How Important is the Party Booking System for Your Laser Tag Arena?

Recently at the RSA/ILTA convention, I had the pleasure of speaking with Erik Guthrie, Vice President of Marketing & Sales for Zone Laser Tag on multiple topics specifically related to laser tag facilities and laser tag software.  During our conversation, he educated me on what he referred to as the “Four Core Audiences for a Successful Laser Tag Facility.”  He broke down the four as:

• 50% of the laser tag business is made up of birthday parties, ranging in age from 7-13 year olds.
• 30% of the business is made up of reserved groups, like scout groups, social groups, youth groups, sports groups, etc…
• 10% of the business is made up of corporate business – mostly held during off hours.
• 10% is the casual walk-in traffic on Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10pm. 

Although I assumed a large portion of the laser tag business came from birthday parties, it really did floor me that 90% of their business comes from reservations.  In an earlier blog post I wrote, “Laser Tag Software – Are the Game Statistics Important?“, I was making the assumption the majority of the business came from repeat customers, who really only cared about bettering their personal scores.  However based on the numbers above, I was incorrect, and statistics aren’t what is important.  If 90% of a laser tag business is coming from pre-booked parties and groups, is there anything more important than the software used to make the reservations? 

Let me know your thoughts?  Do these numbers match your operation?