Hotel Managers: Mini-golf Can Keep the Kids Amused
Choosing which leisure activities to include in your area might be difficult as the manager of a hotel, inn, or resort. The idea is to discover something that appeals to both children and adults if your establishment aims to be family-friendly. Miniature golf can help with that. For families to enjoy their stay even more and for kids in particular to have a well-rounded, engaging experience, building a mini golf course on your property is a wonderful idea.
A Completely Family-Friendly Activity
Mini golf is one of the best sports since anyone can play, regardless of age or size. Everyone in the family, from grandparents to the youngest members, is welcome to participate and have a good time. If you install a mini golf course on your property, your visitors, especially children, will be kept busy for hours on end.
An Exercise Method
Every parent will agree that there are some days when kids seem to have endless energy. Finding a game or activity that will occupy youngsters, keep them busy, and provide them structure can be difficult. Our remedy? Kids may have fun playing mini golf! Mini golf is a fantastic way to keep kids moving and give them a purposeful activity. Additionally, this game allows adults to stay active as well, which may be helpful given that going to the gym isn’t usually the first thing you want to do when on vacation.
A Fun Rainy Day Option
Although the weather might be unpredictable, indoor mini golf courses at hotels are excellent for keeping kids amused regardless of what the weather is like outside. An indoor mini golf course can keep kids pleasantly entertained rain or shine and can even improve the beauty of your hotel.
Increases the Visual Appeal of Your Business
It should go without saying that how your hotel, inn, or resort seems has an impact on your ability to draw visitors, particularly families. A mini golf course, either on the property or listed as an attraction on your website, will immediately attract families with children. Parents want to make sure that their children will have plenty to keep them engaged while on vacation. Additionally, if you include hardscapes, ponds, bridges, and water features in your design, people will definitely notice how beautiful your area is.
Mini golf is one of the few hotel amenities that pays for itself in guest satisfaction almost immediately. It needs no lifeguard, no power supply, and — depending on the format you choose — no construction at all. This guide explains what hotel owners and managers need to know before adding a course: how much space it really takes, which of the available formats fits a given property, how the courses hold up outdoors, and what it takes to have one running before the next season starts.
A permanent course set among trees, close to the water — mini golf blends naturally into a hotel’s existing grounds.
Hotels compete on how guests spend their downtime, not just on the room itself. Families with children are looking for something to do between the beach, the pool, and dinner — an activity that doesn’t require booking, supervision, or extra staff. Mini golf fills exactly that gap, and it does so within the hotel’s own grounds, keeping guests — and their spending — on site.
For hotels working with international tour operators, an on-site activity like mini golf can also help meet the entertainment and sports requirements bundled into all-inclusive packages — again, without needing a swimming pool’s worth of investment or staffing. And because conference and function rooms often sit underused during the peak family holiday season, a portable course is a practical way to put that idle space to work.
Not every hotel has the same amount of space, budget, or willingness to dig up the grounds. Six formats cover the realistic range of what a hotel or resort might need, from a compact 30 m² terrace corner to a full landscaped attraction.
| Course format | Footprint needed | Setup | Best suited to |
| Portable wooden 9-hole | From ~30 m² | Freestanding lanes, no groundworks | Small pitches, terraces, seasonal parks |
| Portable metal 9-hole | From ~200 m² | Galvanised lanes with adjustable levelling feet | Grass, sand, gravel — anywhere uneven |
| Larger portable 9-hole (~96 m²) | ~96 m² | Wider lanes, more spacious layout | Sites with a bit more room to spare |
| Permanent 9-hole | From ~250–350 m² | Built-in obstacles, artificial turf, edging | Sites wanting a fixed, year-round attraction |
| Permanent 18-hole | From ~600 m² | Full-scale built course, two loops of nine | Larger campsites and resort-style parks |
| Landscape-style “real golf” 9-hole | ~1,900–3,200 m² | Contoured greens, ponds, planting, winding paths | Flagship attractions and premium holiday parks |
The smallest format needs as little as 30 m² for a full 9 holes, with each lane roughly 3 metres long. It is fully weatherproof, built for outdoor use, and requires zero groundworks — the lanes simply sit on any reasonably flat surface: a terrace, a corner of the grounds, next to the pool, or even in a conference room during a rainy afternoon or the off-season. Despite the compact size, each lane is designed with an obstacle that keeps the game genuinely challenging rather than trivial.
A portable wooden 9-hole course set up beside the pool terrace — no construction, no fixed installation.
Where a site is grassy, sandy, or simply not perfectly level, the galvanised metal format is the better fit. Each lane comes with an adjustable levelling foot, so the course can be placed directly on lawn, gravel, or a beach area and still sit dead level for play — without a single spade of groundwork. The metal construction is fully weatherproof and holds up to being watered along with the surrounding lawn.
