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.

[LIZS]

No, would not pay anything like £7.50 or more p/h each. How will you manage numbers within each age group, likelihood is tables will bring a number of children similar age , so you could end up with too many under 5s. If you are paying staff to serve drinks (at additional cost?) and to supervise i doubt it would cover its costs.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@LIZS

No, would not pay anything like £7.50 or more p/h each. How will you manage numbers within each age group, likelihood is tables will bring a number of children similar age , so you could end up with too many under 5s. If you are paying staff to serve drinks (at additional cost?) and to supervise i doubt it would cover its costs.

We don't need to manage age groups. The only age limit is in the toddler area.

[titchy]

[quote Ohdoleavemealone]@PatriciaHolm Thank you. This is what we are aiming for. Our original price was set at £7.50 an hour, spectators free. Unfortunatley due to SD rules having to half our numbers, we need to review it which is why I was looking for opinions on what people would pay.[/quote]
I still think as a new business you have to suck up the cost of covid. If you're established with a loyal customer base then maybe you can have a temporary covid increase in prices, but you should be keeping your price at what you'd originally planned IMO. and absolutely not spent £10k on a bloody school hall

[HelpMeh]

We've been to InflataNation before which is a similar sort of thing - but a permanent set up. For one hour it's £10 for 4-99 year olds and £6 for under 4's who have a separate bit. Every one over 4 bounces together so that aspect isn't particularly unusual. You really can't charge non-bouncing observers the same price though...

Are you not losing a huge amount of potential revenue by not having weekday evening sessions? Do you have exclusive use of the venue - what happens to your cafe etc between sessions? Is there enough parking?

[Xmasbaby11]

Sounds like inflatable planet at our local leisure centre. That's about £7 for an hour I think. That's expensive enough..no way would I pay for myself to go on!

[PrincessesRUs]

I love bouncing as an adult so I would want to go on. 60 mins seems a bit short for an activity - I'd want maybe 90 mins so there's time to stop for a break in the middle maybe

[Whythesadface]

Home many hours are you planning to open?
Again your going to need a massive budget to get enough people to visit.

[PrincessesRUs]

I'm still not sure about your numbers though, up thread you commented that not all would want to be on at the same time but if it's an hour session I'd want to get my money's worth and make sure we were on for the whole time - wouldn't everyone?

[Thesearmsofmine]

Other people have made me think, surely if the under 5’s are limited to certain area you will have to charge less for them. Most places that have under 5 areas or similar charge less to accommodate that.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@Thesearmsofmine

Other people have made me think, surely if the under 5’s are limited to certain area you will have to charge less for them. Most places that have under 5 areas or similar charge less to accommodate that.

Not limited to that area no. They are the only ones able to use that area though.

[Thesearmsofmine]

@PrincessesRUs

I'm still not sure about your numbers though, up thread you commented that not all would want to be on at the same time but if it's an hour session I'd want to get my money's worth and make sure we were on for the whole time - wouldn't everyone?

Yes, my dc would be on there for the whole hour(maybe 1 or 2 minutes for a quick drink). If you have 60 people in and 40 or 45 are dc then how will you will limit the number on the inflatable at any time?

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@Thesearmsofmine
We sell food too so people may pop off to have a bite to eat, a drink, visit the bathroom. Adults that bounce don't tend to bounce solidly for the hour and so I am estimateing that at any one time only 30 people will be on. We are allowed up to 100 so even if every person in the building decides to bounce it will be okay, it just isn't likely to happen.

[BusyLizzie61]

@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.

According to a new article, most Inflata venues charge £9.95 to participants aged 4 and above, but the pop-up venue in the article, also ran in a school, will only be charging £5.95 for those Under 5 years and £7.95 per hour for everyone else.

For me as a lone parent, the costs are way too high for a glorified bouncy castle I'm afraid. Whereas if it was a pound for non participant adults, and a price as above for a child, I'd be more inclined. Unless of course, food is included in your prices! Which I doubt lol.

How long do you have between sessions?

[Gizlotsmum]

I would probably expect to pay less for a temporary set up. Inflatanation was around £10 per bouncer and you will be compared with that which you just won’t be able to replicate in a school hall.

[Ohdoleavemealone]

@BusyLizzie61 This was my concern with the pricing too.
That we outprice people like yourself.

@Gizlotsmum Thank you for you feedback.

[user64325]

I would pay it for 90 minutes but not 60.

[therearenogoodusernamesleft]

If you've done your business plan, how can you only be doing market research on pricing now? I feel so nervous for you, OP.

[flossletsfloss]

I wouldn't pay it, sorry. And I pay plenty for a load of old rubbish sometimes. It just seems too expensive for an hour. Sorry OP.

[UhtredRagnarson]

Your set up just doesn’t sound safe at all OP.

[FruityPolos]

A few years I took my daughter to a bouncy castle session thing in our local leisure centre, it had lots of inflatables and cost about £8 I think. I would definitely be unhappy to have mixed ages and my 4 year old would not want to stay in a 'baby' area (as she would see it), I would say stick with the plan to have under 8s only for the first hour.


How many staff are you planning to have and will you have someone who is first aid trained to manage any accidents?

[flashylamp]

Still interested know how you will access the school.

[TheatricalGiraffe]

There's a local trampoline park near me which charges £9.95 for one hour or £14.95 for two. It's free to sit in the cafe and spectate..
That includes two tumble tracks, Stunt bags with four platforms to jump off, Basketball Lanes, Dodgeball arena and a wall to wall area of trampolines...there is also a soft play area for a small additional charge...

Whats your USP that would sway me to go to a bouncy castle in a school hall over the trampoline place which is cheaper and has more available?

I agree with PP it seems a bit...School party ish..

[hellywelly3]

How will you stop a 25st dad bouncing on it and crashing into the children and seriously hurting someone? Or a group of dads seeing who can jump the highest (it’s usually the dad’s getting carried away!) parents and kids on at the same time is an accident waiting to happen.

[Isittimenow]

I can see people are saying about mixed ages and adults on with kids Inflatanation definitely allow this so it is doable - whether or not it’s right or every parent would be happy with it is another story.

[BusyLizzie61]

Just to get the pricing system into context, I've paid £20 for two tickets to an amusement park open 11 to 8pm,ride as much as like.

So you can see why I'd say its too expensive. Even as a special treat, that's not "enough" of a treat for the pricing system.

If this was my venture, opening in half term, I think that I'd include a certain number of vouchers to reduce the costs for some, in the hope word of mouth entices others to come.

Sadly I think that most parents would expect subsidised costs if running from a school. Any clubs that run from schools around here run with cheaper costs than other venues. For example, karate in village hall is 6.95, 3.95 in the school hall. Same for yoga etc.