A few years ago I asked you whether would you share your golf club membership with your friends and what is the possibility of creating shareable golf club membership offers. What I found at The Track, Meydan Golf (Peter Harradine designed championship course; managed by Troon) is not a shareable golf club membership offer, but a fully-transferable un-named Wildcard.
They say that their intention was to make golf as accessible as possible to both avid and novice players. In other words, they want to expand their market in Dubai. Tom Rourke (Director of Golf, The Track, Meydan Golf) told me that that they have sold over 600 Wildcards in 3 years since this initiative began.
This is a quasi-sharing economy solution. Namely, one of the benefits of the sharing economy is expanding markets. This way, The Track, Meydan Golf can attract new customers who cannot afford to own a service or do not have sufficient need to do so.
The Track, Meydan Golf – sharing economy
I found another interesting benefit of the sharing economy. The Boston Consulting Group found in their study that “Consumers are willing to pay higher prices for goods that can generate a revenue stream by being shared. According to our survey, more than 80% of people who provide sharing services in the US and India, and more than 40% of service providers in Germany, would spend more for especially durable and shareable products.”
This is not a totally new offer of The Track, Meydan Golf. It was inspired by the success of the Wildcard program which ran throughout the summer, offers golfers unlimited golf day or night, as well as buggies and a 20% discount in The Qube sports bar.
Between us, this sounds a little bit tricky. This offer reminds me those restaurants that offer an unlimited consumption for a fixed price. I cannot imagine that people will play more than twice a day. Most of them play either in the morning or in the evening.
So the summer guests’ main consideration was more likely the economic value and quality than other factors. The unique experience can also attract people to sharing economy services and products. In this case, the possibility to play by night.
These motives and attitudes can be found also in a PWC study about the sharing economy:
- 86% agree that it makes life more affordable,
- 83% agree that it makes life more convenient and efficient.
At the same time, it would be wise to make these experiences shareable to build trust and awareness. Where are the golf travel influencers who can support them?
Your Turn
Could golf club membership become part of the future of everything as a service (XaaS)? In other words, a shareable service.