PBM Insight Report: Padel booking platforms search for new solutions as competition hots up

As padel has expanded worldwide, the need to automate court booking has not only been increasingly evident, but has been a key motor of the sport’s spectacular growth in the past 10 years.

This process has been aided by the fact that padel expanded from its past niche status at a time when digital technologies were already sophisticated and growing in power and functionality for clubs, branded chains, pro-venues and players. 

Booking platform Playtomic has been a core service provider to clubs seeking sleek and automated online court reservation systems that encourage players to book return games. 

In its 2026 Global Padel Report, Playtomic stresses how clubs need to "maximise utilisation, pricing and monetisation of each court hour”, with many facilities failing to deliver on this goal. 

Automated booking systems enable clubs and venues to closely monitor this leveraging of assets, with Playtomic’s 2026 report highlighting a remarkable spread in court occupation hours between national markets. Looking at 2025 data in 10 countries, the UK came out top, with an average nine hours a day of court occupation. Major market Spain was way down at 4.5 hours. And the USA has significant work ahead to utilise padel facilities, at 3.7 hours of average occupancy per day. 

That said, booking platforms also deliver data on booking yields, and here, notes Playtomic’s 2026 report, the average player booking (in euros) was far higher in the US at €92 (for open games, lessons, academies, league and tournament matches) than other markets, with Italy having the next best yield at €50. Again, padel hub Spain does poorly, at €24 average booking price, according to Playtomic data. 

Padel’s growth fuels booking platform developments

These systems are likely to increase the popularity of padel, and given it is now played by over 35 million players across five continents, according to the International Padel Foundation (FIP), the sport’s growth is fuelling development of online booking systems as clubs seek to manage surging court demand while streamlining operations.  

And capital is available for such technological development. A 2026 Padel Sports Market Overview published by Growth Market Reports notes that investment in padel-focused tech startups increased by 45% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with venture capital firms increasingly backing technology such as mobile booking apps.    

One newcomer to this market is CourtsApp, an AI-powered booking platform built for racquet sports by a New York, US-based company of the same name. Released in January 2026, the app has been made available to players in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with more than 1,500 courts in 150 facilities as of the launch date. The company is also expanding into Massachusetts and Florida throughout 2026.  

“When I started looking at how the racquet sports and padel sports industries worked and operated, I saw there was no software out there – similar to an Expedia or OpenTable – where a player could easily see what court times are available at various facilities near them and book it,” says CourtsApp founder and CEO Daren Hornig.  

“We’re going to make it easier for people to play and for more people to play,” he continues, adding that CourtsApp can also help clubs grow by marketing their court time to a broader audience of potential players, thereby unlocking new revenue and increasing court utilisation.  

Innovating to stay ahead of the game

Other new online booking systems include UK-based Nettla, launched in February 2026. The all-in-one booking and club management platform tailored for racquet sports helps padel clubs manage bookings, memberships, leagues, coaching and social matches.

Its key features include Ace, a 24/7 WhatsApp-embedded sales agent that provides details on availability, pricing and court type on immediate request, and a one-click integration with CRM and analytics platforms to allow clubs to manage their growth and development through approaches such as customised marketing. 

Alongside the new market entrants, established players such as Estonia-based Anolla, which was founded in 2011, are also innovating. The platform provides AI-driven automation, from field and lane allocation to coach load balancing and intelligent waitlist promotion and uses sports-specific dynamic pricing that accounts for peak times, weather, demand, coach level and membership rules. 

The proliferation of such apps is good news for both clubs and players, say industry experts. 

“A booking system is the foundation of any successful padel club,” states London, UK-based management advisory agency Padel Consulting. “Players want simple, mobile-first tools to book courts, join matches, pay online, and connect with the community. Operators need management dashboards to control schedules, payments, and customer relationships.” 

And looking further ahead, online booking systems can be expected to increase customer engagement and retention as well as lifetime value, according to a note on the padel sector from Texas, US-based data and market research firm Synixi Labs.  

Competition expands among booking platforms

Morten Bugge, founder and chair of UK and Denmark-based padel operator Rocket Padel, whose company switched to the Sweden-based booking platform Padel Mates in May 2025, says he welcomes how the platform “offers a modern, all-in-one solution that enhances the member experience and streamlines Rocket Padel club operations”.

Padel Mates’ ability to offer players ways to book courts, and participate in tournaments, social games, coaching, box leagues, loyalty programmes and memberships, offers Rocket Padel the flexibility it needs to operate its nine sites. 

That includes, stresses Bugge, access to the system’s open API (application programming interface), enabling clubs to adjust their use of the system, including interactions with third-party apps, such as messaging and emailing, including digital platforms such as Rule, which form a key component for developing community among players.  

Bugge encourages other padel operators to look hard at such features offered by booking platforms, who generally are paid a set portion of client turnover, before choosing which system is right for them.

"I would encourage clubs to look a bit beyond some of the headline features and interrogate how well the system handles the full breadth of what you actually need as a club,” he explains.

“So, court booking, of course, that's a given, everyone can do that. But what about tournaments, event management? We have a lot of corporate events at Rocket Padel.”

Bugge points out that as Rocket Padel also runs box leagues and other competitions, a system that displays players’ standing can be useful. He adds that flexibility to offer coaching, lesson sessions and loyalty programmes are key – for example in London where padel court demand is outstripping demand. 

Retaining booking and player data

A key benefit of Padel Mates for Bugge is that it enables clubs and operators to retain full ownership of booking and the player data, which is not always the case with booking platforms. “Player data is one of the most valuable assets,” he says. “It informs you about targeting your communication and retention strategies. You can commercialise it with your local partners and national partners.

