Pickleball and tourism are proving to be a perfect match!
From travel agencies offering pickleball getaways to cruise ships building onboard pickleball courts, it appears that mixing pickleball with pleasure is shaping up to be a profitable trend. Unsurprisingly, hotels everywhere are joining in on the fun, finding space in their luxurious buildings to build pickleball courts for their guests.
This trend is very much evident in Singapore, where the pickleball community is growing substantially. One of the forerunners of this is the Fullerton Bay Hotel, which added a pickleball court in February on a building rooftop, where pickleball enthusiasts can play with a view overlooking the breathtaking Marina Bay Sands for just USD $31 per hour, if they’re checked in at Fullerton. Even non-staying guests can book the courts starting at around USD $50.
Novotel and Mercure Singapore, part of the high-end dual-hotel complex on Stevens, aren’t falling behind, as they repurposed rarely used outdoor tennis courts into pickleball courts, with global fitness brand Anytime Fitness managing the facility. Like Fullerton, guests can book the courts, but non-staying guests are allowed to do the same as well.
Not for nothing then that court bookings at Novotel and Mercure have surged by 30%—surprisingly, with non-staying guests accounting for about half of the bookings, according to The Straits Times. That’s beside the modest increase in check-ins related to pickleball tournaments, which will only grow once Singapore starts hosting high-level competitions in the future.
“By bringing pickleball into our precinct, we’re not just offering a sport. We’re creating a resort-in-the-city experience where play, dining, wellness, and community come together,” said Pietr Kupiec, General Manager of Novotel and Mercure Singapore.
Even the famed Four Seasons Hotel has got in on the pickleball craze, transforming one outdoor tennis court into two separate courts—one for pickleball and one for padel. The hotel even hosted, in August, its first pickleball and padel event, affording players a serene setting for playing combined with the world-class service and hospitality Four Seasons is known for.
Indeed, offering pickleball is becoming the new normal for hotels in Singapore—and likely in other parts of the world, too. That’s not the least bit surprising as pickleball, after all, is the world’s fastest-rising sport.
Learn more about the pickleball facilities of the aforementioned hotels by checking out their pickleball webpages:
- Fullerton Hotel: https://www.fullertonhotels.com/fullerton-bay-hotel-singapore/facilities/pickleball
- Novotel: https://www.novotel-singapore-stevens.com/overview/fitness-wellness/pickleball-court/
- Mercure Singapore: https://www.mercure-singapore-stevens.com/fitness-wellness/pickleball-court/
- Four Seasons: https://www.fourseasons.com/singapore/services-and-amenities/tennis/
