Rye Watersports increased their revenue by one-third by switching to Sailia

About Rye Watersports

Rye Watersports is a family-run centre based just outside Rye, East Sussex. For over 30 years, they’ve been teaching windsurfing, sailing, paddleboarding and more on their beautiful lake. Known for their friendly team and relaxed atmosphere, Rye Watersports has built a loyal following of locals and holidaymakers alike - all drawn to get out on the water and try something new. More recently, they’ve expanded their offering with a brand-new aquapark, adding another way for visitors to enjoy the lake.

The Challenge

As Rye Watersports continued to grow, managing everything from sailing courses to aquapark sessions using spreadsheets and separate tools became a real challenge.

Their old system couldn’t easily handle waivers, on the spot payments, collect participant details, or manage multiple activities in one checkout. Staff were spending hours manually processing group enquiries, taking payments over the phone, and juggling separate tools for lessons, hire, and café sales.

They needed a modern system that could:

• Handle individual, family, and large group bookings in one system.

• Manage bookings for multiple activities with different capacities and schedules.

• Assign the right instructors based on qualifications and availability.

• Integrate their on-site café into the same sales and reporting system.

• Handle vouchers, gift cards, packages, activity passes and family bookings seamlessly.

• Give the team a clear, real-time view of what was happening across the centre.

Without it, staff were spending too much time on admin and too little with customers.

The Solution

Rye Watersports switched to Sailia, using it to run their entire operation, from online bookings to daily staffing and payments.

Key improvements included:

• Group & Family Bookings

  Sailia’s dedicated group booking tools allow customers to book for many people in a single, simple flow. Automatically collecting participant info, consents, and payments. No more back-and-forth emails or manual updates.

• All-in-One Booking & POS System

  From aquapark tickets to hire to café coffees, every transaction now runs through Sailia, making reporting, reconciliation and staff coordination.

• Staffing & Registers

  Instructors’ qualifications and schedules are tracked automatically, making it easy to assign sessions, take registers, and send automated reminders.

• Reporting & Insights

  Real-time dashboards show revenue, utilisation, and trends, giving the owners instant visibility into performance and future planning.

The Results

Since moving to Sailia, Rye Watersports has gone from juggling spreadsheets and manual bookings to running their entire business through one connected system and the results speak for themselves.

They recorded their “best year ever”, with a one-third increase in revenue compared to the previous season. Group bookings became effortless, café sales synced automatically, and staff could finally focus on the experience rather than the admin.

What was once a constant race to keep up is now a well-oiled, data-driven operation - simple to run, easy to scale, and ready for whatever the next season brings.

Testimonial

“Switching to Sailia has made all the difference for us. We’ve had our best year ever - bookings are up by around a third and our customers love how simple the booking flow is. Everything now runs from one system, and the team behind Sailia have been absolutely epic.”
— Rosie Clark, Owner, Rye Watersports

Why Rye Watersports chose Sailia

Rye Watersports needed a system that could grow with them, from busy summer days to quieter off-season periods. They chose Sailia because it offered:

• Flexibility: Handles single, family, and large group bookings with ease.

• Connectivity: Combines bookings, staffing, café sales, waivers, and payments into one unified view.

• Simplicity: Clean, intuitive design that staff could learn in minutes.