A boat tour in Baltimore Maryland will be providing what it calls the “Francis Scott Key experience” for the 4th of July. An interesting mix of education, entertainment and other nautical niceties, the event is a special offer during the notorious holiday rush that every boat tour company knows all too well. Here’s a quick look at how boat tour reservation software can help make the 4th of July holiday rush more manageable and profitable.

Star Spangled Spectacular

Booked with a steady consistency throughout the year, a boat tour company in Baltimore is about to experience the classic holiday rush when it starts taking reservations for a special event recreating the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

History buffs know that Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814 while overlooking the Baltimore Harbor. And now everyone can relive that moment in history thanks to a partial grant from the Maryland War of 1812 Commission.

The commission’s grant is considered seed money that will need lots of bookings to completely fund tours all summer long. Spokeswoman Jill Feinberg describes the boat tour as being:

…just in time for summer vacationers, this boat tour gives a unique perspective on what Key saw and was so inspired to write the lyrics of what became our National Anthem.

The tour, known formally as the ‘Fort McHenry Boat Tour: A Star-Spangled Experience‘, will begin next month with peak demand occurring on the 4th of July weekend. Reservations are $10 for adults and $5 for children (ages 3-10) and can be made dockside or on the official guided tour company’s website.

Of note is that the 45 minute tour is running every hour, on the hour, five times a day on Saturdays and Sundays. Factoring in the long holiday weekend (July 4th is on a Thursday this year), the schedule will put quite a demand on captain and crew to deliver that “Francis Scott Key experience” to the masses.

If you are offering a special July 4th edition of your boat tour, now is the time to start promoting it. A previous post looked at the advantages of reaching out to city and state tourism boards in order to tap into the all the extra business from tourists – that very much applies to the hard working boat tour operator, like you!

ThunderTix Boat Tour Reservation Software

The upcoming 4th of July holiday rush means you’ll need to increase the number of tours to meet demand – a true test of mettle for your boat tour ticketing software.

The ThunderTix plan for boat tour operators lets you set a tour date and time then easily populate for every day of the year – all at once – no need to enter the same date and time over and over.

Your boat tour on July the 3rd is just like it was when you set in January, but July 4th needs eight extra shows!

We help you meet the seasonal demand for your tour tickets by giving you the ability to modify individual tour names within a larger event for holidays. Your tour can have special side trips or change from its normal route as a way to commemorate a holiday (“4th of July Sightseeing Tour – Fireworks on the Pier!“). We make this easy to do and we include the ability to increase or decrease the ticket prices for the special holiday exceptions.

Need to switch to ThunderTix while you still can? Just fill out the form below to speak to our star spangled specialists!

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An overly strict music festival reentry policy can be a real point of contention among attendees, operators and local small business owners – as this post shows. Here’s how to formulate a less strict, yet still profitable, festival reentry policy using barcoded wristbands and music festival ticketing software.

Too Strict Or Not Strict Enough?

A festival’s reentry policy is just as important to attendees as it to the festival operator, but for different reasons. Festival goers want to be able to come and go without much hassle, especially on multi-days events. The reasons vary from trekking to an off-site camping area or to go see the sights in the town nearby. Attendees generally consider a strict “no ins and outs” policy to be a wet blanket on the fun.

Festival operators, on the other hand, see liberal reentry policies as a potential detriment to revenue (loss of concession and souvenir sales) not to mention a possible event security issue.

While nowhere near as controversial as ticket fees, festival reentry policies can be a point of contention. Take for example Mumford & Sons’ Gentlemen of the Road (GotR) music festival touring several cities around the world later this summer.

At issue is the strict “no ins and outs” reentry policy set by GotR which has local business owners up in arms. With more than 25,000 people expected at each of the festival’s host cities, the reentry policy stands in the way of untold millions in revenue for area small businesses and the host city itself.

One of the host city’s small business owners, Tony Leonard, finds the strict reentry policy unacceptable:

The festival is potentially a great event for the town, [but] pubs would suffer a loss of trade if festival goers aren’t allowed to leave the Convent Field site at any time once they are admitted…If the festival is meant to be a celebration of [the city] and local business, then people really ought to be given the option of exploring the town during the day.

Mumford & Sons have offered to issue partial refunds to festival goers that want to leave the event early in order to go into town, but that isn’t being met with much enthusiasm from business owners or ticket buyers. Negotiations between the area business owners and the Gentlemen of the Road music festival are on-going and described by an insider as being a “positive dialogue.”

With a hint of mild irony, Mumford & Sons routinely goes on the record as saying they honor their fans wishes, first and foremost, yet such a strict reentry policy makes the GotR event less fun for attendees.

Reentry Policy Of Truth

The time to plan your festival’s reentry policy is before tickets go on sale, not after. Moreover, the retry policy you set should be clearly presented to buyers, as seen in both the music festival ticketing software and on the physical tickets.

