The Surf Park Nerd: What I Learned From Booking Surf Park Sessions Around The World

Let’s flip the script and look at booking a session at your favorite surf park as a customer – not as an operator. 

Over the last five years I made my way through over 20 different booking systems, some smooth and others not so much. While I won’t give up when it comes to booking the next surf park session, we know attention spans are short and shopping cart abandonment rates can be high. User experience is crucial when it comes to the booking step of the surf park customer journey. The experience needs to be clear while catering to all levels of surfers. But there is much more that goes into the booking process than meets the naked non-operator’s eye.

“A surf park’s booking system is a lot more than just booking reservations – you have equipment, F&B, Retail, photo systems, inventory ordering, wrist bands/RFID, staffing, forecasting, marketing integrations and on and on.” – Mark “Skip” Taylor of Surf Park Management 

While the customer might not see the full scope of the booking system, we are the audience you need to keep informed, engaged and ready to hand over our CC numbers. In my own experience, the order of booking steps varies between each surf park, but the overall flow is similar. 

Typical consumer journey through the booking process might follow:

1. Session Schedule
2. Session Levels
3. Session Availability
4. Choose side (Rights/Lefts)
5. Session Participant (Child/Adult)
6. Add-Ons
7. Credit/Voucher Redemption
8. Payment
9. Confirmation

One-off additions to the above booking flow include options to: 

• Complete the questionnaire to determine the recommended session level
• Purchase individual sessions or discounted multi-session packs
• Add session insurance 
• Add photo/video package
• Add rental equipment (boards, wetsuits, shower kit, lockers)
• Add accommodation
• Donate to a cause

As you can see from the lists above, there are a lot of pieces involved with any given surf park session booking. It’s a balance of covering all considerations while not burdening the user trying to complete the booking. 

In-Person 

Of course, the easiest, least hands-on method of booking your surf session is in person. But there is no telling what availability there will be on the day of your desired surf. This is particularly risky for those traveling from out of town to experience the wave pool. I have only booked in person on two rare occasions: when I was driving cross country from California to Florida and learned of NLand back in 2018, and while staying at my in-laws, 15 minutes from The LineUp at Wai Kai. The risk of getting skunked at Wai Kai is low with little consequence since I’m a short drive from the wave pool. 

Simpler times once existed in the surf park world where a call to book sufficed – like my impromptu NLand session during a cross-country trip in 2018. Photo: Jessica Alexander 

As each new surf park is built, wave quality improves. Still, demand remains high during peak season for the limited supply of public wave pools. I am not a gambling man, so I book my sessions in advance online instead of rolling the dice and showing up the day of. 

Not One Size Fits All

As with any communication effort, businesses should use their audience (customers in this case) as the North Star and foundation when building out a customer journey. I’m an experienced surfer. When I go to book my sessions, my main concerns are: (1) Getting the date(s) I need, (2) booking my desired wave type/level, (3) reserving my desired side of the pool (left vs right) and (4) finding multiple sessions in the same day to make for a good visit. Booking multiple sessions on a barreling wave obviously isn’t top of mind for a beginner or first-time surfer looking to book a session. 

“The journey of a first-time surfer and that of a frequent surfer are fundamentally different,” Olivier Barre of Wave7 explains. “From the online booking experience to the on-site flow, their expectations, need for guidance, and level of reassurance vary dramatically. First-timers — who represent the vast majority of the population — require structured support and confidence-building at every step. Experienced surfers, by contrast, expect speed, efficiency, and direct access to the lagoon.” 

A variation of Wave7’s offering is currently used for booking at an array of surf parks, including: Alaia Bay, Atlantic Park Surf, Lost Shore Surf Resort and Adrena. 

Some surf park booking systems guide users through a questionnaire to help determine session level. o2 SURFTOWN MUC’s guide shown from surftown.de. 

Not every booking system offers a questionnaire or guide for selecting the most appropriate session level. If they do, regular surf park guests, like myself, can bypass the guided booking experience by clicking on the “BOOK NOW” button to expedite the process.  

