Timed Tickets: Member "no-show"

amanda bjorklund

Has anyone discovered a good solution for member no-show? We have a high rate and on a limited capacity it is causing major issues as we sell out seasonal festivals. We do have non-member and member tickets setup. I don't want to start charging a service fee on "free tickets" but that is where we are heading. There is no easy way in Altru for members to cancel a tickets which would be a great feature. Right now we rely on them emailing/calling us to cancel. We also move capacity around but that can easily be someone's full time job at the attendance rate we have in peak season. Any advice?

Beth Trainer

Hi Amanda,

We absolutely see the same trend in our membership base. To help mitigate, I've been maintaining a list of historical data points to see averages of show rate for members & non-members. For instance, my online timed admission tickets traditionally show around 95% whereas members have been pacing in the low to mid 70s%. That has helped me gain a pretty consistent margin to adjust our member capacity program events to try to create a better balance with our capacity management.

And although we haven't tried this, a few other cultural institutions in our area have charged members a nominal fee that can then be applied toward merch or f&b to help instill a little bit more ownership in attendance. Just another strategy to think about if you have the means to execute at your organization.

Beth

Regina Holten

I'd like to pick your brain on how you find and report on these member no shows!

Beth Trainer

Happy to chat and walk you through the stats that I've paid attention in our timed admission, limited capacity world!
btrainer@flaquarium.org

Leslie Perovich

We don't require members to reserve tickets. We know from history what percentage of our attendance is members - and then sell the difference. This leaves room for walk ups (which there are many) if we don't reach capacity on member visits. So much easier - fewer calls wanting to change ticket dates, etc.

Regina Holten

So I've just ... rescheduled member tickets today for another date...but this rescheduling required a refund and then an advance sale. Seems awkward. And annoying it can't reschedule zero dollar tickets.

This could be a whole different issue. I'm just trying to sorta clean up some mess of my members - when they don't show...OORRR when they duplicate orders all over the place.

Regina Holten

We don't do any timed admissions - only DATED admission...but i'd love to know how to find my goofy members that didn't show and...return them to the system by close of business....that day

John Ryan

The inability to simply reschedule any discounted tickets is incredibly frustrating. Zero dollar and discounted tickets both require refund/resale.

Tami Goertzen

We are having the same problem. Members are reserving spots, but only show up 72% of the time. Interested to hear how others are dealing with this.

Breanne Leach

I can't speak to how to manage no shows, as we've elected to not do reservations. Due to the variety of free ticket holders we have (members, Museums For All, GO cards, local passes, etc), we determined that monitoring capacity on a first come/first serve basis at the door would be the best and easiest option for us. So, we have a single entry line regardless of ticket status (members, other passholders, purchased tickets online, or needing to buy tickets). It has worked well and pacing has been such that we rarely have to halt entry due to reaching capacity.


We have been offering free tickets for online events and, on the occasions we've sold out for those events, we've adjusted our capacity based on the typical no show rate for free ticket holders.


That said, I did want to jump in to share that $0 tickets and discounted tickets can be rescheduled for those that have commented that they are rescheduling (but having to do a refund/new sale) if you are keeping the same discount on the new date. For discounted tickets, Altru will tell you the amount paid and that the new price is the original price, but when you click "OK" it'll complete the reschedule without requiring payment. The order will still show the discount. I've included a screenshot of both below.