Indoor Play Booking Confirmation Checklist

Put the visit details first

A booking confirmation is not the place for a long introduction. The first screen should answer the questions a parent is most likely to have when they open it again: which day are we coming, what time does the session start, when does it finish and what have I booked?

Show the booking reference somewhere easy to spot too. If the customer later needs help, being able to quote a reference can make it easier for the team to identify the right reservation.

Separate arrival time from session time

If your venue asks customers to arrive before play begins, make the distinction obvious. For example, a venue might tell customers to arrive at 9.50am for a session running from 10am until 11.30am. Those times are illustrative only; use the timings that apply to the actual booking.

A parent should not have to guess whether “10am booking” means arrive at ten, start playing at ten or join a queue at ten.

“Write the confirmation for the parent who will reopen it with one hand while trying to get everybody out of the door.”

Write for the morning of the visit

Think of the confirmation as a practical companion to the booking rather than a receipt that disappears into an inbox.

A familiar getting-ready scenario

Hypothetical example: a parent booked several days ago. On Saturday morning, they remember the session starts “around ten” but cannot recall the exact time. One child is looking for a shoe, another wants breakfast, and they are trying to work out when to leave.

They open the confirmation on their phone. Ideally, the answer is immediately visible: date, arrival time, session start and finish, number of places booked and the venue address.

Next come the practical details that affect preparation. If your venue asks visitors to bring or wear something particular, state it clearly. Where socks are required under your venue’s own arrangements, for example, that information is much more useful before the family leaves home than when they reach reception.

Make arrival straightforward

The venue’s name alone may not be enough to get a first-time visitor to the right desk. Include the full address and any genuinely useful entrance information.

If customers commonly approach the building from the wrong side, or the soft play entrance is different from another entrance at the same site, explain that plainly. Do not rely entirely on a map pin if a short sentence would remove the ambiguity.

Answer the question people ask from the car park

Parking and arrival information should reflect what the venue can accurately tell customers. If arrangements vary or are controlled elsewhere, avoid making promises that may not hold true. Give customers the practical information you can stand behind and direct them appropriately where further details are needed.

The goal is not to make the confirmation enormous. It is to remove predictable uncertainty between leaving home and reaching reception.

Give party bookings their own details

A birthday party confirmation usually needs more information than an ordinary play-session confirmation because the organiser is coordinating other families as well as their own.

Make it clear when the organiser should arrive, when guests should arrive, when play begins and, where relevant, when the party room or other booked part of the visit is used. If food is planned for a particular stage, distinguish that from the play-session timing.

Help the organiser write the invitation

A useful test is to ask whether the parent could use the confirmation to tell guests when and where to arrive without ringing the venue again.

Include the booked package and current guest information that matters to the organiser. If final numbers are due later under your venue’s policy, show the actual deadline and explain how they should be supplied.

Where food arrangements have been specifically agreed, keep the relevant confirmed information with the party record and customer communication. Specialist food or allergy procedures should follow the venue’s own processes and appropriate qualified guidance rather than relying on a confirmation email alone.

Make changes easy to understand

Bookings do not always remain exactly as they were on the day they were made. A family may ask to move to another available session, or a party organiser may agree a change in guest numbers with the venue.

Give customers a clear contact route and tell them to quote their booking reference where appropriate. If your terms include deadlines or conditions for particular changes, make the relevant information accessible rather than leaving customers to guess.

Send the new version after an agreed change

Hypothetical example: a parent originally booked the 10am session but later agrees with the venue to move to 1pm. Reception updates the reservation, but the parent still has the original 10am confirmation in their inbox.

That old message can easily become the version they reopen on the day. Once an agreed change has been recorded, an updated confirmation helps give both the customer and the team a current reference point.

Make it apparent that the newer message reflects the revised booking. The important details should show the new visit rather than forcing the customer to compare two emails line by line.

Keep promotion below the useful information

A confirmation can still sound warm and welcoming. It does not need to read like a database printout. But its first responsibility is to confirm what the customer has arranged.

If you include promotional messages, future-visit ideas or other marketing content, place them after the practical booking information. A parent looking for today’s start time should not have to scroll past an offer before finding it.

Use headings people can scan

Simple labels such as “Your booking”, “Getting here”, “Before you arrive” and “Need to change something?” can make a longer confirmation easier to use on a phone.

A concise subject line can help too. Something based on the visit itself is generally easier to recognize later than a generic message such as “Transaction successful”. The precise wording should suit your own customer communication.

Test the confirmation in real situations

Do not judge the confirmation only from a desktop preview. Send a test version and open it on a phone. Can you identify the date, arrival time and address within a few seconds?

Then test the less obvious journeys. Change a test booking using the appropriate process and inspect what the customer receives afterwards. Check that the updated details are correct and that the message does not leave the old time looking current.

Try the car-park test

Imagine a first-time visitor has reached the general location but cannot immediately see the entrance. Open the confirmation and see how quickly they could find the useful arrival information.

Also check the contact route. If the confirmation invites customers to reply, call or email, make sure that route is one your team actually monitors as intended.

Listen to the questions reception still gets

Repeated questions are useful editorial feedback. If several customers ring to ask whether adults are included, what time they should arrive or where the entrance is, review whether the confirmation could answer that question more clearly.

The aim is not to eliminate every customer conversation. It is to prevent families from needing to contact the venue simply to rediscover information the business already has.