RecDesk Reviews

“reliable emergency tracking”

Pros

Provides the important information participants and staff need in case of an emergency. It also keeps an accurate count of everyone who enters the building which is very helpful.

Cons

It will sometimes create duplicate entries for the same person using the exact same information.

“Helpful exports”

Pros

From both the admin side and the user side, it feels very simple to work with. It also includes a lot of useful features that make exporting and organizing data much more manageable.

Cons

A drawback is that it doesn't look as modern or visually polished as some other platforms especially when it comes to its graphics and overall design.

“lacks some features”

Pros

Once you get familiar with the website, it becomes quite user friendly even though it feels pretty confusing at first. It does a good job of simplifying our programs which has been really beneficial.

Cons

Lacks a lot of features that feel pretty standard for this kind of software. We've submitted requests for additions and new functionality but nothing has come from it and there hasn't been any follow up.

“well organized workflow”

Pros

Everything feels simple and well organized. It's especially helpful that I can export the items I need and leave out the ones I don't want selected.

Cons

Can take a bit of time to get through but as long as you're able to read through it, it's still manageable.

“Fast response time by support”

Pros

Setup and usage is pretty simple and the customer service team responds quickly whenever help is needed.

Cons

One area that could be better is the way coupons and discounts are applied to accounts.

“online reservations made simple”

Pros

Online program sign ups and credit/debit card payments have made a huge difference for us. The built in POS for concessions has been especially helpful and facility usage tracking is much better than with the membership database software we used before. We've also moved all of our rental facilities to online reservations which has saved a lot of time, cut down on paperwork, reduced human error and lowered the amount of cash being handled.

Cons

A few things still feel limited. We can't check members in and out when they use our facilities so tracking how long someone stays isn't possible right now although that's not a major priority for us. Editing a series of classes could also be much simpler. I recently had to delete an entire class that runs six times a week and enter it all over again just to correct one mistake. The biggest frustration is that we can't fully use this app for our pickleball league. It works for registration and setting up the first bracket but after that it doesn't really support the way pickleball scoring works. Since they play doubles but scores are tracked individually, it's a tricky setup and I'm not sure whether there's a workaround for that. I also wish members could be deleted instead of only archived. Because people can register both on site at our Rec Center and online for leagues or programs, we've ended up with quite a few duplicate member profiles. It would be helpful to remove those archived records completely at some point especially since I assume they add to the annual data we pay for and take up server space.

“user friendly system”

Pros

Whenever something needs to be adjusted or I have a question, the customer service team is quick to respond and genuinely helpful every time. The system is also very user friendly from both the customer side and the management side so we rarely even need to contact support. When updates are released, we're kept informed and there's usually a video or explanation included so learning the new features is simple. On top of that the pricing is affordable and the software handles everything we need, including memberships, credit card processing, registrations, facility reservations, calendars, budget season data and plenty more.

Cons

I've worked with four different recreation software platforms and I would still choose this every time. I honestly don't have any complaints.

“solid for program management”

Pros

It has worked really well for managing programs and recreation which is exactly what I use it for most.

Cons

The feature set isn't very easy to use at first so there's definitely a bit of a learning curve.

“amazing support every time”

Pros

Support team replies quickly and always stays on top of any issue that comes up.

Cons

Haven't run into anything I dislike so far.

“easy setup”

Pros

Getting started with it has been really well supported and I've been extremely happy with both the tutorial content and the customer service. We've only recently begun using this app but everything has gone well so far.

Cons

Would like to see more detailed invoice information for members. It would be much better if the invoice showed individual items along with the total amount due. It would also be very helpful if members had an email option or a way to forward their invoice to someone else.

“complete control for recreation management”

Pros

Covers everything we need in one system, from memberships and facility management to the member database, leagues, check ins and attendance tracking. On top of that the team is very responsive and genuinely helpful whenever support is needed.

Cons

There are still a few features we'd like to have that are currently being developed.

