Background

Update: AlleyTrak v3.0.0
Posted on 2019-03-01

AlleyTrak version 3. The easiest way to say what we've been working on with AlleyTrak is to say it is a complete re-work. We've taken in a lot of feedback from users and we wanted to figure out how we could incorporate many of the requested features and how we can continue to make AlleyTrak better for the future.

Here are just a handful of some of the new features we've implemented into AlleyTrak.

  • Authorize.net payment gateway integration
  • Form-view based reservations
  • Reservation increments (hour, half-hour, quarter-hour)
  • Post-reservation blocks
  • Revamped reservation blocks
  • Completely new front-end user-interface

Authorize.net Payment Gateway Integration

Perhaps the most requested addition to Alleytrak since we first launched was for an integration with Authorize.net. One great advantage of Authorize.net over PayPal is their lower fees per transaction that they charge. This can provide centers with a huge cost savings each month.

As an example, a bowling alley that charges on average $30 per reservation would expect to pay $1.17 in paypal fees (charged at 0.29% + $0.30 per transaction). When added up with dozens of reservations over the course of a month, that cost chews into your centers income.

However, with a merchant account and when hooked into Authorize.net as a payment gateway, centers pay a monthly $25 fee to Authorize.net in addition to $0.10 per transaction. Using our average of $30 per transaction from above, if a center receives more than 25 reservations booked a month, Authorize.net is the cheaper option to run.

At a monthly level, if a center received 200 reservations using our average of $30 per transaction from above, the center would be looking at paying approximately $234 in PayPal processing fees. However the fees when utilizing Authorize.net would be around $45.

Form-View Based Reservations

The new form-view reservation system further simplifies the reservation process for guests. With this layout mode enabled, users are presented form fields instead of the lane picker in what we are now referring to as the Grid-View. Users will now select their desired start and end time and make a request to AlleyTrak to see if there are lanes available for their desired time, based on all of their party specifications (date, time, location, party size - number of lanes).

There are two great advantages of this mode which might sway a center to use this over the Grid-View.

  1. This view is clean and simple. Guests don't need to see when and what lanes are available for an entire day, because for the most part, a party knowns when they are looking to have their event take place.
  2. Utilizing this mode provides the flexibility to enable 2 new features exclusive this this Form-View mode, and they are Reservation increments and post reservation blocks.

We are still very passionate about the original design of AlleyTrak and its Grid-View mode. We feel it is incredibly intuitive for customers to hop on and easily look at the system and see which lanes are available and when, and they can build their party based on what lanes are available and when.

We specifically believe the Grid-View mode is the best option for smaller centers and boutique centers that experience high traffic with frequently maxing out lane reservations. Do note, that both the Form-View and Grid-View can be enabled or changed out over time if necessary. This can be managed in the App Settings of your admin panel.

Reservation Increments (hour, half-hour, quarter-hour)

Not all reservations are the same and some centers what to fine-tune when and how customers can reserve lanes. With our new reservation increments setting, centers can control at what intervals users can reserve lanes for. This control is only enabled in Form-View mode. Whichever increment is selected will determine which options users have enabled when attempting to make a reservation.

It is important to note that a 1-hour minimum reservation is still required for a reservation to be able to be booked. In addition, do note that pricing is heavily tied to reservation increments.

Post-Reservation Blocks

It is not uncommon for reservations to run on top of each other. One reservation might run long, high traffic weekends and other scenarios can be all to common for some centers. To combat this we've built in a control which when enabled will add on an additional quarter-hour block after each reservation to ensure time for clean-up and prepare the lanes for the next party.

Do note that this feature is only available in Form-View mode as it is something that has to run in the background from the users order experience. This process runs in conjunction with the standard lane checking processes and ensures that in order for the lanes to be available to reserve, there must also be time available for the post-reservation block.

Revamped Reservation Blocks

We are extremely excited to launch a revamped version of the reservation blocks system. This new version is much more dynamic and provides for faster loading and plotting when customers are attempting to make a reservation.

Completely New Front-End User-Interface

All of these new features brought us here. We could not accomplish some of these ambitious goals and new features without making major changes to the reservation checkout experience, and it required a complete re-work. We are extremely excited with the new, fresh look AlleyTrak offers and are excited to see how AlleyTrak will continue to evolve over the future to better support our customers and the customers you serve.