Avoiding as much legalese as possible will help ticket buyers know up front what they are, and are not, allowed to do as far as “ins and outs” are concerned. Having a clear and easy to understand reentry Policy of Truth, so-to-speak, will actually make a strict position more palatable.

Here are some examples of reentry policies that strike the right balance between happy patrons, happy festival operators and a safe, profitable music festival.

Indoor

At the small to medium event scale, indoor venues hosting a music festival (or “battle of the bands”) often modify their standard reentry policy to accommodate the protracted amount of time such events usually take. For example, if a indoor venue has a solid eight hours of bands booked, it may not be practical to expect guests to be “trapped” inside for that long. The lineup appearance times may not match the fickle music fan, so they may prefer to be inside for a few hours, leave, then return later when their favorite band is playing.

If a strict no reentry policy simply must be maintained (ex: liability insurance constraints) a good practice is to published the band line-up times well in advance on the venue website AND during the ticket purchase process.

Outdoor

As seen in the video above, outdoor music festivals can implement the latest in barcoded wristband technology and allow for a more lenient reentry policy.

In stead of choosing between“too strict” and “not strict enough”, barcoded wristbands create a happy medium in reentry policies. The festival gates can be opened and closed, at intervals set by the festival operator, allowing patrons to leave and come back in a reasonable (and still profitable) manner.

Such a compromise would be perfect for the multi-day Gentlemen of the Road music festival mentioned earlier, since it would let people go into town later in the evening after the last band has finished performing.

ThunderTix Music Festival Ticketing Software

You can avoid having to attend city council hearings, full of irate local business owners, by making barcoded wristbands the centerpiece of your festival’s reentry policy. Doing so starts with your choice in music festival ticketing software.

The ThunderTix plan for music festivals features optional end-to-end, bardcode gate control as part of our ticketing software. We are an industry leader in barcode technology and can scale barcoding systems to meet your specific needs. Print-at-Home barcoded tickets, thermal printing of barcode wristbands, and handheld scanners (which we sell and rent!) are just some of what we can offer you as you plan your reentry policy

If you are interested in learning how we can help you plan your upcoming festival ticket sales and gate control methods, just fill out the form below and one of our representative will contact you right away.

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The Ultimate Festival Infographic

As defined by Wikipedia an infographic is a “graphic visual representation of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.”

So, given the scope and scale, “quickly and clearly” illustrating the business festivals generate is no mean feat. Yet one was recently published that does exactly that.

Originally brought to widespread attention by Business 2 Community, the infographic captures the upcoming music festivals planned for the UK and Ireland this summer.  Business 2 Community are experts in marketing, and as such, infographics (as a medium) are part and parcel of their on-going ‘best practices’ blog posts, as one would expect. A closer look at the infographic’s original source, however, is anything but expected.

The “Ultimate Festival Guide” was originally published by Calor Gas a large corporation that produces liquefied petroleum gas on an industrial scale.

Odd? Not necessarily.

Outdoor festivals almost always include camping and cooking, and cooking  at campsites makes use of small propane powered stoves. Part of Cantor’s business model, in addition to huge industrial projects, is supplying propane for camping stoves.

Some statistical highlights of the inforgraphic include over 2,000,000 tickets projected to be sold and tips for festival-goers on what to bring. Also note that the infographic is divided into large and small festivals with “small” being ~35,000 people.

The full infographic is below. As you read through it, keep in mind that it is “merely” for the UK and Ireland festivals and doesn’t include Canada and the United States!

The Ultimate Festival Ticketing Software

If The Business of Fun (i.e. festivals) operates on a such a large scale that a product from a gas-petroleum corporation is just an ancillary aspect, imagine how important your choice in ticketing software is!

The ThunderTix plan for festivals operates at an “industrial scale” to accommodate your ticketing needs. Want proof? Our technology powers two of the largest festivals in Canada, the Festival du Voyageur and the Small World Music Festival. Both events have very large scale ticketing and gate security requirements and both events choose ThunderTix.

As the infographic above shows, festivals are one of the most popular types of events. That popularity means large crowds at vast temporary locations with many entrance gates – a genuine challenge to manage! Our technology lowers your costs by making ticket sales and gate management more efficient.

Need festival ticketing software for your large festival? Fill out the form the form below and we’ll be in touch right away.

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Even though Halloween is months away, ghost tour operators are getting ready right now and some tours have already begun. But whether you’re planning ahead or kicking off a scary summer, it’s time to start a ghost tour reservation software checklist.

Get Ready Now

On a balmy summer evening, the last thing one may be thinking of is Halloween, but some ghost tour operators aren’t waiting and have already kicked their frightful fun into high gear. Other ghost tour guides, like historians Mike Sherman and Cath Connor in Alberta Canada, are planning ahead for the Fall holiday rush.

