Consul Recreation

Reservations, programs and memberships, in one place.

Recreation management for parks and recreation departments. Residents book shelters, sign up for camps and renew memberships online or in the app. Staff run the front desk and the reports from the same records.

See the features Email Consul

One system for residents, the front desk and the back office.

Every booking, registration and membership sits on the resident's own account, with one payment history.

Reservations

Residents see open dates for picnic shelters, rooms and gyms, then book and pay online. Staff set each facility's hours, rates and booking rules, and take bookings at the desk.

Programs and camps

Families register for classes, programs and camps, and join a waitlist when a session is full. Staff manage rosters, waitlists and attendance in one place.

Memberships and check-in

Members check in with a QR code or barcode, on a card or in the app. Check-in keeps working when the internet drops and syncs when it comes back.

Payments, staff tools and the parts IT asks about.

Payments

Cards, bank payments (ACH), saved cards and autopay run through Stripe, a PCI DSS Level 1 service provider. Front desks take cards on Stripe Terminal wireless readers, and staff record cash and checks.

Card numbers go into Stripe's own fields and readers, so they never reach Consul's servers.

Staff tools and reports

Staff roles decide who can see and change what, and an audit trail records every change. Reports on registrations, reservations, memberships and revenue export to CSV or Excel.

Mobile app

A native app for iPhone and Android. Residents register for programs, renew memberships, reserve shelters and show their check-in code.

Integrations

Staff sign in with Microsoft Entra ID, so the agency's own sign-in and multi-factor rules apply. Addresses are checked against the agency's ArcGIS services for resident rates.

Finance exports match the general ledger's account string. An open API, documented in OpenAPI, serves other systems.

Accessibility

Built to WCAG 2.2 AA. Every release gets automated axe-core checks, plus keyboard and screen reader testing with VoiceOver and NVDA. The agency receives an Accessibility Conformance Report at acceptance.

Security

An independent penetration test, following OWASP methods, before go-live and every year after. The agency receives the tester's attestation letter each time.

How rollout works.

In phases, so each part goes live when it's ready. Staff training comes with every phase.

  1. 1. Setup and reservationsConsul sets up facilities, rates, staff sign-in and payments with the department. Residents start booking shelters and rooms.
  2. 2. Programs and campsPrograms, sessions and waitlists go live in time for the next registration season.
  3. 3. Memberships and check-inMembership types, renewals and autopay start, with barcode scanners and card readers at each front desk.
  4. 4. Mobile appThe app goes live on top of the features residents already use on the web.

The agency owns its data.

Every record belongs to the department, and it can take a full copy at any time.

  • Full exportsEvery account, booking, registration, membership and payment exports to CSV or Excel, and through the API. That includes at the end of the contract.
  • Hosted in the United StatesGoogle Cloud, in US regions only, with a second US region for disaster recovery.
  • Backed up every dayA managed PostgreSQL database, encrypted at rest, with daily backups and point-in-time recovery.