Choosing turf booking software in Bangladesh: 9 questions to ask

Most comparisons of booking software compare feature lists, which is the least useful way to choose one. Feature lists are written by the vendor. These nine questions are the ones that actually predict whether you will still be using the thing in a year.

1. What happens if two people book the same slot at once?

Ask precisely this, and listen for whether the answer is about checking or about preventing. "We check availability before confirming" describes a system with a gap between the check and the save. On a busy evening, two requests can pass the same check. The answer you want describes the conflict being impossible to store, not unlikely to occur.

2. Who holds the money when a customer pays online?

Someone is the merchant of record, the money lands in someone’s account, and it reaches you on some schedule. All three answers should be given to you plainly and in writing before you sign anything. Also ask what happens to a payout if a customer raises a chargeback after you have been paid.

3. Can I take a cash booking at the desk?

Plenty of booking products are built for online payment only, which is fine until you remember that most of your revenue walks in. If cash bookings are an afterthought — or worse, are recorded outside the system — you now have two sets of numbers and the reconciliation problem you were trying to solve.

4. What does it do about my accounts?

The honest answer from most booking apps is "exports a CSV". That is not accounting, it is a list, and someone still has to turn it into books. Ask whether the system produces a profit-and-loss and a balance sheet, whether expenses and salaries can be recorded in it, and whether a month can be closed. If the answer is no to all three, budget for whatever you are already paying to get accounts done, because that cost is not going away.

5. Can I get my data out?

Ask for the export format and try it during the trial rather than trusting the answer. Your booking history and customer list are the two assets you accumulate, and a product that makes them hard to remove is telling you how it intends to keep you.

6. What does my staff see?

Your evening receptionist should not be able to open your payroll, and a manager at one branch should not see another branch’s takings. Ask whether access can be limited by role and by facility. If everyone with a login sees everything, that is a real risk with real money attached.

7. Does it work in Bangla?

Not "can it be translated later" — is it in Bangla today, on the staff screens as well as the customer app? The people using it eight hours a day are the ones who matter here, and software people cannot read fluently gets used at half speed and blamed for mistakes it did not cause.

8. What is the true cost at my volume?

Multiply the transaction fee by your actual monthly revenue and add every fixed fee. Then ask specifically about: setup fees, per-staff charges, charges per additional facility, and whether the gateway fee is passed through at cost or marked up. That last one is worth asking directly, because a markup on a third party’s fee is easy to hide inside a single blended percentage.

9. Who do I call at 8 PM on a Friday?

Your busiest hour is the one where a problem hurts most. Find out whether support is a person on WhatsApp or a ticket form with a two-day reply. Ask during the trial by sending a question on a Friday evening and seeing what happens.

How to actually run the evaluation

• Trial it on real bookings, not demo data. A product that looks good with three fake bookings can fall apart with a real Friday.
• Put your worst-case week through it: a tournament, a rained-off slot, a walk-in group, a refund request.
• Have the staff member who will actually use it do the clicking — not you.
• Ask your accountant to look at the reports before you commit, not after.
• Check the exit before the entrance: export your data on day two of the trial and see what you get.

The right answer is different for different grounds. If you run one turf, take payment online only, and have an accountant you trust, a straightforward booking app may be all you need. If you have a cash desk, staff on payroll, stock to sell, more than one venue, or a partner who wants to see numbers, you are running a business and you need something that treats it as one.

Sportify was built for the second case. We would rather you ask us these nine questions and get straight answers — including where another product fits you better — than sign up and discover the gaps in month two.