As seen in the video above, Sherman and Connor will be working through the summer gathering up historical information on the tombstones in their township’s cemetery. The more information they gather, the more informative (and entertaining) their planned ghost tour will be, later this year.

Sherman and Connor’s research will build upon what is already considered a tourism attraction in the town of Granum. On the city’s official website, the the cemetery is described as being established in 1908 with several notable internments, but is yet to offer formal guided tours. Sherman and Connor hope to change that this Fall with a new tour that will increase the number of visitors as well as spur the local economy.

While a new ghost tour is in the early planning stages in Alberta, so-called dark tourism in other areas is already in full effect, right now.

Scary Summer Starts

South Texas is home to The Alamo, but several famously haunted locales that are home to ghost tours all year round. One such tour is the Houston Ghost Tour operated by Danny Thomas and managed by Lindy Blackwood. The pair have been providing a scary good time for Houston locals and visitors alike since 2008. Houston Ghost Tour has been listed as one of the top ghost tours in Texas.

The notorious summer heat that Houston is known for is not putting a damper on the fun. As seen on the website, the polite suggestion being made to those about to book a tour says “It’s getting hotter, so bring water and bug spray to your tour!”

Also on the official website is an explanation of recent policy changes geared toward making an already successful business even better. As of last month, the ghost tours now need to have at least five persons booked in advance.

If we have less than 5 people scheduled including your reservation, you will be notified. In the event that we do not max out at 5 by the date of the tour, you will be notified of a tour cancellation. If you request a tour for less than 5 people, please speak with our manager or owner for further information.

This smart practice will make for more cost effective operations as well as being more fun for the guests (“the more the merrier!”). While yet to adopt a formal ghost tour reservation software, Thomas and Blackwood do offer reservations by telephone and accept payment via PayPal.

Not For The Squeamish

Summer scares start on June 1st in Savanna Georgia with a new tour by Old City Walks. Called ‘Savannah Noir’, the ghost tour is a rowdy good time highlighting the city’s past grisly crimes and salacious acts. The event is not for the squeamish and described on the official website as:

The night-time romp explores true stories of ghastly acts and documented horrors gleaned from police records, local news accounts and eye-witnesses. No corny, go-bump-in-the-night campfire stories here! The unexpurgated truth of Savannah’s shocking history of crime, vengeance and lust. This tour is not suggested for children or the weak of heart. From her earliest days when jails were scarce and justice swift to Savannah’s present day macabre events, prepare to be enlightened and horrified.

Note that ‘Savannah Noir’ is being conducted every Saturday night from June 1st until the week before Halloween, ensuring a whole summer’s worth of fun entertainment. In addition to accepting telephone reservations, Old City Walks offers guests the convenience of the booking online through its ghost tour reservation software.

As mentioned in a previous post tens of thousands of people are planning their summer vacations right now, so Old City Walks is in a good position to tap into that rush of out-of-town visitors headed to Savannah.

ThunderTix Ghost Tour Reservation Software

ThunderTix is proud to be the ghost tour reservation software of choice for Old City Walks and we can be yours too.

Our plan for ghost tour operators helps you save time and make more money. The time saving comes from the ability to set a reccurring tour date and time, then easily populate for every day of the year – all at once – no need to enter the same date and time over and over. Then, as your recurring tours elapse, our software automatically updates the schedule displayed on your web site. The public tour is displayed as a custom calendar date range, preventing multiple dates from cluttering your web site and making it hard for buyers to find their desired dates.

We also help you during the busy Halloween rush by giving you the ability to modify individual tour names within a larger event. Your tour can have special side trips or change from its normal route as a way to commemorate peak ghost tour demand (“Halloween Weekend Only – Masquerade Ball and Costume Contest!”). We make this easy to do and we include the ability to increase the ticket prices for the special holiday exceptions.

Ready to start planning your upcoming Fall tour schedule? Use the form below and and sales team member will be in touch with you!

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After a recent court ruling in Washington D.C., the cost of being a  tour guide will not be going down anytime soon. The ever increasing overhead means that tour guides must find a way to recoup those costs as quickly as possible – one way to do that is with tour guide booking software.

Court Ruling: Licensing Mandatory

Lat month’s court ruling in Washington D.C. upholds the requirement for sighting guides to pay for and pass an exam to “ensure they are at least minimally qualified.” The judge based his ruling on a 1902 D.C. statute that made illegal for any person to engage in or carry on any business which a license tax is imposed without first obtaining a license.

The 1902 law was challenged by a guided tour company that felt the licensing requirement is a violation of free speech and is therefore unconstitutional. After rejecting the tour company’s argument, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said that the license requirement governs tour guide conduct, not what is spoken during a tour. Like many cities, D.C. wishes to have itself portrayed in the best positive light to visitors, and it does so by testing the general knowledge of for-profit sightseeing tours.

