 - £20
table of 3 - £ 25
table of 4 - £30
table of 5 - £35
Table of 6 - 40

Would you pay these prices?
For comparison, local flip out charge £13.50 per person and £1 for spectators.
I appreciate comments.

[Anotherdayanotherdollar]

I'd pay up to a tenner as an occasional treat for the kids only.

If you have 10 tables of 6 people who have all paid, how will you limit it to 30 bouncers at a time and what will be available for the other half of your customers while they wait?
Why is there only 1 exit? Surely that's a fire hazard?

And how will you manage to clean 450sq ft of inflatable between sessions??

[MonkeyPuddle]

It wouldn’t be something I would do I’m afraid.
I wouldn’t want big kids and little kids mixing on what is already a relatively risky activity.
Plus I can get 2.5 hours in huge local soft play and outdoor play with a bounce pillow, massive sandpit for £6.50, baby and me are free.
So no for safety and price.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@SavingsQuestions One of our rules is no somersaults!

@SimonJT It isn't comparison to a aoft play. It is comparable to a trampoline park which charge between £11 and £14 per person and £1-2 for spectators.
They also allow adults and children to mix without issue.

[DancesWithDaffodils]

Parent with single child:very expensive.
If I was feeling brave, and could take my son and his 4 mates and me as the only adult, £40 becomes soft play prices (8.50/head at peak rates for 2.5 hrs, spectators free) and I would consider it. But it's not cheep, and it is in a venue I wouid consider cheep.
I think it's too expensive, and I think the pricing structure would be better per person.

As an aside, if you get 10 tables of 6, but only 30 people can go in at any one time, how will you manage the queuing?

[Sportsnight]

Things are a bit more expensive with Covid, so short term I might be able to justify a visit at your current prices. Ongoing, I’d expect it more in line with our local soft play (which is really very good, multilevel, lots of variety) which is £6 per child, adults free but fleeced for coffee and snacks.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@flashylamp you haven't read that properly. The 10k was for painting and a brand new lighting structure inside the hall which required the whole thing to be rewired to allow for lights to be dimmed slightly as school halls are dazzling!

[SimonJT]

[quote Ohdoleavemealone]@SavingsQuestions One of our rules is no somersaults!

@SimonJT It isn't comparison to a aoft play. It is comparable to a trampoline park which charge between £11 and £14 per person and £1-2 for spectators.
They also allow adults and children to mix without issue.[/quote]
I don’t know of any trampoline park that allows adults and children to bounce on the same trampoline, none round here allow two children on the same trampoline.

I pay £9.50 for our trampoline park for my son, it costs £0 for me. Your park would cost £20 for the same amount of time and people larger than him are likely to be near him, he is also likely going to be near children much smaller than him.

Unless you have strict age group sessions with a complete ban on adults going on how do you keep the users safe and within the regs set by your insurers?

[BottomOfTree]

A trampoline park isn’t the same as one giant bouncer castle. Our local one has a very I depth safety video and you aren’t allowed on the same trampoline section as another bouncer etc etc you can’t avoid that with one massive structure. A giant bouncy castle is in no way comparable to a properly set up licensed trampoline park.

[Sportsnight]

(I compare it to soft play having seen the video you linked to. It looks like soft play, it doesn’t look like a trampoline park, and I don’t get why your costs would be higher than a soft play?)

[Anotherdayanotherdollar]

Also, would people with medical conditions/disabilities who were unable to participate safely have to pay? If your target demographic is young families etc, pregnant mums would generally not be allowed to participate...

[UhtredRagnarson]

I don’t understand how a school can rent out it’s hall on a permanent basis? Don’t they need it for assemblies and such?

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@Anotherdayanotherdollar

I'd pay up to a tenner as an occasional treat for the kids only.

If you have 10 tables of 6 people who have all paid, how will you limit it to 30 bouncers at a time and what will be available for the other half of your customers while they wait?
Why is there only 1 exit? Surely that's a fire hazard?

And how will you manage to clean 450sq ft of inflatable between sessions??

60 is the maximum number of people in the room. Most of the time, only 3/4 of those want to go on. So 45, but at any given time you have people joining and leaving the inflatable arena meaning you are likely to have on average 30 people on it at one time. This is compared to places I have been to where they let up to 100 on at the same time.
We can have up to 100 but are going to keep numbers low, even post COVID.
No queing happens.

[SimonJT]

@UhtredRagnarson

I don’t understand how a school can rent out it’s hall on a permanent basis? Don’t they need it for assemblies and such?

Lots of schools do this at weekends, I have a rugby tots franchise which uses the school field, the school hall is rented to a drama group at the weekend on a permanent basis.

Its a relatively easy way for schools to increase their income.

[SouthOfFrance]

If you were to charge per child, and not charge for the adults, what would you need to charge to make it viable?

[GameSetMatch]

MY children love ‘bounce’ it’s a bouncy soft play theme park type place and it’s £5.50 per children 1hour 45mins. I think yours is too expensive or the type of place I’d only take once then never return.

[UhtredRagnarson]

Lots of schools do this at weekends, I have a rugby tots franchise which uses the school field, the school hall is rented to a drama group at the weekend on a permanent basis.

Yes but OP has painted it, changed the lights, carpeted it and installed a reception and cafe so the school can’t use it during the week!

[flashylamp]

[quote Ohdoleavemealone]@flashylamp you haven't read that properly. The 10k was for painting and a brand new lighting structure inside the hall which required the whole thing to be rewired to allow for lights to be dimmed slightly as school halls are dazzling![/quote]


Yes. I read it properly.

You spent 10k. On a school hall.

What is that even all about. And how? And why?

[Ellieboolou33]

@Ohdoleavemealone looks great and my kids would love it, I definitely would not want to pay £10 for me though.

[bumbledeedum]

I'm not really sure why you posted this thread, you've asked what people think of pricing, virtually everyone has told you it's too expensive and given good reasons and examples of why and yet you don't seem to want to listen.

[flashylamp]

You are very defensive OP. I'm sure in your mind this is a fabulous idea but realistically it's a non starter. I'm stunned at the 10k outlay on something that hasn't even got a proper business plan, is in shared premises with a school and you don't even know how to accurately describe your product.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@UhtredRagnarson

Lots of schools do this at weekends, I have a rugby tots franchise which uses the school field, the school hall is rented to a drama group at the weekend on a permanent basis.

Yes but OP has painted it, changed the lights, carpeted it and installed a reception and cafe so the school can’t use it during the week!

No, the carpet is tiles, the desk is on Wheels and the whole thing is set up on a Friday and put away on a Sunday.

[Whythesadface]

Sorry but you can't charge parents, it's a school hall, and an inflatable not a theme park.
I think you will find people don't use the cafe and it won't make money, the hour bounce means parents of young children will need to be on the castle.
To be honest for the prices your asking I would want a lot more for my money.
Also as I said how will you get the footfall.

[UhtredRagnarson]

No, the carpet is tiles, the desk is on Wheels and the whole thing is set up on a Friday and put away on a Sunday.

And does the paint come off the walls and the lights come down too? what about the cafe?

[flashylamp]

No, the carpet is tiles

Tiles that you lay and take up every time? You won't get past the H&S with that

[therearenogoodusernamesleft]

I wouldn't pay for an activity in a school hall. It sounds more like something that might be set up for a school fete, and parents of children there pay £5 to 'support the school'.

I also don't understand how you haven't set your pricing before making agreements with the school...have you already bought the giant bouncy castle and paid the £10K? How long is it going to take you to get an ROI?