Padel, tennis, pitches and sports halls
Padel courts with no staff, with lights and door tied to the booking
With Sporttia, a club can rent its padel courts at seven in the morning and eleven at night with nobody on reception. The player books and pays up front, receives a code that only works for their slot, the lights on their court come on a few minutes early and go off when it ends, and every entry is logged. It works the same way on tennis courts, football pitches and sports halls.
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Simulate entry · Entry · 26-08-2026 · 20:10
A court's access point, with its lights and its simulator. Sporttia's interface, with sample data.
- 776
- padel courts take bookings on Sporttia
- 24 h
- of sellable court time, with the door and lights tied to the booking
- 1 phone
- an Android phone works as a reader: you can start without buying hardware
- 4
- reasons the door opens: booking, membership, course or pass
What usually happens
- Somebody has to go down to open up at seven and switch the lights off at midnight.
- Early and late slots never sell because there is nobody to run them.
- Keys and fobs that get copied, get lost and have to be collected.
- Lights left on over courts nobody has booked.
- Members who keep getting in with their fee unpaid.
- Nobody knows who was on the court on Saturday night.
How Sporttia solves it
- The booking is the key
- The access permission is created with the booking and is valid for exactly its slot. Nobody adds or removes anything.
- The lights follow the booking
- Only the booked court lights up, with the margins the club chooses, and it switches off by itself at the end.
- Paid before play
- Payment is taken at booking, by card or from the wallet balance, and cancellation works within the window the club sets.
- Every entry, logged
- Who came in, with which credential, at what time, and if they were refused, why.
What an automated padel club actually means
Running padel courts with no staff does not mean leaving the gate open. It means that three jobs a person used to do are done by the booking: letting in whoever has paid, switching on the lights of the court about to be played, and switching them off afterwards. Once all three depend on the booking, slots that never opened because nobody was there to run them become sellable hours.
So the question worth asking is not which device goes on the door, but what happens at each moment of a night with nobody at the club: who can get in, who cannot, what happens if something fails, and what is on record the next morning. This page follows that order.
A night with nobody at the club, step by step
21:40 · The player books and pays
From the app or a browser, the 23:00 court. They pay by card or from their balance, so nothing is left outstanding.
21:41 · They receive their code
The permission is created with the booking and is valid for exactly that slot, on that court. The booking can also issue a code per companion.
22:55 · The lights come on
Only on the booked court, with the margin the club has set. The courts next to it stay dark.
23:00 · The door opens with the phone
And the system records who came in, with which credential and at what time. A member with an overdue fee does not get in.
00:30 · The lights go off
When the booking ends, with its exit margin. Nobody goes back to the club to switch off or lock up.
Next morning · The log
The manager sees every entry of the night, allowed or refused, without having been there.
What needs installing
The minimum to open a door with nobody there is a reader. The lighting is separate work, and it is worth quoting the two apart.
- To start, a phone
- With the reader app, any Android phone controls a door. It is the way to try access control without buying hardware.
- Then, a turnstile or door with a reader
- They read QR codes, cards or wristbands, PINs, tickets and fingerprints, depending on the device. If the club already has TAI Global turnstiles, Sporttia connects to them.
- Lighting, once the wiring is ready
- Switching lights on by booking needs the courts' electrical installation to be ready for it. It is assessed club by club and quoted separately from the software.
- And checking it before opening
- The panel's simulator says whether a credential would get in on a specific day and time and whether the lights would come on, before anyone turns up.
Compatible hardware
Turnstiles and doors
Reads QR codes, RFID cards or wristbands, PINs, barcoded tickets and fingerprints. One device takes several types at once.
Automated lighting
Switching tied to the booking with pre-lighting, post-lighting and grace margins, in coordination with TAI Global.
Turnstiles you already have
Sporttia connects to TAI Global installations, which keep opening offline and sync their entries once the line is back.
Desktop RFID reader
For pairing cards and wristbands to a member's record from the front desk.
Taking payment and cancelling with nobody at the desk
An unstaffed court has to be paid for before anyone walks in. On Sporttia, payment is taken at booking, by card or from the balance the player holds in the club's wallet, so there are no unpaid bookings to chase the next day. The club takes payment through its bank's gateway, if Sporttia has it integrated, or through Sporttia's POS.