The cost of being a tour guide in Washington D.C. is not trivial:

Sightseeing tour guides to pay $200 each to take a 100-question exam based on general knowledge of the nation’s capital. Those convicted of conducting tours without a license are subject to a fine of up to $300 and a maximum of three months in jail.

Fortunately for tour operators in D.C., there are several services dedicated to training and pre-exam testing. According to the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, tour operators can attend multi-day workshops or for faster compliance one of the week-end “boot camps.” Guide knowledge comes from a study of literature on the history and geographical locations of area monuments and points of interest.

The tour operator licensing requirements in D.C. are representative of most other cities, big and small, and are considered to be the price of doing business. If your tour makes use of the popular Segway personal transportation devices you may have additional licensing and training costs, as well as higher insurance premiums.

ThunderTix Tour Guide Booking Software

The ThunderTix plan for guided tour operators lets you assign any combination of fees, per person or by group size, to recoup overhead costs faster.

You have total control over how fees are applied. For example, you can assign fees and services charges per-person or on a per-order basis to encourage large groups to book with you and not your competition. We do not apply any fees of our own, but you may add and keep any fees you feel are necessary.

Another way to recoup costs faster with our technology is to create an urgent need to buy. ThunderTix has tools to do just that by displaying “Hurry! There are less than 5 tickets remaining” during the online booking process. These messages shown to people visiting your website increase sales velocity while reducing the dreaded cart abandonment. Ticket availability messages are proof we are committed to doing everything we can to make your tour a consistent long term success.

Not only do we help you recoup costs, we offer some of the most competitive pricing plans out there. Our management software is priced as a flat annual license based on the number of tickets needed per year. The only cost outside of the license fee is the cost of credit card processing. Don’t pay for more than you need – sign up today!

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Summer is fast approaching and your festival’s event awareness efforts are in high gear. Locals have their tickets and anticipation is growing – but is that enough? Right now your local tourism board is being visited by those planning their Summer vacation, so make sure your festival is listed! Here’s how to make the most of June tourism using the embed codes from festival ticketing software.

(Not) Locals Only

Local advertising, social media conversations and good old fashion word-of-mouth have increased your festivals’ event awareness for locals – but what about all those folks from out of town? Festival operator due diligence should include event awareness for tourists.

Tens of thousands of people are planning their Summer vacations, right now, as you read this.

For festival operators, that represents a huge ticket sales opportunity that often goes neglected.

One of the best ways to bring your festival to the attention of Summer vacationers is to get listed on the city and state tourism board websites. Doing so is much easier (and cheaper) than you think.

The city of Fairhaven, Massachusetts is urging festival operators to take a few minutes and make sure their event is listed on the city’s official website. It is important to note that being listed is a free service provided by the city, as it is a mutually beneficial endeavor  Tourism is a lucrative pursuit for both private and public entities, so it is only natural for Fairhaven (and your city) to promote Summer festivals in earnest:

There is NO CHARGE to have your listings publicized – The Fairhaven Office of Tourism is preparing an updated list of Fairhaven Attractions and a list of Fairhaven Summer Events…groups holding public events within Fairhaven from May through early October–plays, concerts, fairs, festivals, open houses, tours, athletic events, etc. should submit information. Please include prices and how to get tickets, if applicable, as well as a phone number or email address for the public to get more information.

The City of Fairhaven is just one example timed to coincide with the peak of June vacationers searching for activities at their destination.

Roll Out The Welcome Mat

Other cities and states reaching out and working with festivals include Charlotte North Carolina, the State of Minnesota and Indiana. Each respective tourism website follows the same format mentioned by Fairhaven (dates, ticket availability, etc.) and each currently have Summer tourism campaigns in high gear.

The Indiana state tourism board provides some statistics that should convince all festival operators to make the effort to be listed on their city/state tourism website:

Each year, Indiana welcomes more than 62 million people to its many tourist attractions and events. The Indiana Office of Tourism Development (IOTD) works to coordinate efforts to promote travel throughout Indiana. Additionally, IOTD assists to enhance the visitor experience by providing up-to-date travel information for pre-planning activities and the duration of their Indiana vacation.

Having your festival listed with a link is great, but some tourism board websites go so far as to enable tickets sales directly on their website, providing a time-saving experience for the out-of-town visitor planning vacation activities. Tourism boards rarely ask for financial compensation in exchange for selling tickets on their websites, and if they do, the fee is nominal.

The ability to sell tickets directly on a third-party website is a function of “embeds” from the festival ticketing software used by the operator. Using embeds, small pieces of computer code that are added to the third-party website, the festival operator can sell tickets on any third-party website (tourism board, local TV station, popular blogs), without any geographical restrictions.

Speaking of, if your research shows a good chunk of your festival patrons come from a certain far-off area (out of state, or out of the country for that matter), you can reach out to that area’s tourism board and embed ticket sales directly there as well.

Embeds & ThunderTix Festival Ticketing Software

When it comes to extending your sales to third-party websites using embeds, not all festival ticketing software is the same.