Seamless Experience 

It’s fair to say a smooth booking experience is subjective since each customer will have different levels of patience, unique budgetary restrictions, and varying levels of existing knowledge. At the highest level, any step of the customer’s journey needs to avoid high barriers to entry. If there are an overwhelming number of steps to complete your booking, you might ditch and consider alternate plans. If the website is slow and the spinny wheel of death makes an appearance, good luck not abandoning that cart. Can’t find what you’re looking for in a sea of hyperlinks and subpages? The booking might become a project for later.  

Founder and CEO of Alchemy Surf Resort Chris Gallardo shares, “As a surfer and end-user that’s booked close to 100 sessions at various surf parks across the globe, the booking systems are often clunky and leave much to be desired. For Alchemy Surf Resort, the process is being designed to be intuitive, seamless, and deeply integrated into other offerings such as lodging, wellness, F&B, and entertainment. The ability to book multiple sessions at once vs. one at a time and basic features such as language preferences, dynamic pricing, loyalty programs and calendar integration are envisioned.” 

Surfers travel for waves, especially perfect waves on-demand. So why not ensure they have a smooth booking experience by offering language preferences? 

There is a lot to cover in a customer’s journey, but here are some basics I expect to be built into the surf park’s booking process:

• Make session levels very clear and easy to understand at a quick glance (summaries, photo/video reference)
• Make session availability visible (so I don’t panic purchase or vice versa wait until day of thinking there are plenty slots left)
• Disclose cancellation/rescheduling policy (even if listed elsewhere, reiterate)
• Offer rental inventory online (how do I know you have a board that’ll work for me?) 
• Set to “open in a separate tab” when including links to other pages (so I don’t lose my place mid-booking) 
• Send immediate booking confirmation via email, plus follow up reminder closer to booked session date

Extra Credit

While this isn’t a direct part of the booking process, it plays into my booking add-ons. Do I need to rent a wetsuit? Boots? Gloves? Should I book accommodation onsite if the outside temp is freezing? Or if it’s hot and I want to check out the other activities on-site? Not every surf park offers the current air temp and wave pool water temperature on their website. 

I realized how frustrating it was not to have this information leading up to my Surf Ranch sessions. I couldn’t get an update from the organizer I booked through and water/air temp isn’t listed on the wave pool’s website. Guess who showed up with his short leg/long arm spring suit to wave pool water in the 50s (F). 

Making simple information available on your website can aid in a customer’s booking experience. 

Additionally, extra credit to any surf park that offers text updates + session reminders in addition to traditional email notifications. In the fast-paced world we live in, I’m surprised text updates and reminders aren’t an option for timely wave pool sessions customers spent their hard-earned money on to book.

Making It Difficult 

Some surf parks make customers jump through hurdles to get a session in. The Surf Ranch is notoriously difficult to find your way into. There’s no booking system open to the public and surfers either need to have the right phone number/email, already know someone who has that connection, or join a third-party who organizes sessions at the Surf Ranch (like I did). 

There are a handful of pain points for the customer that can slow down the booking process, redirect down a different path, or cause abandonment altogether. It might be due to competing priorities, a technical glitch, or limitation of the larger booking software, but the following has caused me frustration throughout my first-hand booking experiences:

• Not offering reliable language translation 
• Requiring I become a member first (vs. guest checkout)
• Pop-up advertisements when trying to book quickly
• Making the surfer complete a waiver for EVERY session booked
• Reservation timers (pressure’s on – choose wisely NOW)
• Additional taxes + fees added at end (vs. including in listed costs)
• Only listing sessions online 2 weeks to 1 month in advance (difficult for those traveling from another state or country) 
• Issues with redeeming session credits/vouchers
• Third-party payment websites 

Without naming names, there are dedicated surf park Facebook groups where you will find a feed dominated with locals, regulars, and customers sharing booking frustrations.  

If all else fails, you can book your next Surf Stadium Japan session at a vending machine! Photo: Pedro Gomes

Connect with me on LinkedIn to nerd out on all things wave pools or on Instagram @SurfParkNerd for more from the surf park peanut gallery.

See you on the other side … of the booking process!