How to run an unmanned golf simulator venue

By the Bunkerbay team · October 2026 · 6 min read

Most indoor golf venues don't have a receptionist. They have an owner with a phone. Here's what it actually takes to run sim bays without staff on site, and what still needs a human.

We run Bunkerbay, TrackMan simulator venues in Dorset, mostly unstaffed. Everything below comes from doing it ourselves: the things that went wrong at 9pm, and what we changed so they stopped reaching us.

1. Entry that follows the booking

The first job is letting the right people in at the right time. Customers get a code or app link tied to their booking, which works from just before the slot until it ends. No code, no entry. A booking cancelled, code gone.

• Use access control linked to your booking system, not a shared keypad code that gets passed around.
• Give each booking its own credential, so you know who was in and when.
• Keep an override for you, cleaners and engineers, separate from customers.

2. Customer questions, day and night

This is where an "unmanned" venue quietly becomes an owner on call. Most messages are the same few questions:

Answer the routine ones automatically and send the rest to you with the conversation attached. Set a clear rule for what reaches you, otherwise everything does.

3. Bay faults without a visit

A frozen sim PC or projector is the most expensive problem an unmanned venue has. The customer stops playing, you refund the hour, and they leave a review about it. Most faults clear with a restart, so make that possible remotely:

• Put the sim PC, projector and screen on switchable power so they can be cycled from your phone.
• Log every fault by bay. The bay that keeps freezing usually needs a hardware fix, not more restarts.
• Get an alert if a bay doesn't come back, so you can tell the customer before they tell you.

4. Power that follows bookings

On a site open long hours, bays sit lit, heated and running for hours with nobody in them. Switching each bay on shortly before a booking and off after it is the simplest saving you'll make. Never off mid-session, and on early enough that the room is ready. We've written up what an empty bay actually costs.

5. The bits that still need you

Unmanned doesn't mean unattended. Plan for these:

• Cleaning and checks on a regular schedule, with a quick checklist per bay.
• Safety. Your fire risk assessment needs to cover unstaffed hours: alarms, exits, emergency lighting and what a customer does if something goes wrong. Show emergency contact details clearly in every bay.
• CCTV and house rules that customers agree to when they book.
• Insurance that knows you run unstaffed. Check it, don't assume.
• Group bookings, complaints and refunds. Keep these personal. They're where the money and the reputation are.