10/08/2026
Thank you to those who have responded to my previous post. Here's a comparison that I have made between Skedda and SpacetoCo and as an earlier comment points out SpacetoCo's website quotes 19.5% commission for casual hires whereas I have only used a figure of 15%:
Here are the financial figures comparing our current booking software, Skedda, with CoM’s proposed provider SpacetoCo:
1. Assuming an annual income for MCH of $80K (and we should exceed that) the costs are:
a. SpacetoCo charges 15% of income therefore $12,000 pa.
b. Skedda charges $130 per month so $1560 pa plus Stripe, the banking provider, costs around 2% so $1600 – total cost currently around $3160
c. SpacetoCo therefore will cost around $8,860 pa more than Skedda.
i. That’s almost FOUR TIMES (380%) higher.
d. Further, SpacetoCo takes all income and pays out at the end of the subsequent month so cashflow can take up to two months.
i. We lose control of our income.
e. By comparison, Skedda via Stripe, pays directly into our account usually within 48 hours. Issuing refunds or receipts from Stripe is very easy and immediate.
i. There is no third party involved as is the case with SpacetoCo.
2. I am highly sceptical of CoM’s expectation that SpacetoCo would significantly increase usage at MCH for the following reasons:
a. We are already very busy with an average of 35 bookings a week and income well in excess of our initial expectations.
b. we are well known and we have good social media presence including with Little Nest’s social media. The recent “Winter’s Night in Marino” generated a huge crowd.
c. We have an excellent website and an active page.
d. And we’re highly visible on any search engine.
3. We set up Skedda ourselves back in 2020 and we know the software.
a. our hirers are familiar with it
b. it took time to set up as we have 7 rooms with different rates for different times and different rules. It has been constantly upgraded as our management evolves.
c. There is a large investment of time involved in our Skedda pages and it is a significant intellectual asset.
d. Changing our booking system will be a complex and time-consuming and in the end, pointless, task.
4. CoM claim that SpacetoCo will increase usage etc but I have not seen any evidence of this nor have SpacetoCo or Council presented any evidence of how they think they will increase utilisation at MCH - no plan, no pitch, no analysis, no ideas - nothing, just a stubbornly repeated mantra and a refusal to engage in an actual conversation and accept the very clear facts
5. The booking system is the most fundamental tool available to the Management Committee and to attempt to force us to change to a system that, in our view has no benefits and which will be highly disruptive and expensive, is inappropriate and a betrayal of Marino Community Hall’s history, intent and philosophy.
6. In summary there are no advantages to us changing our booking system to SpacetoCo but rather massively higher costs, a huge disruption, considerable additional work and a loss of control of our finances. CoM’s harassment on this subject is offensive and dismissive of the huge amount of work that the committee has contributed to the success of the new Marino Community Hall.
Rob George
