Hi all,I have been given a tough task here and want to know what may be possible with this.We sold out of a lot of events at our last festival and therefore had a waitlist implemented for any returns, which there were a couple. However, for a few events a large number of customers did not appear showing an emptier venue than we would have liked!I am wondering, does anyone have a system in place that allows you to fill up those seats (with paying customers) for when people don't appear?We use allocating seating which we would rather not change as GA seating would cause a lot of queueing in an area where we don't want it.I believe other organisations have done a resell process where customers can return there tickets and if we resell it then they get their money back.I am looking into this as I understand that will help for people who tell us in advance that they can't make it.The issue is, I am meaning more the customers who don't tell us and just don't appear.
Is there any other option other than just selling tickets on the door for anyone who is hoping they can get in?That could create a problem though where someone shows up late and we have resold their seat...Any help here would be appreciated but I understand this is potentially an impossible answer.Cheers
Iain,
First, congratulations on selling out the shows! Selling to capacity should be celebrated. So great job.
I have been at several organizations when this type of request has been made. After many (many!) discussions about how for reserved seated events, a customer's ticket is an agreement that they are entitled to that seat, even if they show up 10 minutes before the show ends, here are some solutions I have been a part of. None of them 'feel' great and usually someone is disappointed.
Indicate a time when the audience has to be in the theatre. If someone isn't there by that time, their seats get offered up for sale to someone on the waitlist.
Offer free exchanges or refunds for folks who can't go for sold out shows. This provides an incentive for folks to notify you in advance so the seat can be resold (and hopefully filled at showtime!)
If waitlist folks are willing to show up the day of the show, use your best guess and start selling those people seats for no-shows either just before or just after the event starts and cross your fingers the original people don't show up.
Move the show to a larger venue so you can sell more tickets! If you have that large of demand, the current venue may not have been the best place to put the event.
Unfortunately the ticket office cannot force a ticket buyer to come to an event or to even contact us if they can't go. There is no solution that will fill a venue if there is say a 20-30% no show rate on a reserved seating event IMO.
Others may have other thoughts though!
Best,
Jeff
Following because we have this issue too! We want to go back to offering our Sunday concerts online, but our biggest issue is that members (who the concert is free for) would reserve seats and then never show up (because it's free so who cares), so we couldn't sell it to another person.
Hi Jeff,Thank you for this. I appreciate the detailed response.Have been mulling everything over for the past few weeks and unfortunately all options I have come to have many faults.We currently use waitlists, so will most likely end up communicating to the waitlist that they are welcome to show up and see about last minute tickets but we can't guarantee a seat. Any comp tickets that do not show up by a certain point we will then sell, and word it in our T+C's that this process is in place so comp ticket holders are aware of this.You could get rid of E-Tickets and make it all tickets have to be collected in person prior to the event, and those that aren't by a certain time you can on-sell...not a great idea.We could change to GA seating and oversell by a certain % to accommodate for the drop off - but we preferably want to stick with allocated seating. This is probably the only idea we have discussed that could work if happy changing to GA seating.If I come up with anything else that could work I will chuck it in here but unfortunately majority of ideas have resulted in a dead end.Thanks again.
Hi Iain,
For some of our complimentary ticketed patrons where we will have a higher number of no shows, we send a reminder email with a link to easily return the tickets before the performance. We also note that returning their tickets will allow for others to attend who are not currently able to. The link takes the patron to a quick survey that asks for their name, email, the date of their performance and number of tickets. The survey is then automatically emailed to Patron Services, from there we return their tickets and make them available to others on a waitlist.
We have found success sending this closer to the performance, like 24 hours before. If you are already sending pre-show reminders, you could add this to that email. If it is for paid tickets, maybe remind them that they can donate their tickets back? It is easier for a patron to fill out a quick form than to call the Box Office. A plus of this option is a paper trail in case there are any questions.
Thanks,Dani