When it comes to delivering the best patron experience and maximizing ticket revenue, reserved seating software offers advantages general admission simply can’t match. ThunderTix makes it easy to create a beautifully customized seating chart that reflects your unique venue and gives your box office staff full control over each seat.
Why Choose Reserved Seating?
Reserved seating improves the guest experience by eliminating uncertainty. Patrons choose exactly where they’ll sit, increasing satisfaction and reducing the need for early arrival or long queues. But for your box office, the benefits are even greater:
- View every ticket sold and see exactly who is sitting in each seat
- Hover over a seat to instantly highlight all seats in the same order
- Easily block seats for ADA needs, performers, tech booths, or sponsors
- Exchange tickets directly from the chart by selecting sold seats
- Unblock and resell seats in one simple step
Reserved seating provides clarity and control, especially during high-demand events. With ThunderTix, managing it is intuitive and fast.
Fully Custom Seating Charts
Unlike other systems that limit you to a rigid spreadsheet-like grid of seats, ThunderTix seating charts are fully custom-built to mirror your venue’s real layout.
Our reserved seating charts can include:
- Arched or angled rows for realistic stage orientation
- Curves, aisles, exits, stairs, and balcony overhangs
- Bars, lobbies, and other venue features
- Round, square, and rectangular tables
- Full-venue "in-the-round" layouts on a single screen
- Seats with the following designations: Wheelchair, Companion, Hearing Impaired, Obstructed View
Our charts offer unmatched flexibility. Want a section where tables must be sold whole? Or another where seats at a table can be sold individually? No problem. Your event preferences, your rules. Our color-coded, interactive seating maps easily differentiate between ticket prices and sections.
Beyond Traditional Seating
Our reserved seating software is ideal for:
- Theaters and auditoriums
- Dinner shows and cabarets
- Campsites with reservable tent or RV spaces
- Trade shows and expos with interactive vendor booth layouts
- Sporting events like polo, basketball, or hockey
With vendor seating, vendors can choose their booth location based on size, availability, and even proximity to competitors. They can choose add-ons with their booth selection like electricity or lighting.
General Admission? We’ve Got That Too
While our reserved seating tools are ideal for assigned seating, ThunderTix fully supports General Admission events as well. For venues that don’t need a seating chart, you can still:
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Create multiple ticket types (e.g., VIP, Left, Center, Right)
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Assign a per-ticket-type capacity limit to manage sections
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Track attendance and scanning by section or ticket group
This gives small theaters and flexible venues the control of sectioned seating—without needing a chart.
Explore our full General Admission feature set
Best-In-Class Tools for Performing Arts
ThunderTix provides among the most detailed and flexible reserved seating options in the performing arts space. No system at our price point gives you more precision, control, or customization.
- Streamlined seat management for staff
- Audience-friendly interface for patrons
Intuitive seat blocking and unblocking for last-minute changes- Staff can see buyer names and order details directly on the chart
- Sold seats are grouped visually when hovered over, simplifying exchanges
- One-click exchanges from the seating chart
- Reservations: Reserve seats now, collect payment later
- Flexible seat control options by table or section
- Interactive seating chart fully visible — even for in-the-round venues
- Real-time visibility of who’s checked in at reserved seating events
ThunderTix provides among the most detailed and flexible reserved seating options in the performing arts space. No system at our price point gives you more precision, control, or customization.
Clearly marked accessible and companion seating
Our reserved seating software complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. ADA requires that reserved seating be available online for all patrons, and protections must be in place to prevent the accidental purchase of accessible seating by those that do not need it. Above all, we clearly label accessible seats for those that need them and allow you to fully customize the text that appears when a customer chooses an accessible seat or their corresponding companion seat.
Try it yourself with a free Demo seating chart
Interested in seeing how ThunderTix reserved seating works for your venue? Sign up for a free trial — no credit card required. During setup, you’ll have the option to choose a DEMO seating chart based on your needs:
- Theater
- Tables
- Basketball court
- Expo/trade show floor plan
You’ll be able to start creating events and testing reserved seating features right away. Make your next event season more efficient, more profitable, and more enjoyable with ThunderTix’s powerful reserved seating software.
Manage more efficiently with reserved seating software
When building our software for reserved seating venues, we spent a lot of time speaking with our customers to find out how we could help them manage the box office more efficiently. We tried to cover everything from the tiniest goals to the bigger challenges. Things like preventing empty seats between patrons who might otherwise prefer a little wiggle room. Furthermore, we ensured that last year's season ticket holder holds first dibs on reserving the same seats for this year's season pass. Of course, we make it easy for you to purchase the entire run of shows with a click.
As described, our design team's fantastically intuitive seating chart provides assistance for patrons and box office staff alike. This is particularly important for staff to understand at-a-glance exactly what is happening either before or on performance night. Likewise, with easy seat exchanges either within the same performance or to alternative nights, simple refund or void processes, and lots of automation, your staff can spend time on more important tasks like ensuring customer happiness. See our full list of features for box office efficiency.
Every venue is unique—your seating chart should be too.
Whether you need ADA-compliant layouts, dinner theater seating, or multiple stage orientations, our team can help. Contact us to see what’s possible.
Related Articles:
- Considerations in Reserved Seating - Managing assigned seating presents a unique set of challenges. Follow this guide to help you design a reserved seating chart that best meets your needs.
- First to Adapt, Always Ready to Evolve - ThunderTix was the first ticketing software in the world to offer automatic social distancing for reserved seating—launched in May 2020, just months after COVID-19 began. While social distancing may no longer be needed, this milestone underscores our commitment to rapid innovation and responding to the evolving needs of performing arts organizations.