[NL] I had to create a bot to book courts

Another tech intrusion that provides a disparate advantage to someone over others is precisely what we don’t need in this world. The solution is for the clubs not to let people book so far in advance, so there is no incentive to book courts on a contingency. They need to tighten up both the booking window AND cancellation policy, and that will cut out a lot of this. In the meantime, get in the queue and compete fairly like everyone else.

Living in Sweden (south) is really the dream for an intermediate padel player these days. Plenty of winner’s court tournaments every week, leagues to play in in various levels, easy to find courts, good prices (45-65 euro for 90 minutes court peak times, can get down to 25-35 off hours, 8-15 Euros per person to participate in 90 minutes winners court or americano) Group training 30 euro per 90 minutes, private class 60-90 per hour depending on coach… Recommended for a spring visit :)

Some harsh words in here, not sure I agree with all the downvoting, don't hate the player hate the game

I think people should only be allowed X Bookings during prime time hours per club.

You guys in Northern Europe schedule things weeks or months in advance. In Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy) slots are usually filled only for the next 4 or 5 days. So the solution is for everyone to chill, and think only of the near future 😁

I agree with your last para. One simple partial solution is to ban cancellations. If I were the court owners I would also raise prices, as demand seems to be outstripping supply!

I did exactly the same until 3 years ago. It worked on [baanreserveren.nl](http://baanreserveren.nl) til it started to become a cat and mouse game. I think I used Puppeteer. Anyway, I always had mixed feelings about it, but it was much nicer than setting an alarm a minute before midnight to make a reservation as quick as possible. I stopped using it as soon as the website introduced a captcha. The real solution is to be able to book a weekly (seasonal) court so you have a steady schedule. But that usually means you play with the same group of people. I like to play matches, but it was impossible to arrange in the evenings from Monday to Thursday.

You sure you are not breaking any TOS? Im pretty certain that Playtomics TOS forbids this, it’s just a bad system so they don’t recognize the bots.

Ok here some ideas (by these comments and ideas) to improve the situation. 1. reduce reservation windows 2. Increase cancel for free windows now is 1/2 days it should be more. Maybe related to the reservation period, if I book 1 month in advance then I can cancel for free only up to 15 days before, if I book 1 week in advance 2 days seems fair 3. Queues and random extractions, if 10 people want the same slot let them sign up in a queue this time I can book imthe week after goe sto another person. And similar random extractions 10 people sign up one is extracted 4. Penalty when you cancel. To cancel happens, so maybe you can have 1 or 2 free cancel and then you start to pay. I am sure this would drastically reduce the "just in case" reservations and cancelations. No a solution but a concern 5. Higher prices (and no free cancel), I hope they will never to this but this problem is easily exploitable by padel courts. 100 people want the same slot? The price increase exponentially, you see this already with airplane ticket and concert tickets unfortunately. To actually reach a solution would be nice to have some data like how many cancellation people do, how many cancellations made way in advance are the cancelled and so on, etc. Ok enough on this topic, book your courts play with nice people and have fun!

how do you handle payment?

What court booking system did you build the bot for? We encounter similar issues with playtomic. There's (mostly Spanish) players that are always 5 minutes late. But in those 5 minutes, they quickly grab a court for 2 weeks later.

Sounds like you need more courts 😏

Good idea.

Having a tool/bot is actually a great idea! You had a problem and you solved it. Would you be willing to share and Do you think it would work on Playtomic (booking app a lot of clubs use)? P.s. we are not in sane country so you don't need to worry about "competition" :D

u/HairyCallahan Let me try to find a middle ground here, I still hope that people can have an actual conversation on the internet even with different point of view. Here is what I see: 1. To use a bot to make a reservation is NOT unfair, it is just a tool 2. What is unfair is that the bot can make the reservation one millisecond after midnight, as human you cannot. 2.2 I admit this is unfair. If 2 people wake up to make the reservation and "compete" to get the same spot sometimes person A wins sometimes person B wins. If one of the 2 is a bot, the bot will always win. I hope this is an edge case, meaning that I hope that most of the times there is enough availability for both my bot reservation and you as human reservation. 2.3 In other words if a bot prevents you from making a reservation it is unfair. 3. The most annoying/wrong thing is to make reservations and then cancel them because "reserve and cancel" doesn't cost me anything. 3.1 I admit that a bot give you the possibility to make several reservations as human you probably will not wake up every single night to make several reservations. 4. That being said, doesn't matter how you make the reservation the main issue is still the fact that you make a reservation, keep the court reserved (this impact anyone who wants to make a reservation for that slot) and then cancel it. 5. I disagree with the bot is unfair because you have to "wake up at midnight and show effort", with or without bot I don't have to show effort to book a padel game period. Personally I can tell you, I make 1 reservation per week using the bot, the rest I join open matches or tournaments. To create a bot is/was a very fun project, I like to spend time coding and I am really happy about the final result.

I think this is pretty silly. I had a friend who booked courts with a bot as well and he is now banned cause it was deemed as unsportsmanlike. I told him it was unfair and I actually did not mind he got a ban. The thing is, everyone wants to play at peak hours. That's just what it is. There are plenty of options to jump into games. If you are determined to get a court at a peak hour, just put in the effort and stay up late.