“Where platforms restrict access to data, that risks creating dependency and impedes some strategies. You're unable to analyse your business, which is going to be key, I think, as we move forward.” 

While larger booking platforms inevitably offer access to different clubs and venues, Bugge thinks this does not matter, especially in a growing sport such as padel, whose UK player numbers doubled in 2025 to 860,000, according to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). 

"Yes, there are other clubs with different logos and they do different things. But at the end of the day, I think padel will grow more padel. So, it's not about me being a competitor with X, Y, Z. I think it's great that clubs are popping up and bringing more awareness around padel and growing the sport.”

He also stresses that court bookings are built into this popularity, because “padel is a participation sport” with a lower entry to join than tennis, and a game people want to play more than watch. 

Given this, convenience is key – players want to book courts near their homes or workplaces, not commute an hour to play a game – something that multi-court booking sites can facilitate through highlighting court availability. 

Why booking can still be local 

For some padel clubs and businesses, there is reluctance to utilise a powerful booking platform. Ian Colligon, director of UK-based padel promoter and developer iPadel, explains that his club, The Limpsfield Club – a large tennis and squash facility with padel, based in Surrey, southeast England – uses its own booking system.

“It seems to work fine for the members,” he says. “I think this is the case with well-established tennis clubs that have added padel to their facilities.” However, he notes that new standalone padel clubs seem more inclined to use booking apps – “probably because they don’t want to employ staff to run the bookings as they already have huge overheads”.

For those that do, says Colligon, “booking apps are fine if everything works but are a total pain if something goes wrong”, as in his experience, they can be difficult to contact. “I think booking platforms are generally useful but only if they combine a human element. You cannot do everything through an app,” he explains. 

Where booking platforms do not give out phone numbers, this can be frustrating for users facing technical difficulties, he adds. Also, in his experience, booking apps have struggles with managing padel leagues and meshing with player rating systems. “Individual ratings on apps are not worth it as each one has a different system and they are not compatible,” he says. 

Playtomic looks to adapt to changing demands

Whether local or global, booking platforms have become a major part of padel’s growth. As ever with a new growth sector, early mover advantage helps – with booking platforms as with any other padel service.

In this regard, having been launched in Spain in 2017, as a platform able to link racquet sports facilities with players, Playtomic was perfectly positioned to take advantage of and help fuel the robust growth in the sport during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.  

It has retained that leading position worldwide, being used by an estimated 80% of UK padel clubs, for example, with Britt Ivy, Playtomic head of business development – US & Canada, telling Padel Business Magazine: “I do think it has aided in the growth because having a technology platform that ... can make it easy for players to discover clubs and courts, find matches, connect with other players, participate in competitions or training, just helps reduce friction.” 

This, she says, “makes the difference with helping to push the sport along, make it accessible, in one single ecosystem,” enabling clubs to move away from relying on phone calls and WhatsApp. “Digitalising and standardising a booking experience has made it just more accessible, both to existing players and then newcomers,” she stresses. 

Ivy adds that Playtomic’s access to more than 7,000 clubs worldwide has helped drive padel growth, with relocating and travelling players able to book a court easily when they might otherwise have let the sport slip, temporarily or permanently. 

In this regard, booking apps play into the social aspect of padel, which is unusually strong compared to other racquet sports (alongside pickleball). "So having kind of our open match feature is very valuable with connecting people – it's a matchmaking service, so people can find others to play with very easily,” says Ivy.

As a result, Playtomic has enabled social media components, so players can post results, photos, create group chats, direct message and check player profiles, including playing history.  

Adjusting services for different markets

As an international company serving a global sport, Playtomic has had to adjust service for particular markets, for example in the US, which is a new growth market for padel , with technical adjustments, for example reflecting how Americans like facilities saving credit card details, and using web browsers rather than just a phone app.

“The web version on Playtomic is more complete, so you can see all activities beyond just regular bookings, plus you can actually complete the transactions on the web version – that was a very US-specific thing that was needed,” Ivy says, noting that it boosts access to players using laptops and tablets, for example. 

Playtomic recognises the need to keep developing services to remain competitive, for example its offering of open API, rolled out during 2025. Ivy says: “Clubs can use it for more automated integration with different applications, whether that's a marketing-related platform, or accounting-related, dashboards they want to create outside of what we offer, video recording technology ... it just makes clubs’ lives easier.” 

As for data retention, which has been a point of competition with rival platforms, Ivy stresses that Playtomic "clubs have access to their own data ... anything that's generated through using Playtomic. They have dashboards, reports built into the software for them, so it's very searchable – they can filter for different things. They see revenue, data occupancy, player activity data, payments, CRM information.”

She adds that clubs can use APIs to extract or download data and save to CSV files, noting “they need to be able to analyse what's going on”.

Accumulated data helps Playtomic adjust client relationships, share insights and reports, which are shared with clubs, such as its Global Padel Report.  

Playtomic announced in March 2026 it was increasing data access to clubs, notably via its new BreakPoint CRM product that facilitates communications with players, which is fully compatible with Playtomic. 

“Clubs need to have a way to do smart marketing and communications and manage their CRM in a way that makes sense,” Ivy says.

Meta-search engines

Looking ahead, while businesses such as Rocket Padel are today offering bookings via one booking platform, Bugge anticipates that meta-search engines, reflecting how Trivago integrates sales sites for hotels, might offer information on all courts that offer online bookings in future.

With London, UK sites currently booked to 90% occupancy he knows a player who has configured AI to warn him when a court is open for booking via a platform, functionality that Bugge predicts will become more available in future. 

It is another example of how padel bookings platforms will need to keep ahead of the game to stay relevant. 

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