This is topic "Regal Crown Club" in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000587
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-28-2002, 05:31 PM:
Regal here (everywhere?) is promoting a frequent-moviegoer membership program called "Regal Crown Club". Free, costs nothing to join. You get a magnetic-striped membership card, on which they record "movie credits" based on 1 credit awarded per dollar spent at the box office (rounded up). Concessions are excluded: only admissions earn credits. It's free, I see a lot of movies, so I joined. The 1st award requires banking 25 credits, which would be 5 matinee admissions, and for that you get a free small popcorn. 50 credits is a small soft drink. "Spend $42.50 (10 tickets at the $4.25 matinee price, earning 5 credits each) and we'll give you a complimentary soda that costs us about 25 cents!" Accumulate 75 or more credits and you become eligible for free movie admission.Not that I'm complaining. It beats a poke in the eye.
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 07-28-2002, 05:36 PM:
or a hot poker where the sun don't shine. Which is what Regal seems to do here with their inflated ticket and concession prices.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-28-2002, 05:47 PM:
Regal concession prices here are a higher than Cinemark. Too high. I think a small popcorn and a small drink is like $6.25. A couple weeks ago I asked for a small bottled water and the concession guy gets this look of shame and says "They're $3.00 -- Do you still want one?" Cinemark's admission prices are higher though, especially evening weekend shows.Why not award credits for concessions too? Wouldn't that possibly raise their per-caps? Seems like this program could be used to encourage spending on concessions, which is where they make their real money anyway.
Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 07-28-2002, 11:04 PM:
This sounds about as "rewarding" as their frequent combo club or something they started a few years ago. You recieved a card that would be hole-punched with a special puncher every time you bought a combo. Buy 10 to fill the card ($100+??) and you get one free, and another card. Now, is leaving underpaid concession workers alone with these hole punchers and cards a good idea? Can we see a problem arising here? 
=TMP=
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 07-29-2002, 07:23 AM:
Regal ripped off this idea from the AMC MovieWatcher club.Is this "Crown Club" for Regal Cinemas only or Regal/UA/Edwards nationwide?
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-29-2002, 11:00 AM:
I think it's for all Regal/UA/Edwards locations
Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 07-29-2002, 11:35 AM:
I love the name of the club.I work for Crown Theatres.
------------------
"Running through life at 24 frames per second"
Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 07-30-2002, 09:24 AM:
Right now, it's only in a few markets with the Regal brand. I think they are planning on having it out everywhere by next year sometime.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 07-30-2002, 12:41 PM:
Thomas, you're talking about the Regal Combo Nation. At the theater I worked at, we (the managers) kept the hole puncher and the concession employees had to call us on the radio to come punch a card. Sounds like a pain, but there weren't too many Combo Nation members, so it didn't happen too often.
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 07-30-2002, 12:58 PM:
It must be just Regal Cinemas. I havent heard about anything like this at my Edwards yet. It might also be posable that they are doing this only in a spacific area for market research to see if it would be sucessfull if expanded nationwide.
Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 07-30-2002, 01:10 PM:
This whole plan for the Regal Crown Club sounds counterintuitive to me. I don't understand why they would exclude concession sales from the program, as the majority of our revenue for the bottom line comes from concession sales. Unless of course they don't want to have to replace their vending terminals to be able to accept card swipes?
(Does Regal use Radiant?)
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-30-2002, 01:40 PM:
The flyer they're handing out promoting this and the magnetic membership card have all 3 logos: Regal, UA, Edwards.I don't understand the concession exclusion either. Seems "wrong" not to offer credits that encourage spending $$ at their biggest profit center. Like you said, maybe it's because concessions don't have the magnetic card systems.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 07-30-2002, 02:11 PM:
Right now, the program is only offered in a limited market. I expect that eventually it will expand nation wide. Theaters built by Regal used to use cash registers. To my knowledge, only the theaters accquired from Cobb used Radiant in concession. But Regal is upgrading nation-wide to a new touch-screen computer system in concession. I don't know what it's called or who makes it, but it isn't Radiant and I think it can accept magnetic cards, unlike the Cobb Radiant setups. (Radiant can accept credit cards, but the Cobb theaters never set that up in concession, only in box office.)
Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 07-30-2002, 05:56 PM:
Many of the theaters are still using the Casio registers. However, there is a new concession system being developed in house. It uses the IBM SurePOS registers (with built in card swipe and touch screens).
Maybe down the road, the Loyalty cards will be brought into it.
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 07-30-2002, 06:23 PM:
The AMC MovieWatcher club awards points based on tickets purchased, not on concessions. To prevent misuse/overuse there is a 4-point limit per person per day.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-30-2002, 07:11 PM:
Regal has a limit of 10 credits per day per membership card.5 extra credits are awarded with each paid admission on Tuesdays.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 07-31-2002, 12:24 PM:
Why Teusday??
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 07-31-2002, 12:31 PM:
Historically, Tuesday is the slowest day in the industry.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-04-2002, 07:53 PM:
I used the Crown Club card today for the first time. They rounded the admission credits DOWN, not up. So a $4.25 admission earns you 4 credits, not 5 as they told me when I signed up. ACK!
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-04-2002, 10:37 PM:
That makes sense, now I wonder wich way they would go if it was $4.50.
Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 08-06-2002, 04:51 AM:
It rounds up at the $0.50 mark...
Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 08-06-2002, 05:02 PM:
It really is a good program. There's the 5 point extra Tuesdays and the Free Popcorn Thursdays...just for using your RCC card on a Thursday for a Thursday show gets you a free small popcorn.At the $.50 mark it rounds up.
Once the IBM POS machines hit concession, they will eventually be good in concessions.
It has been out in Vegas and Cleveland for about a year, and now here in the NW. Eventually, it'll be good at any Regal, Edwards, or UA in the country.
Personally, I'm looking forward to the program.
------------------
-----------
2 Time ICWF Champion
2 Time ICWF Hardcore Champion
Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 08-06-2002, 08:46 PM:
SPECIALS !!!The Court Theatre in Saginaw, Michigan offers two 'special night' price breaks.
Monday Madness! The sign next to the ticket window reads
2 Admission tickets (usually $2 ea)
2 Medium Sodas (usually $2.50 ea)
1 LARGE Popcorn (usually $3.50)
ALL FOR THE PRICE OF $10.00
The box office person issues two admission tickets and a numbered red ticket which is redeemed at the concession for the food items.
Thus far we get about 10% of the Monday admissions as Madness specials.
The red tickets are exchanged by concession at the end of the shift for $6 each from the box office cash. Concession rings them as "specials".
The second is a senior special on Wednesday nights where you can take $1 off any special from the menu board. About 15% of attendees take advantage of this offer.
KEN
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-07-2002, 10:25 AM:
Jeff, I actually think the frequent moviegoer card is a great idea. It will influence where I go to see movies, as long as their overall presentation quality remains high. If the presentation wasn't any good, the freebies would be of no interest to me...
Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 08-17-2002, 02:39 PM:
Don't complain about movie prices. Here in NYC (at least in Manhattan), virtually every single theatre charges $10 for admission, day and night.In the outer boroughs, you might be able to get in for as little as $5.75 before 5pm in a few theatres, but at night, it's at least $9.00.