The ThunderTix plan for festival operators includes sophisticated embeds as part of our new Event Restricted Access feature. If your busy schedule doesn’t allow for protracted back-and-forth exchanges with a dozen different webmasters at third party websites, you can securely give them access to your ThunderTix account and let them grab the embed code themselves.

Of course when it comes to your ticket sales data, extending account access can be fraught with worry, especially with 3rd parties that are not directly under your control. You need very fine-grained control to ensure the best security practices while still making it easy for the webmasters of tourism sites to present your festival to their visitors– and sell tickets. The ThunderTix Event Restricted Access feature lets 3rd parties get the embed codes to sell tickets on their external websites without you having to hand over the keys to your entire kingdom.

Need to switch to ThunderTix right away? Our pricing structures for festivals and one-time events are tailored to meet your special circumstance. Ticket sales for festivals are often in the thousands and tens of thousands, and our festival ticketing plan is tiered for that reason. We have several ticket levels to choose from, each one is an economical way to start selling tickets to make the most of June tourism!

Ready to start? Just contact us using the form below and we’ll be in touch usually within the same business day.

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Oh dear. Looks like restaurant reservation no shows are costing (yet another) restaurant owner money, this time in Syracuse. And just like the owner of  Red Medicine, the restaurant owner in Syracuse owner has taken to social media to vent his frustrations. There is a better way…

It Happened Again

When the owner of Red Medicine restaurant took to social media and started shaming those who failed to show up for their dinner reservations, it made national news.

Now, it seems, yet another restaurant owner, who has had it with restaurant reservation no shows, is doing the same thing (albeit much more politely, thank goodness). According to author Don Cazentre, the owner of Mohegan Manor in Syracuse New York reached his breaking point this past week-end.

Packed dining rooms are great thing. But what happens when a busy place takes reservations and holds a table, only to have the party – sometimes a big one – not show up? It bothered Dennis Sick so much he took to Facebook to vent.

Fortunately, when the owner, Dennis Sick, takes to social media to”vent” he does it in a much more polite way than the owner of Red Medicine. What Sick expressed is becoming all too common:

What is with the INCONSIDERATION of NO SHOW Syracuse Restaurants reservations on SU parents and weekends do not show up, even when you call and confirm the reservation and count they say they are coming, Low Class. I am going to encourage all restaurants to take table deposits, it is totally rude to tie up tables and not show up.

Reading the comments made in response to the frustrated restaurateur shows that would-be diners generally support the idea of making a deposit along with reservations. But as so well stated by the owner of Next restaurant, requiring a deposit is not the solution to restaurant reservation no shows – Next sells tickets in advance.

The latest incident on Facebook is yet another example of why restaurants should begin transitioning away from telephone reservations and begin to sell tickets in-advance, like Next restaurant in Chicago. Venting of frustrations on Facebook won’t solve the problem, and shaming customers on Twitter certainly won’t either.

ThunderTix Is The Solution To Restaurant Reservation No Shows

Implementing a pre-paid ticket system during your peak times could save you thousands of dollars by staving off no-shows. But make sure it can accept and process the full amount of what a table is worth during “prime time” dinner service.

ThunderTix restaurant ticketing software lets you leave no-shows behind and sell tickets in advance just like Next restaurant in Chicago. And we make nightly deposits of your sales dollars directly into your bank account, giving you the liquidity to buy only what you need for the menu – no waste.

Chef and TV celebrity Ludo Lefebvre’s new restaurant Trois Mec gets $2,160.00 in up-front liquidity (twenty-four $90 tickets sold in-advance). Trois Mec co-owner says “the decision to operate on a ticket system allows the chefs to plan accordingly each night.”

When you say “table d’hôte” we know what you mean. In addition to being the most restaurant friendly ticketing software available, know that ThunderTix has years of experience in enabling venues to sell tickets online. You will inherit all that expertise when you decide to make the move from telephone reservation to selling tickets, either all-at-once or gradually.

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Fee Free Friday says “En garde!“ to another week’s worth of high ticket fees. News just broke that a court has ordered Ticketmaster to pay $23 million to atone for its maligned “rewards program.” The BBC reports on ”legalised touting” in the UK. And will the Robin Hood Pact put an arrow through the heart of ticket fees once and for all? All that and a special “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” edition of the Wall of Woe!

Bogus Rewards Program

Webster’s dictionary defines the word misnomer as an “inappropriate designation.”

That’s the first thing that comes to mind after reading the rash of reports of a court ruling in Los Angeles. Industry giant Tickemaster has agreed to settle a long standing lawsuit that stems from its so-called “rewards program” which purportedly ended up costing participants more money than it saved (thanks to ticket fees).