“great support team”

Pros

One thing that really stands out is the customer service and I also appreciate that the team keeps adding and refining tools to better match the needs of the recreation industry. Whenever any issues have come up, they've been resolved and the continued rollout of new features and tools has only made the platform better.

Cons

No cons to add in this section.

“covers everything you nee”

Pros

Very budget friendly and handles everything we need to keep our organization's programs organized, both on the front end and behind the scenes.

Cons

Parts of the backend feel a bit awkward to navigate. For example, member searches only work by last name and that can be frustrating at times.

“boosted participation”

Pros

Has been a huge help with registration, scheduling and simplifying things for our community. Being able to accept online registrations and payments has made the process much more convenient and has helped increase participation in our programs.

Cons

The only problem I've run into has been with sending bulk emails. At times, the system and my email don't seem to work well together which can make the process more complicated than it should be.

“scheduling is slow”

Pros

From a league management standpoint, this software gets several important things right. The dashboard has been especially helpful, particularly the registration and payment section. In the past, we had no reliable way to collect payments during league registration which meant we ended up chasing people down afterward. That alone has been a big improvement. Uniform ordering has also been much faster. This year my assistant finished it in about 30 minutes, while our old system used to drag on for days. Mass communication is another feature I appreciate even with some limitations. The flex calendar is useful and having quick access to the facility schedule makes day to day coordination easier. It's also helpful to be able to quickly identify who still has overdue payments.

Cons

Can't upload a PDF, a prebuilt practice or game schedule or other important documents for coaches to view directly in "My Leagues." Building practice and game schedules inside the system is also far more complicated than it should be. Having to enter each league one at a time and schedule every game individually is annoying and the interface for that process is not very accessible either. Because of that, we originally planned to create schedules outside of the app and simply upload them for coaches to access on their "My League" pages. Once I realized that wasn't possible, it became obvious just how difficult the scheduling setup really is. In the end, we stopped using that feature and just emailed everything to coaches instead. To be fair some of that may come down to my own training or familiarity with the system. The back end interface is also visually overwhelming. Between the main tabs, the sub tabs and the quick action items on the right, it can feel like too much information at once and creates a kind of paralysis by analysis though I realize that part is subjective. I'm also not happy that I can't send a single mass email or SMS across all of our leagues and instead have to go into each one separately though that could again be user error on my side. I'm not a fan of the fact that I can't upload photos for each coach profile or even for my own profile. Changing the look and feel of each landing page is also more difficult than I expected.

“easy to access information”

Pros

Whenever our members have questions, I'm able to pull up the information I need and share it with them which has been really helpful.

Cons

At times, it takes several steps to get to the exact results I'm looking for.

“online registration that parents appreciate”

Pros

Online registration and credit/debit card payments have been really convenient especially for our working parents.

Cons

I'm still looking forward to updates that let us drill down further and pull more specific, detailed reports related to members and memberships.

“reliable daily information processing”

Pros

With all the features we rely on every day, this lets us handle customer information quickly and efficiently.

Cons

Haven't run into anything I dislike.

“much better to navigate”

Pros

Compared with our old system, this one is much more user friendly. Getting around the platform is simpler and the overall navigation feels a lot smoother.

Cons

A few reports we used to pull from our previous system either aren't available here or require running several separate reports to get the same details. We've already submitted requests to have those changes made.

“versatile scheduling”

Pros

Being able to schedule events across multiple spaces in the arts center has been really valuable especially since overlapping bookings are possible. The option to print the calendar and export event details into different file types is something we rely on a lot. The POS system has also become a key part of how the arts center operates and we now use it at every event for merchandise and concession sales.

Cons

Wish it had a POS only report. There are times when I just need sales data from the POS without all the extra information included. It can also take me a bit of time to find certain items because there are so many tabs across the top. For me, it would be more helpful if those tabs were organized into narrower subcategories.