Leadingcourses.com is rapidly connecting to more and more tee-sheet providers throughout Europe. We are proud to announce that golf clubs using tee time management software from Concept are now able to tap into the Leadingcourses.com community. Many Portuguese golf clubs use Concept and the first to open up their tee-time inventory on Leadingcourses.com is Espiche Golf.

Concept integration live

After connecting to iMastergolf (Spain), Teetime.cz (Czech Republic) and Albatros Solutions (France, Germany, Belgium) we are now proud to announce a connection with Concept. As a result of this integration more than 100 golf courses – mainly located in Portugal – will be able to be booked online via Leadingcourses.com. Golf clubs who are willing to connect however will need to grant Leadingcourses.com access so that we are able to tap into their system to check availability in real-time. Managing Director Malcolm Rennie from Concept about the integration: 'From Concept’s perspective, the latest integration with Leadingcourses.com demonstrates our commitment to positioning Concept as an open distribution platform for our customers. The benefits of an open platform to our global client-base is that online travel agencies and 3rd party tee-time resellers can book real-time, easily, efficiently and cost-effectively. Leadingcourses.com has strong relationships with many of our valued golf properties and we look forward to enabling these courses to connect to them and to ultimately see more high-value golfers playing these courses.'

Espiche Golf first bookable golf club

Espiche Golf, an eco-resort close to Lagos which opened its doors in 2012 and has received high reviews ever since, is the first Portuguese golf club who will be bookable online through Concept. Jeroen Korving, Managing Director of Leadingcourses: 'We are trying to help the golf industry – both golf clubs and golfers – by creating a platform where golfers and golf clubs can find each other and arrange everything online. It’s great to be connected to Concept now as it opens up the Portuguese golf market. More than 50 courses in that country use Concept. We are also very happy that Espiche Golf is the first connected golf club. It means a lot to us and this first connection – and the ones that will follow – will help us to improve our service even further.'

General Manager Frederico Champalimaud from Espiche Golf is excited to welcome Leadingcourses users to his course: ‘Catering to the rapidly growing online golf community is extremely important to Espiche Golf this year. Our live booking connection with Leadingcourses is something we are very excited about. Espiche Golf is an eco-friendly golf course located in west Algarve and now using Leadingcourses.com golfers are just a click away.’

Many other golf clubs like Vale do Lobo, Boavista Golf Resort, Quinta do Lago and La Cala Resort in Spain will be connected in the next weeks.

Book a tee time at Espiche Golf

Golf clubs stay in control

Opening up a tee sheet to green fee players is quite easy if you are using proper club management software, like Concept. A golf club is always in charge and can decide which slots to open up to the general public. The golf club also determines the minimal selling rate (if any) and the tour operator rate (or commission percentage) for Leadingcourses.com. The higher the commission, the more we can invest to actively sell tee times. Goals of the golf club and Leadingcourses.com are aligned: we both want to sell as many tee times as possible. Booking a tee time is great for golfers and golf clubs; below some obvious advantages of online tee time bookings.

Golfer benefits:

• no language barriers
• golfers can pick the best or preferred time slots or rates
• golfers can decide whether they want to be added to another flight or not
• golfers can see real-time availability and plan ahead
• golfers are 100% sure their tee time is secured
• easy to book (no waiting for an answer, no phone calls, etc.)
• option to cancel a tee time if plans change

Golf club benefits:

• no language barriers
• less disturbance at the reception desk (so less FTEs needed)
• fill up empty slots, thus increasing the occupancy rate
• use dynamic pricing when the course is busy (higher prices)
• 100% guarantee that the golfer will show up (or they receive the money)
• Connecting is free of charge and risk-free

Connecting to the Leadingcourses.com platform is free of charge for clubs. The whole integration is done by a dedicated and experienced team within Leadingcourses.com. As mentioned before, the only gain for Leadingcourses.com is that they will receive the difference between the tour operator rate and the selling price. For a golf club there is little risk. If the connection is succesful, both Leadingcourses.com and the golf club will gain. The commission has to cover development costs, marketing costs, 3rd payment fees (i.e. credit card), a connection fee and customer support & aftersales.

Our goal for 2019 is to connect as many golf clubs as possible in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and France, thus helping golfers to book and play where they want while generating more income for golf courses. We want to be different by providing golfers with an excellent user experience and great service.

If golf clubs are interested to connect their tee-sheet directly to the Leadingcourses.com community, then please contact Leadingcourses.com.

About Leadingcourses.com
As Europe’s largest golfing platform Leadingcourses.com currently unites 400.000 monthly golfers in their quest for where to play next. They are inspired by over 385.000 reviews of golf courses worldwide which helps them to discover new courses and to obtain a good understanding on what to expect. We are now on a quest to help our thriving community of likeminded golf enthusiasts to book their tee time online, safe, convenient and at a fair price. Leadingcourses.com is currently available in 9 languages and we compare more than 25,000 golf courses in 148 countries.

About Concept
Concept, a Shiji Group Brand, is a truly global hospitality technology provider specialising in solutions for the Golf, Spa, Leisure and Resort market. Today, Concept has high-profile clients in nearly 70 countries worldwide, with software available in 15 different languages and a global support network to match.