Linking players to their membership

When a member books a rink and names who is playing, each name can either be picked from the club list or typed in. Picked names are joined to that person’s membership; typed names are just text.

That difference costs the person named three things, and none of them are obvious at the time:

• The booking never appears in their app, so they have nothing to check and nothing to show at the gate.
• They get no reminder about it.
• Their visit does not count towards the club’s attendance figures, so the monthly Bowlers & Rink Usage report undercounts.

So when somebody types a name that looks like a member the club already knows, the app asks before saving: it shows who it might be, explains what linking gains, and offers to keep the typed name if the person really is a guest or a visitor. Nothing is changed without the booker choosing.

Common questions

It suggested two people with the same surname.

That is the point of asking rather than guessing. Typing “J Bloggs” where the club has a Joe and a Joanne is genuinely ambiguous, and picking the wrong one would put the booking in a stranger’s app. Both are offered with their membership number so they can be told apart.

It did not suggest anybody.

Nothing close enough was found, so the booking saved as typed. Names under three characters are never matched — “Jo” would bring back half the club — and only active members are considered.

Our guests keep getting suggestions.

Only if a guest shares a name with a member. Tap Not a member and the typed name is kept exactly as it was.

Does it ever link somebody without asking?

No. It only ever suggests, and the booking saves as typed if the booker ignores it. If the lookup itself fails for any reason the booking still goes through — getting the rink booked matters more than the tidiness of the record.

What about bookings taken over the phone by a steward?

Covered from 9.99.218. The booking form and the booking wizard both ask the same question before saving, and the Rinks tab uses that same wizard, so all three routes are included. It matters most there, in fact: somebody ringing the club to book is usually naming other members rather than guests, and until 9.99.218 those admin screens sent no membership link at all — every name taken over the telephone was saved as bare text.