According to the Huffington Post, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer approved the settlement:

About 1.12 million people are eligible to file a claim. They signed up for the rewards program after buying a ticket at Ticketmaster.com between September 2004 and June 2009. The plaintiffs argued that they didn’t know about the fees, which were charged to the credit or debit card used to buy the ticket.

In a much less objective (but far more entertaining) account of the dramatic turn of events, Paul Resnikoff published ‘Ticketmaster Fined $23 Million for Creating a Bogus Rewards Program’

Ticketmaster is one of the most hated brands in the America, and frankly, they don’t give a f***. But is there a hangover to all this bad behavior?…Ticketmaster faces a $23 million fine for hoodwinking customers into an expensive ‘rewards program,’ one that featured few perks and lots of hidden costs.

Resnikoff goes on to “do the math” and notes that the settlement calls for Ticketmaster to pay each eligible consumer $30 each. But according to Resnikoff the “rewards” program ultimately generated $85 million for Ticketmaster, or $75.89 per consumer.

The case shows the insidious nature of exorbitant per-tickets fees. Even with a so-called reward program in place, fees still end-up hurting consumers and potentially the venue as well (assuming it cannot afford court mandated refunds).

Legalised Touting

Continuing with the week’s Old English theme, BBC business news reporter Bill Wilson is asking if what we call “scalping” here in America is actually a good thing.

Wilson published an in-depth look at the practice of re-selling tickets and the resulting face value mark-up (which is technically a ticket fee). In ‘Secondary ticketing: Inflating sport prices or useful service?‘ Looks like the average UK sports or music fan is coming to the same harsh realization that their stateside counterparts have known for some time:

Over the past decade a new phenomenon has arrived on the UK’s shores – the “secondary ticketing” exchanges that allow individuals, sports clubs, and other organisations to legally sell spare tickets – often, but not necessarily, at more than face value.

Wilson quotes Malcolm Clarke, an executive with the Football Supporters Federation, as acknowledging there have been horror stories concerning legalised touting (aka “scalping”) and suggests that sports franchises should be allowed to re-sell their own tickets to address the issue.

Mr. Clarke’s suggestion is similar to a highly unpopular one here in America. The Los Angeles Angels baseball team is facing a firestorm of bad press for acting as the secondary re-seller for its own game tickets.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim want to dictate what fans can do with their tickets after purchase. Under their terms and conditions, fans can’t resell their tickets unless they get permission from the team or sell it through the Angels’ own Ticket Exchange.

Be it by a major sport franchise, or a shady character on the street corner, the face value mark-up on tickets (which can be as much as 2,000%) isn’t the only consumer-hostile result of unauthorized resale. Scalping causes the venues to bear the brunt of the bad publicity, even when they are not directly at fault. Incensed, the consumer reads the face value price and compares it to what they were forced to pay an unauthorized re-seller. While that angry buyer is reading her ticket, is that a good time to have “Ticket fee: $12.00″ printed right next to your venue name?

Ticket Fees & The Robin Hood Pact

The legend of Robin Hood tells the story of injustice, the plight of a downtrodden peoples and their ultimate vindication. Robin Hood robbing the rich and giving to the poor is a frequently used allegory that can be made to serve any number of political purposes.

The latest example is by Bob Lefsetz when he wrote of Kid Rock’s now infamous deal struck to reduce ticket fees for his upcoming concert tour.

Lefsetz describes the deal as a Robin Hood Pact with promoter Live Nation and states that the overwhelming response has had a major impact on ticket sales:

Kid Rock then wanted no ticket fees at all. So a deal was struck. If you went to Wal-Mart, where they’ve got Live Nation kiosks, you could buy a ticket for $20, including parking, with no fee. Ticketmaster picked up the vig, furthermore, more kiosks were installed to handle the demand.

So what happened?

Across the board, sales doubled or tripled from 2011. Blowing past everybody’s expectations.

He may have not technically “robbed from the rich” but by lowering ticket fees to a reasonable sum, the fan response to Kid Rock is the same as the people of Sherwood Forest response to Robin Hood.

Fairy tales aside, venue owners should take careful note of the ticket sales success story Kid Rock’s Robin Hood Pact tells. Particularly in the context of sales velocity, which was greatly accelerated by the lowering of ticket fees. A faster sell out means all that revenue arrives faster, providing much needed liquidity for other costs (or to be placed directly in your pocket!).

Wall of Woe – Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Edition

In an obvious retort to Fee Free Friday, ticket industry giant Ticketmaster began a new promotional campaign called… *drum roll* …Free Money Monday! As seen on Tickemaster’s Facebook Page, the promotion appears to be a kind of rewards program… Um, wait. What? (see above).

It is actually very flattering that the world’s largest ticketing company has taken notice and co-opted Fee Free Friday’s day-of-the-week rhyming. But “Free Money Monday” doesn’t seem to be making any of the following people any happier…

Ticket behind Grizz bench (like row 8 or 9) was $401 on Ticketmaster plus fees. *sad trombone*

— NBKay is on her GnG! (@KateeForbis) May 17, 2013

I hate ticketmaster and their damn fees.

