About a year ago, we began offering a birthday party package as part of our facility rentals. In the package is half the gym for 2 hours, with either a bounce house or inflatable slide, scooters, basketballs, tables and chairs. Parents LOVE this package because all they have to do is bring the food and drinks (we have a designated concrete area in the gym where food is permitted). We charge $150 for the whole package with options to upgrade.

We have a small facility, no gym, not many rooms, but it is a nice little building with a spacious room and a small kitchen. The building isn't open to members of the public per se, though we do host several free class/programs at the building so people in those classes use the building.

What we have tried to do is have an open house once a month or so, where the building is open to the public, they can come in an look around, use the computer lab, game room and other parts of the building to see what the building has to offer.

We've only just started this approach so it's hard to tell whether it has worked or not. Our classes at the building have been very well attended as of late though, so we are getting more and more people into the building on a weekly basis, though they aren't necessarily renting the facitily for private use.

After a conversation with a parent who is on the board of her local PTA, I realized that I had a golden, untapped resource. Since that conversation, I have been contacting local PTA's to let them know about our programs and renting our facility. We have traded discounts on their facility rental for marketing opportunites. I have spoken at several PTA meetings and promoted not only our fitness facility and programs but made parents aware that they could rent our facility. We have had tremendous success and extremely positive feedback. I've heard many parents say, "I didn't even know you were here," or "I never had any idea we could rent a room for so cheap." It has been a win-win.