Mirabella Pool registration system less than ideal
Just like 2021 and 2022, visiting the Mirabella Pool in 2023 requires a reservation. The days are divided into four two-hour blocks starting at 11am (there is also a lap swim block at 8:15 each morning).
Potential pool visitors need to register for an account on BCYF's third-party "recreation management software" site then select one of the blocks and "checkout" for zero dollars. A bit cumbersome, but OK. That is, except for all the problems.
Most notable of the problems: The spots fill up. Quick. And you can only book a given block once it's less than 24 hours away.
For example, it's early Thursday evening as I write this article. Suppose I want to go to the pool tomorrow. First, I go to bcyf.perfectmind.com, search for "Mirabella" under Facilities and click on "Aquatics - Classes (Lap, Open, Other)" which takes me to a list of available time slots. The problem? All slots for tomorrow are taken - each of the blocks read "Full" over what should be the registration link.
Ok. No problem. I'll just book a time on Saturday, or Sunday - and plan my day around it.
Not so fast! You can't book a time slot until it's less than 24 hours away. So I can't book the 1pm Sunday slot until after 1pm on Saturday.
And the slots go FAST. All slots were taken for the Friday 5pm swim by 5:10pm today (Thursday)! So if you want to go swimming tomorrow, you MUST be online TODAY at the exact moment they slots open up. Forget about planning ahead a few days. 24 hours exactly (within ten minutes) or you don't get to use the pool.
Compounding the problem is that this incentivizes users who understand the system to book slots even when they're not sure that they will use them. At 4pm today - a 92℉ Thursday, halfway through the 3-6pm session - there were 58 people at the pool. (This was according to the BCYF staffer at the desk, not my count) Yet there was a group of six people who were denied entry because 120 people had signed up and they could show up "at any time" within the reserved block of 4 - 6pm.
I spoke with one of the staffers - who seemed empathetic to the problem, but was ultimately unmoved (or not empowered) to allow entry to the groups of people being turned away at the gate. She said the #1 thing people could do to help the problem was to "release" their registration if they know it will go unused. This is easier said than done due to the poor UX of the third-party site. And relying on users to take this extra step hardly seems like a winning plan.
The staffer acknowledged that they do allow unregistered entry in a few cases - like for senior citizens that don't have internet access, or families that are regulars at the Nazzaro. But, again, this hardly seems like a plan that works for the most people.
I hate to see the pool so severely underutilized. And I miss the days when we could decide on a whim to head over to the pool on a hot afternoon. Surely there's a better way?
Comments
I go a few times each summer and I love the new system. The pool is much cleaner and less crowded than pre-covid, making it a very enjoyable experience. I agree the website UX is rather poor and there should be an easier way to cancel or a penalty for not showing up.
The new system is very inconvenient and doesn’t seem to have improved much since it started. It’s a shame. I have three kids under six and the pool has become basically unusable for us. Pre-Covid I was able to cool off over there with my eldest pretty regularly and we were rarely turned away because of capacity issues. It’s a shame his sisters aren’t able to go. I understand the pool is less crowded now, but I’m not sure what other benefits this new system brings. It seems fewer people are able to use the pool, even though the costs for running the pool are pretty fixed, and the new “third-party” system must be costing the city more than the laminator/cash box/colored construction paper combo that served us so well for so many years.
On the website it says the pool will track no shows and will then block accounts of the people who never show—but they don’t. It is a shame to see people turned away in the heat for no reason. I have given up this year—yet another joy of city life lost in our post-COVID world.
Agreed. I was recently denied entry for me and my three kids. It was the same story: super hot day, pool at 50% capacity. We have beem coming to this pool for years and it is made worse by the fact yhat Charlestown's pool has heen shut down for the past 2 years.
Change the system!!
Typical case of throwing technology at a problem that doesn’t need technology to address the issue. Booking space/time may be fine, but for 100% of the capacity? 50% of the capacity should be made for reservation and the other half left as open for walk-ins with the caveat that walk-ins may not be immediately available.
For an many restaurants as we have in this neighborhood, you’d think that there would be a similar system to use for booking tables. Restaurants don’t just book out 100% of all tables and leave it open in the event of a no-show, why should this be any different?
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