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manual_desk

4 min read

Manual Desk Operations

Reality: 50-55% of Thai golf courses don’t have modern booking APIs. They only accept reservations via phone or LINE chat.

NOT a failure. This is accepting market reality.

What Manual Desk Does

Human staff handling golf course bookings when API integration isn’t available.

Workflow

  1. Customer inquiry comes in (via LINE bot or platform)
  2. System identifies course has no API
  3. Routes request to manual desk operator
  4. Operator calls/messages course directly
  5. Confirms tee time manually
  6. Updates system, generates e-voucher

Efficiency Targets

SLAs:

  • <24hr quote SLA for standard requests
  • <48hr confirmation for legacy courses
  • Handle 60% of confirmations with 1 FTE (ops manager)

Optimization tactics:

  • Pre-negotiated time windows reduce coordination overhead
  • Templated messaging and macros for efficiency
  • Batch bookings to same course (call once, confirm multiple)

Staffing & Cost

Initial team:

  • Operations manager: ฿30K/month (starts month 1)
  • Handles manual desk + operations board + supplier coordination

Scaling:

  • 1 FTE can handle ~40-50 manual bookings/month (30-45 min per booking)
  • At 75 packages/month with 50% manual = ~38 manual bookings
  • Single ops manager sufficient until ~100 packages/month

Cost per manual booking:

  • ฿30K/month ÷ 40 bookings = ฿750/booking (~$22)
  • Ops manager also handles other tasks (driver assignment, issue tracking)
  • Marginal cost ~฿200-300 per booking (15-20 min @ ฿50/hr loaded)

Why Manual Desk is Necessary

Distribution reality:

  • Only a minority of courses have modern APIs
  • Many fully manual (phone/LINE only)
  • Even with aggregators, miss significant portion of market

Alternative (rejected):

  • Only work with API-ready courses → Lose 50% of inventory
  • Force courses to integrate → Takes years, most won’t
  • Partner with agents who handle manual → Give up margin, train competitors

Acceptance:

  • Build automation for 50% that’s automatable
  • Staff manual desk for 50% that isn’t
  • Both coexist: hybrid approach

Automation Support for Manual Desk

Even manual bookings benefit from automation:

Intake: LINE/WhatsApp webhooks capture inquiry automatically Routing: System identifies which courses need manual handling Templates: Pre-filled messages for common requests (reduces typing) Tracking: CRM shows which bookings pending confirmation Reminders: Alert operator if <48hr SLA at risk E-voucher: Auto-generated once operator confirms in system

Result: Manual workflow is faster/smoother, even if core confirmation is human.

Manual Desk vs Automation Comparison

Fully Automated (minority of courses)

  • Aggregator API or direct course API
  • Real-time availability check
  • Instant confirmation
  • E-voucher generated immediately
  • Operator time: 0 minutes

Manual with Automation Support (many courses)

  • System captures inquiry, routes to operator
  • Operator checks pre-negotiated time windows
  • Calls/LINE messages course
  • Updates system with confirmation
  • E-voucher auto-generated
  • Operator time: 15-20 minutes

Fully Manual (legacy, being phased out)

  • Inquiry via phone/email to agent
  • Agent manually checks notes for course contact
  • Calls course, writes down details
  • Emails customer confirmation
  • Customer prints/saves email
  • Operator time: 30-45 minutes

GolfOkay manual desk = middle ground. Human confirmation, automated everything else.

Scaling Manual Desk

Month 3: 15-20 packages, ~50% manual = 7-10 manual bookings

  • Ops manager handles easily (1-2 hours/week)

Month 6: 30 packages/month, ~50% manual = 15 manual bookings

  • Ops manager handles (3-4 hours/week)

Month 9: 60 packages/month, ~50% manual = 30 manual bookings

  • Ops manager handles (7-10 hours/week)

Month 12+: 100+ packages/month, ~50% manual = 50 manual bookings

  • Need second ops staff or shift toward more direct course relationships

Direct Course Relationships (Manual Desk Reduction Strategy)

Instead of eliminating manual desk, reduce its load:

Approach:

  • Identify top 10-15 courses by volume
  • Negotiate direct relationships (better rates via volume commitments)
  • Some may add API access as part of partnership
  • Others stay manual but give priority time windows

Result:

  • Still ~40% manual overall (down from 50%)
  • Manual bookings are higher-margin (no aggregator fee)
  • Pre-negotiated windows make manual faster

Timeline:

  • Month 3-6: Identify top courses from booking data
  • Month 6-9: Negotiate 5-10 direct relationships
  • Month 9+: Manual % drops to 40%, efficiency improves

See Also

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