Cancelling is done by the player too: they can cancel on their own within the window each court sets, and the amount goes back to their balance at the club, ready for next time. Nobody has to hand back cash or fix an adjustment at cash-up, and that booking's access permission stops working.
- Linked to the device
- A use comes off on the way through
- Needs a connection
- At a linked facility
- Exactly the booking's window
- Created automatically on booking
- Authorized on that device
- By days and time band
- Inherited from the parent group
- With access configured
- For as long as the enrollment lasts
Every attempt is recorded, allowed or refused. That is what lets you answer «who came in on Saturday?».
- 1Because they have a booking on that court at that hour.
- 2Because they are a member and their membership allows entry on that day and at that hour.
- 3Because they are enrolled on a course that runs there.
- 4Because they hold a pass with uses left, and one comes off as they walk through.
- 5If none of those holds, they do not get in, and the attempt and the reason are recorded.
Who gets in, and who stays outside
- Guests, with their own code
- Whoever books can bring people from outside the club: the booking issues a code per companion, without any of them having to register.
- Anyone who owes, does not get in
- An overdue fee blocks entry, with whatever grace days the club decides so nobody is locked out over a bank error.
- One credential, one person
- Anti-passback stops anyone getting in twice without leaving, which is how a membership card really gets lent.
- And it is on record
- Each entry stores the person, the credential, the direction, the time and the reason if it was refused. That is what answers «who was there on Saturday?».
What happens if the internet goes down
Turnstiles prepared for it hold the day's permissions and keep opening offline; TAI Global ones also sync the entries once the line is back. Anyone with a booking, a membership or a course gets in even if the club has lost its connection.
The exception is entry by prepaid pass, because taking off a use means checking at that moment how many are left. If the club sells a lot of passes for unstaffed hours, it is worth bearing in mind when choosing the hardware.
Padel, tennis, football or sports hall: who gets in and what lights up
In every case, automatic lighting needs an electrical installation ready for it.
| Facility | Who the door opens for | Which lights come on |
|---|---|---|
| Padel court | Whoever has a booking on that court at that time, and their companions with their code | The booked court's, with its margins |
| Tennis court | Also the member whose membership allows entry on that day and at that time | The booked court's, not the whole site's |
| Football pitch | The team that booked, with a code per companion if issued | The booked pitch's |
| Sports hall | Whoever booked, and anyone enrolled on a course that runs there | The booked space's |
What you should know
- Automatic lighting needs the electrical installation to be ready for it, and it is quoted separately from the software depending on what the club already has.
- Entry by prepaid pass needs a connection, because the remaining uses have to be checked. Bookings, memberships and courses work offline on prepared turnstiles.
- What gets automated is the door and the lights. There is no irrigation, no climate control and no other connected supply.
- There is no facial recognition. Identification is by credential: code, card, wristband, ticket or fingerprint.
Keep exploring
Frequently asked questions
- How do padel courts open with no staff?
- Through the booking. When the player books and pays, they receive a code that only works for that court and that slot; the lights come on a few minutes early, the door opens with their phone and the entry is logged. When it ends, the lights go off by themselves.
- What needs installing to open with nobody there?
- A reader on the door. You can start with an Android phone as the reader and move later to a turnstile or door with a code, card or wristband reader. Automatic lighting also needs an electrical installation ready for it.
- How much does it cost to automate court lighting?
- It depends on the electrical installation the club already has, so it is assessed case by case and quoted separately from the software. The software does not change price for using access control.
- What happens if the club's internet goes down?
- Prepared turnstiles hold the day's permissions and keep opening for anyone with a booking, membership or course. The exception is entry by prepaid pass, which needs a connection to take off the use.
- How are payment and cancellation handled with nobody on reception?
- Payment is taken at booking, by card or from the wallet balance. The player can cancel on their own within the window each court sets, and the amount goes back to their balance at the club.
- Can a guest from outside the club get in?
- Yes. The booking can issue a code per companion, without any of them having to register.
- Does a member with an unpaid fee get in?
- No. An overdue fee blocks entry, with whatever grace days the club decides. The member finds out at the door and sorts it out from the app.
- Can it be checked before opening with no staff?
- Yes. The panel's simulator says whether a credential would open on a specific day and time and whether the lights would come on, without waiting for it to fail with a player standing there.
See it working, in thirty minutes
A meeting with the sales team to see the whole application running and talk about what your center needs. No commitment.