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Tick-It! Trak Pro Case Study
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The
Palace Theatre
80 Hanover Street
Manchester, New Hampshire 03101
Ph: (603) 668-5588
www.palacetheatre.org
Tickets:
www.palacetheatretickets.org
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Palace Theatre Vital Stats:
| Seating
Capacity: |
876 Reserved
Seats
No General Admission Seats |
| Typical Season: |
50 Attractions
Year Round
70,000+ Tickets Annually |
| POS Needs: |
Educational
Course Fees
Facility Rentals
On-Line Donations |
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Background:
First opened in 1915, today the Palace Theatre is a
beautifully restored 876 seat professional performing arts
center. In an area that once had 22 theatres, this historic
building is now the sole survivor of “The Great White Way.”
The Palace holds typically 45-50 shows per season, which
runs year round, with an annual paid attendance of over
70,000.
The Palace first begin using NCS Tick-It! software in 1997,
with Tick-It! 97. They have continually upgraded culminating
with Tick-It! Trak Pro in April of 2006. In 2002, The Palace
Theatre began using a third party service called CyberSEATS
for internet ticketing integrated with their existing
Tick-It! 2K system. This internet service was discontinued
at the end of its contract term (in 2005) for unsatisfactory
performance.
Challenges:
The challenges at the Palace were many. First, the staff had
a long history using NCS Software, going back to one of the
earliest versions of the company’s box office software. The
newer Trak Pro system was significantly different, and the
smoothest possible transition from one system to the other
had to be worked out. Second, the Palace had gotten its many
customers used to the idea that Internet based ticketing
would be available around the clock. With the demise of the
CyberSEATS service, the Palace management was looking for a
“rock solid” integrated system from a single vendor, so that
there could be no “finger pointing” should any problems
present themselves. The Palace also required the ability to
accept donations and collect other fees and facility rental
charges, in addition to just selling tickets.
Solution:
Based on a positive nine year relationship, the Palace opted
to upgrade their box office system to a complete Trak Pro
installation from New Concepts Software, Inc., with optional
Inventory and Package Modules, as well as the web based
ticketing system. By bringing the web based ticket sales
onto their “in house” server, communication time lags were
removed, as there was no “third party” server to facilitate
internet transactions. Internet sales reliability was
dramatically improved, and the Palace was actually able to
collect two thirds of the fees from their internet sales,
instead of paying the entire amount to a third party. This
boosted the profitability of on-line sales for the theatre.
With improved internet reliability and reduced per ticket
fees, internet transactions now average about 21% of ticket
sales by dollar volume.
The Palace can now sell Tickets, charge various Production
Fees, ring up Camp Registration Fees, Sell Gift Certificates
and Special Memberships all from the same system. Reporting
is available in house, as well as on the internet 24/7.
Here is an example of Paramount Theatre’s “Print at Home”
ticket. It prints from the customer’s computer at home as an
exact sized, 2 inch by 5˝ inch ticket, with the same “stock”
as a thermal ticket produced at the Box Office! The bar code
enables ushers at the Paramount to determine the validity of
the ticket upon presentation for entry.
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