1. Know your physical market.
It's important to understand your physical market and where you draw your customers from. A community park that relies mostly on reoccurring birthday parties and corporate event rentals has different needs than a destination park that draws from temporary tourists.
A community park can benefit from quick face-lifts and subtle add-ons. A small investment like the AirObstacles can completely revamp the trampoline court and wake reoccurring customers up that may have become apathetic after their fifth birthday at your facility.
Destination parks should consider latest trends and innovations to cement their place in "top 10 places to visit" searches when the family arrives into town. Attractions like the Sport Court offer visual professional appeal, a broad customer interaction base of kids to adults, while still being early enough in it's roll out that it offers a still unique experience.
2. Ask your customers, be active within your community.
If you haven't spent time out on the floor to document what attractions are being used and which are being left barren - you're not doing your job. Ask your customers what they enjoyed better - the foam pit or the AirBag? Maybe the next time you go to replace the foam you instead make the switch to a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th AirBag.
Your customers will tell you not only what's fun in your park but what's fun in other parks. Which brings us to the next point.
3. Stay connected to what's changing.
The newest Trampoline parks have more Airtracks, Parkour Elements, Ninja Warrior, and Mechanical/Electronic attractions than traditional trampolines and dodge-ball attractions. Look outside your doors - not just to your immediate competitors - but gymnastics, rock climbing, dance, FEC, etc. businesses to see what kids and families are doing these days.
Gamification, electronic sensors, VR setups are all the recent rage. Do these innovations fit with your business model?
4. Consider the timing of the work done.
This is an obvious one but can't be stressed enough. Any project will go longer than you expect. Have contingency plans for budget overruns or shortfalls. You've done all the work to get your business up and running, take the remodel seriously. Be present and be engaged.
Take the retrofit into consideration for your current customers as well. Can you mitigate the park experience impact with new signage, murals, or messaging? New attractions can take 8 to 12 weeks to deliver, can you time delivery with your slow season? We at True Movement Tech are open to payment terms to help time financial investments, manufacturing timelines, and your perfect retrofit schedule.
Vendors that order from China have been significantly impacted by tariffs. Be aware and knowledgeable of where your vendors are sourcing their manufacturing from.
5. Lastly, ask and work with experts.
It's so financially tempting to go with local kitchen and bath general contractors. While it may work for you, it may also end up in a disaster. At True Movement Tech we only work with proven vendors and experts.
Attraction vendors should be able to give you an idea of through put, max attraction occupancy, return on investment, operation and maintenance expectations, etc.
I hope everyone has a profitable and safe 2020. Remember if you're not working on your business or reinvesting - then who is?