— Bebe Salone (@nappilyinlove) May 14, 2013

@davidrgrant #Ticketmaster is Satan’s love child. The fees they charge and the way they control events ticks me off. #boycottticketmaster!

— Chris Turner (@Travelwithchris) March 27, 2012

Wow @ticketmaster is a scam. Almost $50 in fees on 4 tickets to Disney Jr Live. That’s a ripoff. Guess I’m not buying those.

— Rod Martin (@hawkrod) May 14, 2013

That last tweet by Rod Martin is more than just frustration. It is proof that high ticket fees are the reason for lost sales. Does your current ticketing software charge you (and your customers) per-ticket fees? Yes? Then now is the time to switch.

ThunderTix does not charge you per ticket fees for selling tickets online or at the box office. We encourage you to pass along that savings to the consumer and show them the long term vision of your business is tied directly to their satisfaction. Your patrons will love that you don’t add fees. It’s that simple. Lower ticket costs through no added fees translate into higher sales and greater patron satisfaction.

And should you choose to add a reasonable per-ticket fee, you retain 100% of the revenue generated. For example, if your venue sells 5,000 tickets with a nominal one dollar per ticket fee, you earn an additional $5,000.00 after you switch to ThunderTix.

Fee Free Friday will return and until then if you know of an instance where ticket fees have caused consumers to stay away from an event, let us know in the comments below!

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Springtime plays hosts to many types festivals and that includes book fairs and literary events. While lesser known than music festivals, book festivals can draw big crowds encompassing several different formats. Here’s a look at different book festivals and how to best manage yours with the tools built into festival ticketing software (including one you are already very familiar with!)

Types of Book Festivals

This week, the Library of Congress (LoC) posted its treasure trove of videos from last year’s International Summit of the Book on YouTube. The agency has made the videos available just as the literary world looks forward to the 2013 Book Festival, an event also hosted by the LoC. The 2013 Book Festival represents the pinnacle of literary events with thousands in attendance including president Barack Obama.

At a smaller scope and scale, the season for local book fairs has just begun in earnest, a tradition that coincides with the nice weather Springtime brings. Famous authors and bibliophiles alike will soon be flocking to book festivals for learning and commerce. In fact one of the most popular ways for authors to sell books is by making paid appearances at a book fairs. That’s because attendance levels at outdoor book festivals are routinely much higher compared to a book signing at a local bookstore.

If you are tasked with managing an upcoming book fair or literary event, you can look to the following formats for inspiration.

Outdoor Book Festival

The reference standard for the outdoor book festival is the annual event held in Los Angeles on the USC campus grounds. The Festival of Books (video above) held its 18th edition last month and drew in more than 150,000 people. The Los Angeles Times provides extensive coverage of the event each year conveying all the aspects of the entertainment and knowledge to provided to the community. And, as one would expect given the host city, part of the event entertainment came from the many celebrities in attendance, including comedy legend Carol Burnett.

Of note, the scope of the L.A. Festival of Books also includes seated dining experiences at various locations as well as live musical performances (See ‘Mix & Match Mediums’ below).

Literary Gatherings For Authors & Appraisers

As mentioned earlier, the Library of Congress literary events are heavily focused on symposiums with famous authors. This author-centric format makes for an event that is much like a trade show or industry conference (with vendor booths, special guest speakers, etc.) and can be an order of a magnitude more complex to manage.

Another variant of this type of book festival format is when book appraisals are part of the attraction. Those who collect rare and out-of-print books can spend thousands of dollars in pursuit of their passion. When book fairs include appraisal services, in addition to having authors speak, attendance can double. Such is the case in South Carolina during the SC Book Festival that will offer attendees the chance to have their prized possessions appraised by professional book dealers.

The Antiquarian Book Dealers Association of South Carolina will be one of the antiquarians present, selling hard-to-find books and items. But, they will also be offering a bit more – book appraisals. Those interested can bring up to three books for $10.

Mix & Match Mediums

Often overlooked is the idea of mixing and matching a book festival with another medium in order to broaden the appeal. In Honolulu Hawaii, the Hawaii Book & Music Festival (HBMF) is set for this weekend combining, as its name implies, book and music in a family friendly atmosphere. HBMF is described by Maria Kanai as:

Bringing together authors, editors, publishers, musicians, dancers, singers, filmmakers and audiences for two days of readings, panel discussions and performances.

Although HBMF is a free event, the format of combining two mediums can easily be made into a paid, ticketed event, be it an extension of an existing music festival, or a book fair graduating in scope to include live music.