Adjustable levelling feet let a metal lane sit level on grass — set up directly on turf with no groundworks required.
A portable metal course set up on an open meadow alongside other holiday-park attractions.
Metal lanes can be themed and installed directly on sand — a popular option for beachfront resorts.
For hotels that want mini golf as a permanent fixture rather than a seasonal setup, the 9-hole and 18-hole permanent formats are built in place: concrete or built-up lanes, artificial turf, and integrated obstacles designed to the standards used by international minigolf federations. A permanent 9-hole course needs roughly 250–350 m², while an 18-hole course needs around 600 m² or more. These courses are engineered for continuous outdoor use and require very little upkeep beyond routine care of the turf — a lasting amenity rather than something to set up and pack away each season.
A permanent 9-hole course built directly into an open lawn area on the hotel grounds.
The most ambitious option recreates the look and feel of a real golf course in miniature: contoured greens, water features, planting, and winding paths connecting each hole, laid out across 1,900–3,200 m². This format suits larger hotels and resorts that want mini golf to be a headline amenity in its own right rather than a side activity — the kind of feature that appears in the hotel’s own marketing photos and drives direct bookings from families.
A landscape-style course built into natural stone and planting — designed to feel like a real golf course in miniature.
Even a compact portable course can make the most of a standout location, such as a hotel rooftop or seafront terrace.
Getting the location right matters more than the course format itself. A few principles apply across almost every hotel layout:
Every format described here is designed specifically for outdoor operation, not adapted from an indoor product. Lanes and obstacles use weatherproof materials — water-resistant lacquered wood, galvanised steel, and durable artificial turf — so the course keeps performing through a full holiday season of sun, rain, and constant footfall. Permanent installations come with a multi-year workmanship guarantee, giving campsite operators confidence that the investment holds up over several seasons, not just one.
Every project starts with the site itself: existing terrain, available space, and how the course should connect with the rest of the property are worked through directly with the owner before anything is built. That per-plot approach — rather than a catalogue layout dropped onto any hotel — is what separates a course guests remember from one they simply walk past.
Behind the courses is over 20 years of hands-on mini golf design and construction experience, working with hotels, resorts, and holiday complexes across Bulgaria and abroad. Every course is personally designed to make the most of the space available, whether that’s a 30 m² terrace corner or a 3,000 m² landscaped attraction — no guesswork, no costly surprises once the course is in place.
How much space does a hotel need for mini golf?
It depends on the format. A portable wooden or metal 9-hole course can fit in as little as 30–200 m², making it viable even for hotels with limited grounds. Permanent courses need more — roughly 250–350 m² for 9 holes, 600 m²+ for 18 holes, and up to 3,000 m² for a full landscape-style course.
Does adding a mini golf course require construction or planning permission?
Not necessarily. Portable wooden and metal courses are freestanding and can be placed directly on a terrace, hardstanding, or lawn — including uneven ground, thanks to adjustable levelling feet on the metal lanes. No groundworks are involved. Permanent courses do involve built-in lanes and obstacles, so they follow a construction process, but this is handled from design through to completion.
Can a mini golf course be set up directly on grass or hotel gardens?
Yes. The portable metal format is specifically designed for this — each lane has an adjustable levelling foot that keeps it stable and level on lawn, sand, or gravel, and the material tolerates regular watering of the surrounding grass.
How long does it take to get a course up and running before the season starts?
Portable courses can be delivered and set up in a matter of weeks. Permanent builds take longer, since they involve on-site preparation and construction, but timelines are agreed upfront so a course can realistically be ready before the start of the season.
Is mini golf suitable for all types of hotel guests?
Yes — this is one of its main advantages as a hotel amenity. A single course entertains toddlers, teenagers, and grandparents at the same time, with no special skill, fitness, or supervision required, making it a good fit for family and multi-generational bookings.
Can a hotel conference room be used for mini golf?
Yes. Portable wooden courses are compact and freestanding, which makes them a practical way to make use of conference or function rooms that often sit underused during the peak family holiday season.
Can mini golf help meet tour operator entertainment requirements?
Yes. An on-site mini golf course is a straightforward way to add to a hotel’s animation programme and help meet the entertainment and sports provisions that large international tour operators often require as part of all-inclusive packages.
Mini Golf Ltd designs and builds all six course formats described above, from small portable sets to full landscape-style attractions, for hotels, resorts, and holiday complexes.
Website: miniaturegolfplans.com
Email: backyardminigolf@yahoo.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +359 898509348