Guide · Ice rinks
What events should an ice rink run?
Public skating is the backbone and it is also the problem: it is brilliant on a Saturday afternoon and thin on a Wednesday evening. Everything else on the timetable exists to buy back those empty hours, and some of it earns considerably more per hour of ice.
Ice time is the unit
A rink's economics are simpler than most venues': you have a fixed number of hours of ice, they cost roughly the same whether anyone is on them or not, and the only question is what each hour earns.
That framing makes the decisions easier. A learn to skate block that fills a Tuesday evening at a decent rate is worth more than a public session that half fills at a lower one, even though public skating feels like the main event.
Compare everything per hour of ice, not per head.
A birthday party for fifteen can be worth more than a public session for sixty, and a coaching block can be worth more than either. Per head is the wrong denominator when the ice is the constraint.
Making public skating work harder
Before adding anything, the sessions you already run can usually be sharpened:
- Peak and off-peak pricing. A Saturday afternoon and a Wednesday teatime should not cost the same. Most rinks under-price the peak rather than over-pricing the quiet slot.
- Timed sessions with a cap, so the ice is enjoyable rather than a scrum, and so people can book with confidence.
- Skate hire as its own line, counted separately, because it is a large part of the take and worth seeing clearly.
- Family tickets, which lift the average booking more than a general discount does.
The evening slots
Evenings are where the biggest gains usually sit, because the audience changes completely after about six o'clock.
- Disco or club nights. Lights, music, an older crowd, a higher ticket, and a bar if you have one. The single best use of a Friday or Saturday evening at most rinks.
- Adults-only sessions. A genuine audience of people who want to skate without children on the ice, and they spend more.
- Late-night skating in the run-up to Christmas, which reaches people who work.
- Corporate and work socials, especially in December, sold as an exclusive hour rather than a group of tickets.
Blocks, courses and the reliable money
Anything sold as a block rather than a single visit is worth disproportionately more, because it fills the same hour every week for a term.
- Learn to skate courses, six or eight weeks, paid up front. The most dependable income a rink has and the cheapest to fill, because parents book the whole course.
- Adult beginner blocks, an under-served audience who are often too self-conscious for a public session.
- Club and figure skating ice, which is early-morning time that would otherwise be dead.
- Hockey and curling hire, sold as ice time by the hour rather than by the head.
The quieter ones worth running
- SEN and quiet sessions, with reduced numbers and the music off. Not a big earner, and it produces loyalty that lasts years.
- Toddler and beginner sessions with aids available, at times when confident skaters are elsewhere.
- School bookings, which land on weekday mornings, the emptiest ice you have.
- Birthday parties, which combine ice, skate hire and usually food, and are among the highest value per hour on the timetable.
If your rink is seasonal
A pop-up or seasonal rink has the opposite problem: a short window, high fixed costs and no chance to recover a bad week.
- Sell ahead, and sell hard. Pre-booked revenue before the season opens is what makes the weather survivable.
- Timed sessions from day one. There is no version of a seasonal rink where open admission is easier.
- Price the peak properly. The three weekends before Christmas are the season. Discount them and there is nothing left to make up for it.
- Sell the extras with the ticket, since skate hire, a photograph or a hot chocolate raise the value of an hour you cannot repeat.
Running the timetable
Everything above is a session with a time, a price and a cap, and blocks are just sessions sold together. Skate hire and food are extras, counted separately so you can see what each hour of ice actually earned.
That is how Hatch works, with the money into your own Stripe account as bookings come in. There are companion pieces on timed entry versus open sessions and cutting no-shows, and more on ticketing for ice rinks.
Common questions
What events can an ice rink run besides public skating?
Disco and club nights, adults-only sessions, learn to skate courses, adult beginner blocks, club and figure skating ice, hockey and curling hire, SEN and quiet sessions, school bookings and birthday parties. Evenings and blocks are usually where the biggest gains sit, because the audience after six is completely different and a course fills the same hour every week for a term.
How should an ice rink price its sessions?
Compare everything per hour of ice rather than per head, because the ice is the constraint and it costs much the same whether anyone is on it or not. On that basis a party for fifteen can be worth more than a public session for sixty. Most rinks under-price the peak rather than over-price the quiet slot, so a Saturday afternoon and a Wednesday teatime should not cost the same.
How does a seasonal rink differ from a permanent one?
A seasonal rink has a short window, high fixed costs and no chance to recover a bad week, so pre-booked revenue before opening is what makes the weather survivable. Timed sessions matter from day one, and the three weekends before Christmas are effectively the season: discount them and there is nothing later to make up the difference.
Written for UK ice rinks, permanent and seasonal. What fits depends on your ice time, your coaching staff and your catchment, and your own hour-by-hour figures beat any general guidance.