To me it sounds more like a chore rather than a convenience.
For one thing, it's a movie. It's not tickets to the opera or some live rock concert.
Reserved seating or "reservations" also brings up the analogy between movie theaters and restaurants. Fine quality restaurants might be worth a reservation policy (not to mention a dress code). The Olive Garden isn't in that zone. Putting it bluntly, a lot of commercial movie theaters aren't delivering their theater experience anywhere near as well and consistent as the Olive Garden delivers on its dining experience. But yet that theater expects customers to make reservations?
What about spontaneous customers? Folks who just decided to go see a movie that evening. Reserved seating gets in the way of that -well, at least if the customers don't care about getting stuck with bad seats.
Sometimes I do the same thing. It's Saturday and I just decide, "hey, I'd like to go see a movie." But I'm picky about where I see movies and where I sit in the theater. Usually that only requires that I get to the multiplex 20-30 minutes before the show starts. The reserved seating thing will kill that whole idea. Oops. Didn't plan ahead. Guess I'll do something completely different that evening. Next thing you know the movie is coming out on Blu-ray.
Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 07-11-2008, 12:46 AM:
The theatre could hold back some blocks of prime seats and not permit them to be sold until an hour before showtime, and perhaps only at the box office. There are lots of ways to avoid some of the problems.
I expect you have to try-it-and-see to really know.
--jhawk
Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-11-2008, 01:01 PM:
Mark, it really comes into its own with advanced booking. We have ticket books printed which contain all our seat numbers. Our 6 weekly programmes, listing all the coming films for that season, also contain a seating plan. People just phone-up and say they want to see a certain film. They then 'reserve' seat(s) for the performance. The reserved tickets need to be collected and paid-for 20 minutes before the performance. Any uncollected tickets are released for sale.
If people phone-up and get the answering machine, they can still leave a message and reserve seats. In these circumstances we cannot always guarantee that their first choice of seat is available (we will give them other ones as close as possible).
We do not accept automated online bookings.
We also only deal with cash! We do not accept debit or credit cards (this keeps our costs down).
It is, of course, also possible to buy any of the unreserved seats (or those uncollected reserved tickets) on the night itself!
Posted by Andy Muirhead (Member # 712) on 07-11-2008, 07:21 PM:
Andy, that sounds like a logistical nightmare, though I'm sure (from reading your earlier post) that it works well for you!
We only offer allocated seating for select events, usually the Met Opera performances.
Initially we did use it for regular shows (and I'm talking years back when we opened this location) and it just didn't work. It's hard enough for the Met shows. I think allocated seating probably works ok in maybe a single screen with enough staff to sort out disputes and seat people (and they do need seated), but in a multi screen it just doesn't work in my experience.
Far easier to work on a first come first served basis as far as seating goes, at least then you can educate customers that the earlier they come, the better the chance that they get a seat they like.
The customers who turn up to a sold out show just as it's starting and expect to find seats together and say "but we booked our seats". I'd love to say "Well the 300 people in there also did that, but they had the common sense to arrive earlier"
Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-12-2008, 10:21 AM:
Andy, it acutally works really well - but I suppose we have all grown-up with the system! There is a definite culture of only selling tickets via the seating plan - customers always know where they stand (or sit)! Even customers buying 'on the night' have to select tickets 'off the plan' - where it is really easy to see what seats have been sold and which ones are still available.
It all quite civilised really when I compare it to what happens in some of our local multiplexes!
Having written this, I am aware that we are a small theatre (as I said before)!
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-31-2009, 12:00 AM:
It has been 414 days since the last post.
Posted by Cassandra Palko (Member # 5362) on 08-31-2009, 12:00 AM:
I have worked at two theatres in Wisconsin, USA with a couple of reserved seating options.
Theatre #1 was a 16-plex. Assigned reserved seating was available in the two auditoriums that had 70 foot wide screens and seated 470 people. The assigned reserved seating was in the upper balcony. The upper balcony consisted of one third of all the seats. It was the first time my company had tried such a thing and it proved to be very successful. Friday and Saturday nights were almost a guaranteed sell out. There were some kinks in the beginning getting the community to grasp the concept - but it's been over two years and we still have it. Something must be going right.
Theatre #2 is an 11-plex. Assigned reserved seating is available in the one auditorium at that location that has a 70 foot wide screen and seats 400 people. The assigned reserved seating is in the upper balcony. The upper balcony is also home to a cocktail lounge. With the addition of the cocktail lounge we have to comply with city ordinances in regards to liquor sales. In order to reserve one of these seats the guest must be 21 years of age or older or accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. The reserved seats in this area take up 50% of the auditorium.
Theatre #2 also offers reserved seating in 9 of the other auditoriums. Each auditorium offers the 3rd and 5th row up from ground level as reserved. That's only about 15% - all the rest are first come first serve. We have to staff additional ushers and our box office lines do take longer. It's a concept we are playing with. We have our believers and our naysayers. Our naysayers tend to be senior citizens.
Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-31-2009, 05:44 AM:
I hate assigned seating. With the exception of sell outs I cannot see any point in it at all. I never go to the cinema at a peak time yet I'm still asked to select a seat in advance despite there being only me and 3 other people there. I universally ignore the allocation and sit wherever the hell I like after witnessing first hand the auditorium design and the location of potato crisp munchers, high haircuts and juvenile delinquents.
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