At Airspace Solutions, we pride ourselves on working with our leisure providers to attract new audiences, increase engagement, and boost revenue through innovative inflatable play. It was great to meet again with Nikki La Niece-Linton, Sports Development Manager at Places Leisure, during the Elevate event, to talk about our long-standing partnership and the role our products play at Places’ many facilities.
We’re a long-standing customer and have been using the aquatic inflatables in all their various forms, as well as dry-side inflatables, for many years. They help us in our strategy to get children, young people, and families more active, more often, and—most importantly—having fun through physical activity. Ultimately, that’s what we want.”
Increased Participation and Community Engagement
One of the greatest benefits of introducing inflatable sessions is their ability to encourage activity without participants even realising they’re exercising. This aligns perfectly with Places Leisure’s physical literacy strategy and is particularly effective for SEN (Special Educational Needs) participants, providing an engaging and inclusive way to enjoy physical activity.
The inflatables are also a proven way to attract different audiences depending on the session. Nikki explained:
During school holidays, we see families travel from much further afield, turning our sites into destination centres. At weekends, our core audience is local families, and we see great demand for children’s birthday parties. It really depends on when the sessions run—but we’re always drawing in a wide range of customers.
Driving Revenue and Supporting Staff
For other leisure centre managers considering inflatables, Nikki highlights the clear financial and operational benefits:
Fundamentally, inflatables bring in an additional revenue stream, year-round. They work for holiday activities, weekends, birthday parties, and holiday camps—both in the swimming pool and in dry-side spaces. They generate family engagement and create memorable, active experiences, which is exactly what our industry should be doing.
While inflatables require some setup and staff energy, the variety of layouts keeps things fresh.
Especially in the pool, the fact that it’s not the same setup every week makes it more fun and engaging for staff and customers alike…
…Nikki noted.
Nikki has been a valuable contact for Airspace over the years. We really value Nikki’s input and expertise on physical literacy and child play development and are proud to be able to develop products and sessions that give the most benefit to Places families.
