The benefits of including a Booking Fee

2020 saw an incredible shift in the way our visitors book tickets to our attractions, with online pre-booking becoming the new normal. At least 100% increase in online sales sees a greater cost to attractions through acquirer fees, supplier costs, additional safety measures, and customer no-shows which cannot be replaced resulting in lost revenue.

So why should you add a booking fee to your online ticket sales?

Cover acquirer and supplier costs

A small booking fee transaction is big enough to cover any acquirer fees and/or supplier fees. Acquirers will charge anything between 1-2% per transaction online, and your supplier will either have a fixed fee or a percentage fee per transaction.

Reduce the no-shows

In the new normal, attractions are having to stagger entries on-site by using time slot bookings. Those attractions who are offering ‘zero value tickets’ have experienced no shows which has reduced the footfall, resulting in a smaller spend per head on site. Adding a booking fee to these lower-valued tickets or even ‘zero-valued tickets’ can be refunded on-site or even replaced with a voucher to the onsite café. However, if they decide not to show the booking fee can be kept and go towards the lost potential spend per head.

Help towards additional health and safety costs 

Hand sanitizer stations, signs that remind customers to keep their distance and wear face masks, have become a necessity for all attractions. These extra spends mean the profit attractions make on their entrance tickets has reduced, ultimately making it harder for attractions to survive. A small booking fee for online tickets can help ease this burden and keep profit margins.   

How much should your booking fee be? 

Unsure how your customers will react to a booking fee? Start small. A £0.20 booking fee will cover both your acquirer and supplier fees. This can be slightly increased over time to cover additional costs. If you are providing free tickets to your customers start with a slightly bigger fee that can be refunded on site, then if they do not show it will cover those admin and health and safety costs.

If you would like to learn more about our booking fees and Ticketing and EPoS system, please contact us on contact@vennersys.co.uk