Racket hire at a padel club: do you need staff?

Padel is a sport people try with friends. Someone books a court, a group of four turns up, and at least one of them has never held a racket. If your club cannot put a racket in their hand, you lose a sale and risk a poor first impression. If you can only do it when reception is staffed, you lose every early, late and busy-desk booking. This guide sets out the options so you can pick one on purpose.

Why this matters more than it used to

Padel is growing quickly in Britain. The LTA reports 860,000 adults and juniors played padel in 2025, and that there were 1,553 courts across 559 venues at the end of the year, up from 870 courts across 293 venues a year earlier. The same release is summarised in the LTA annual report news.

Fast growth means a large share of the people on your courts are new to the sport. New players are the ones least likely to own a racket, and the most likely to buy balls, grips and drinks on the day. How easy you make that first visit decides whether they come back and book again.

Four ways clubs handle racket hire

• No hire. Players must bring their own. Simple, but you turn away visitors and friends of members, and your bookings depend on someone else owning kit.
• Staffed hire from reception or a pro shop. Works well when someone is always there. It falls down early, late and at peak times, and every hire takes a member of staff away from bookings or coaching.
• Honesty box or self-service shelf. Cheap to set up, but rackets go missing, nobody is charged and you cannot see what is happening.
• Secure lockers with cashless payment. Players pay, the locker opens, and the racket is tracked. Staff are not involved, and hire works whenever the courts are open.

None of these is right for every club. A small members-only tennis club with a staffed clubhouse every evening may be perfectly served by a shelf behind the bar. A padel venue taking bookings from first light to last thing at night, with staff on site for only part of that, has a real gap.

Count the hours you are not staffed

Start with a simple audit. Take your court booking schedule for a typical week and mark every hour when a court is in use but nobody is at the desk. Add the hours when the desk is staffed but busy with a queue or a phone call. The total is the time in which a player who needs a racket, a fresh tube of balls or a new grip has nobody to ask.

Then look at who is playing in those hours. Early starters before work, evening players after the pro shop has shut, and beginner groups booking a court for a birthday or a work social are all typical. They have paid for the court. What they cannot do is buy what makes the session work.

What a courtside machine can and cannot do

Our padel and tennis vending machine sells ball tubes, overgrips, drinks and a small range of apparel, and includes secure lockers for racket hire. It is cashless only: players pay by card, contactless, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The range and the hire prices are agreed with you before it goes live, and you can supply the rackets or we can.

It is not a replacement for a pro shop. It will not fit a racket to a player or advise on a purchase, and it is not the place to sell high-end equipment. What it does is cover the routine, low-value purchases that do not justify a staff member, at any hour your courts are open.

The questions to ask about lost and damaged rackets

This is where most hire schemes quietly lose money, so ask directly whoever you are dealing with:

• What happens when a racket is not returned? With our machine, a racket that is not returned is charged to the player who hired it.
• What happens when one is damaged? We review what happened and replace the racket, so the club is never out of pocket.
• Who keeps the lockers stocked and checked? The machine reports stock and faults remotely, and we restock, clean and service it.
• Who sets the hire price? It should be agreed with you, not decided by the supplier afterwards.

What to check before you agree to any machine

• Who pays for what. Get the machine, installation, stock, servicing and repairs in writing. With Nexus Vend there is no upfront cost to the club.
• How you are paid. An agreed share of sales, paid monthly, with a statement showing every transaction.
• The contract. Ours is a six-month minimum, then rolling monthly. Be careful with long fixed terms you cannot leave.
• Space and power. Our padel machine is 1060 × 980 mm at the base and 1950 mm tall, weighs 280 kg and draws 500W. Plan for roughly 1.1 m × 1 m near the courts, a standard power socket, and a delivery route that can take its weight.
• Connectivity. It works over 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Ethernet, so it does not depend on your club network.
• Outdoor sites. It can go outdoors, and where needed we build a cover or shelter, agreed at the site inspection.
• Insurance, food registration and certification. Find out who handles them. With Nexus Vend, we do.

A simple way to decide

1. Audit your unstaffed hours. If courts are regularly in use with nobody at the desk, you have a gap worth filling.
2. Look at who books. Many beginners, visitors and corporate groups mean a high need for hire. A closed membership with its own kit means less.
3. Find a spot near the courts. You need floor space, a socket and a route in. If you cannot provide these, a machine is not for you.
4. Choose managed or do it yourself. If hire means you stock, charge, chase and replace rackets, count the staff time honestly before you start.
5. Agree the numbers in writing. Revenue share, prices, contract length and what happens if it underperforms.

For the full detail of installation, servicing and payments, read how it works. We will only recommend a machine if it suits your club, and if something else would serve your players better, we will tell you.

Sources

• LTA Padel, 860,000 players: LTA unveils latest figures on growth of padel in Britain
• LTA annual report and accounts show growth of tennis and padel in 2025