Keep calm and stay ballin’
Having a hard time gathering your friends and reserving a basketball court? Well, there’s a website that makes this task much more easier. And all you need is just three steps.
Check. Book. Play.
Express Hoops PH is the brainchild of three friends that saw the need for an app that would make reserving basketball courts hassle-free.
“Being basketball enthusiasts and casual players ourselves, we’ve experienced the difficulties of finding and reserving basketball courts,” shared one of the proprietors Paolo Layug, who is currently an assistant coach for the Alaska Aces and the Saint Benilde Blazers. “There are currently too many steps just to reserve a court: from finding the contact details of the gym, calling the gym to inquire available timeslots, to coordinating with your friends to make sure you have enough players, then finally having to pay at the gym or their bank beforehand.
“We felt that there were a lot of inefficiencies in the whole process. There had to be a simpler, more hassle-free to book basketball courts.”
Layug, together with fellow Atenean Mark Carillo and Carlo Espinosa, conceptualized the idea of shortening the process of booking a place. The inspiration came from apps that can purchase movie tickets, reserve hotel rooms, and hail taxi cabs.
After multiple testflights, the product was finally made public in July of 2017.
“For our users, we want the entire reservation process to be as easy as check, book. and play. We don’t want there to be any hang ups or delays in the process. Once a user finds a timeslot that he wants to book, the payment is coursed through our website,” added Layug. “All payments are made upfront and in full. The reason we do this is because we want to avoid situations of last minute cancellations or worse, no shows. Of course, this is a source of lost income for gym owners and we really want to avoid that.
“Once a user books a timeslot, all the user has to do is show his voucher to the gym custodian and he’s good to go!”
Currently, Express Hoops PH has partnered up with eight gyms, namely G-Court and Reyes Gym in Mandaluyong; The Upper Deck Lifestyle Center in Pasig; Moro Lorenzo Sports Center, PAREF Northfield, and Golden Panda Gym in Quezon City; Cloverleaf Basketball Court in Makati; and TC Sports Gymnasium in Caloocan.
Just like Gilas Pilipinas, you can play at the Upper Deck Gym
The reservation fee depends on the location, ranging from PHP 400/hour (Northfield) to PHP 2,000/hour (Upperdeck). In terms of payment options, Express Hoops currently accept credit card payments using PayPal’s online payment portal system.
The troika of basketball-loving techpreneurs are aiming to have at least 40 partners by the end of 2018. More importantly, the group wants to continue with innovations on how to make it easier for both the clients and the gym owners.
“In the end, we want to create a system that will be the perfect assist to both players and gym owners.”