Barcode Scanners – A Familiar Tool

Widening a festival’s scope is not a trivial task, just ask any of the successful music festivals that have grown ever larger each successive year. The combination of multiple venue entrances, big crowds, and talks by famous authors can result in organizational challenges never before experienced by the those tasked with managing a big book fair. However one of tools in pervasive use by most festival ticketing software programs is a barcode scanner – something that will be very familiar if you have ever worked at a bookstore!

At the other types of festivals, such as music, entrance gates can be swamped with long lines, which makes for a poor experience for the festival goers as well as a being safety concern. To address this, large music festival operators use handheld barcode scanners, just like the ones at the bookstore checkout, to scan tickets as people enter and exit (aka “ins-and-outs”).

ThunderTix Book Festival Ticketing Software

If you are operating a book festival, you’ll will find that ticketing software will make the event much easier to manage, even if it is a free event. If paid appraisals are going to be an aspect of the book fair, that dollar amount can be made part of the ticket purchase process within the ticketing software. Doing so will give the appraiser a good idea of what to expect allowing them to budget their time.

The ThunderTix plan for book festivals includes our years of experience with barcoded tickets and handheld barcode scanners. Our technology not only provides for improved entrance gate efficiency, and thus less time waiting in line, it also increases security. When tickets are scanned, the database record is updated, making the ticket invalid for use at any other gate. Should a duplicate ticket be presented, the staff member scanning sees a ”DUPLICATE” message along with the original ticket buyer’s name and order number.

If you are ready to implement in-advance ticketing for your book fair, just contact us using the form below and we will work with you for plan that is the just the right fit.

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Square announced its new Point of Sale (PoS) device on the very same day that online coupon king Groupon released its new POS app. Both are centered around Apple’s iPad and both offer small businesses, including restaurants, some costs savings. But does the switch from telephone reservations to pre-paid restaurant ticketing mean these new PoS devices are focused on the wrong end of the transaction?

Groupon Breadcrumb POS app

Known as the king of online coupons, Groupon has just launched a new app through Apple’s iTunes that turns your iPad into a Point of Sale (PoS) terminal. The stand alone software does not replace the more industrial grade Breadcrumb Pro (video above) Groupon sells. According to Engadget, the move by Groupon was a bit of a surprise catching many off guard.

Groupon POS appeared in the iTunes Store, but was quickly pulled. Now we know why. Breadcrumb POS, which is the official name of yesterday’s leaked point-of-sale iPad app, is now officially available, bringing a simple interface and a handful of financial incentives. The application, which can be downloaded for free, charges vendors a credit card processing fee of 1.8 percent plus 15 cents per transaction.

The app’s lower price point, combined with the incentives Groupon is offering to early adopters, does save small business some money. The independent merchant can forgo proprietary PoS products from industry stalwarts and just make use of the Groupon app + iPad combination. Of note, Groupon’s aggressive move into PoS retail sales transactions is a result of the company acquiring Breadcrumb for $15 million in May of last year.

Square Stand

On the very same day that Groupon launched its PoS app, newcomer Square announced its all new PoS product, simply called “Stand.”

Like Groupon, the Square’s Stand is built around the iPad, but Stand is an integrated solution. Stand costs $299 (iPad not included) and requires a business to sign-up for Square’s transitional services. From Square’s website:

Local business owners take as a given that they need an ugly, slow, expensive, and complicated point of sale system cluttering their counter,” said Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Square. “Square Stand is elegant, fast, affordable, and easy to use. Whether you’re selling cupcakes, cardigans, or cappuccinos, running your business with Square has never been easier.”

Square has been the darling of the tech industry since launching its micro-transaction service for the iPhone in 2010. At that time, Square let any individual person accept credit card payments using just an iPhone and a small card swiping accessory. Now, with Stand, Square is aiming at a more traditional retail business, like restaurants.

Groupon and Square devices are made use of at the very end of the transaction – diner is complete and the check is to be paid – like any other cash register. But the question must be asked to restaurant owners – are both devices focused at the wrong end of the transaction timeline?

Restaurants, lead by Next in Chicago, are switching in droves to selling tickets instead of taking telephone reservations. By selling tickets in advance the transaction process is completed at the very beginning, eliminating the need for a PoS system entirely.

The technological focus by Square and Groupon are great for a boutiques selling items at retail, but restaurants looking to solve the reservation no-show problem may find no need for iPad based PoS.

ThunderTix Restaurant Ticketing Software

New high-tech PoS systems operate at the very end of the process – at the polar opposite end is restaurant ticketing.

ThunderTix restaurant ticketing software lets you leave no-shows behind and sell tickets in advance just like Next restaurant in Chicago. And we make nightly deposits of your sales dollars directly into your bank account, giving you the liquidity to buy only what you need for the menu – no waste.

When you say “table d’hôte” we know what you mean. In addition to being the most restaurant friendly ticketing software available, know that ThunderTix has years of experience in enabling venues to sell tickets online. You will inherit all that expertise when you decide to make the move from telephone reservation to selling tickets, either all-at-once or gradually.

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