A soft play area at a shopping mall in Al Muaither.
With surge in indoor play areas at shopping centres, parents have expressed their resentment over exorbitant minimum rates charged by some of them. There is a high demand for the play-areas at shopping centres as they provide long- hours of child-care services, while parents run their chores.
However, some of the soft play areas charge heavily for minimum hours that are at times more than two hours. Some of the parents have voiced their anger over high rates because they have to pay mandatorily for the minimum hours even if they avail the service for less time.
“Charges of some soft –play areas are high, especially QR40 or QR60 per child when you have more children. At some shopping centres, we are forced to take tickets for two hours or more because that is the minimum time they give,” a father of two children told The Peninsula.
“Play area services should be charged hourly ; they should have options like QR20 for an hour. There shouldn’t be a minimum time, because most of the parents leave children in these places while going shopping in the vicinity, and return in less than two hours,” said Abu Mohammed, another parent .
Meanwhile, play-areas, are popping –up in all the shopping centres, The Peninsula noted.
“We receive some 200 children on weekends, the highest number of visitors in the week,” an employee of a play-area in a leading shopping complex at Muraikh told The Peninsula showing the entry register.
“We charge QR40 per child for two hours, in the soft-play area and QR5 for a pair of socks. We have discount on two children as QR70 for two children for two hours. Parents have to pay extra for additional hours on hourly basis. We have enough customers throughout the week but at weekends the demand hikes,” said the employee.
Regarding the high charges of soft play area, the employee said, “We charge less than many others in major shopping malls of the country. They charge QR60 for a child for two hours. However, we are charging only QR40 for a child for two hours and running discount to attract the customers,” said the employee.
“Some parents do complain about the price, however, we give additional services. They can leave their children for hours to do their chores, only they are required to leave their contact numbers. We are prepared and trained care children in the absence of their parents. Some parents even leave their children with us for four hours.”
“The service is becoming quite popular. We charge for our services as per the operation costs like rent, salaries of employees and maintenance of play-area,” he said.
There is a huge difference in the charges of soft-play areas in different shopping malls. A play-area at a leading shopping centre in Mauither chares only QR15 for a child.
“We have not increased our charges for years. Charges of other games also range between QR3 to QR7. In most of the places, the play-area is rented out to some other company, and here the shopping centre itself manages the area, hence the price difference,” said the manager of the play area.
