Dear London Swimmer,
We know that over the last couple of months, some members have been frustrated by the difficulty of getting into London swimming sessions. We’re all too aware that most sessions appear as “fully booked” on Arrivaly for the entire fortnight ahead - and we're sorry that some people haven't been able to train as often as they'd like. The London Swimming Sub-Committee, along with other club officials, are trying to improve the situation as quickly as possible.
In reality, few sessions have been completely full on the night. That's because some members book sessions and then cancel in the days or hours beforehand; and also because there are still a few people booking sessions but neither attending nor cancelling. We're pleased to see the number of ‘no shows’ has been steadily declining, but not cancelling remains highly unfair to other members who want to swim.
There are four things we can all do immediately to help - the first of which you’re already familiar with from club communications in recent weeks:
If you’ve booked and then can’t make it, don’t forget to cancel - and please do so as soon as you know you can’t come. Currently, the Arrivaly app won’t let you cancel in the last hour before the session starts, so at the very latest make sure you’ve done so by then (we'd hope that's possible for everyone to do in all but exceptional emergencies.)
If you want to go to a session that’s showing as full on Arrivaly, do use the waiting list - most people who did so in October were then offered a space to book. Look out for emails that notify those on the waiting list when a space has opened up (currently, you don’t automatically get ‘moved up’ to a full booking, though we’re exploring if that can be a feature we add in the future).
For the rest of November, we're asking all members to limit the number of sessions they book to a maximum of three per week. We're really sorry to have to ask this - we've long prided ourselves in being able to offer more than that - but while we're sorting out longer term solutions, it’s the fairest way to make sure as many members as possible get the chance to swim.
When you’re booking ahead, please be realistic about whether you’ll be able to make it to a particular session. At the moment there’s some ‘panic buying’ going on - a few people seem to be booking any open slot they can, and then deciding nearer the time when they actually want to swim. That’s unfair on other members.
Fully booked sessions and no-shows have been a problem for many leisure and sports operators who moved to booking-only systems this year. OTS is currently able to offer barely half the pool capacity we had pre-pandemic - all the pools we hire are still limiting numbers, and when ULU closed down, we lost our highest capacity venue. Also, as many of you are aware from previous communications, the club was losing money in the first five months after reopening, with some sessions attracting very low attendance - a couple were dropped from the timetable as a result.
It’s fantastic news that so many people have come back this autumn, and also that so many new members have joined us, but this attendance turnaround has happened faster than we can book more space - which across London is anyway very limited in supply. The club is actively looking for more, including new venues and times. Realistically though, big changes aren’t possible until the new year.
The good news is we're adding one more session to the weekly timetable from November 12th - a return of Friday afternoons at the London Aquatic Centre, now in the lunchtime slot of 1-2pm. We'll have two lanes of the iconic 50 metre pool, and anyone from lanes 1-7 will be able to attend. We’re aware it's not a time which will suit everyone, but we're hoping it will prove a useful extra option for those who have some flexibility within the working day and take a bit of pressure off other slots. To start with, we’re offering four weeks of sessions, until 10 December; if those are well attended, Fridays at LAC will return as a regular part of the timetable.
We’re also hoping the coming of December will ease a little of the pressure - training is usually less popular in the run up to Christmas, as people’s diaries fill up with less healthy social activities!
Some members have asked whether we can return to the pre-pandemic 'walk in' system. Because of Covid protocols still in place at our pools, which don’t allow groups of people to gather indoors, and also the risk of members being turned away from full pools after travelling some distance to swim, we don’t think this is an option in the short term. Other members have suggested we follow the lead of leisure chains who fine or suspend people who don't turn up for sessions they've booked. That would be very different from the way Out to Swim has traditionally operated, but we are exploring what steps we can take if regular 'no-shows' continue.
The club hopes to offer further news on how we can improve the situation in the coming weeks - in the meantime, thank you for your patience, and please follow the advice above.
The London Swimming Sub-Committee