Booking fees - why?
Discussion
£16 a ticket to see a play in my local theatre. Fair enough.
But why do they have to add a £1.50 'booking fee'? They don't have to send me a ticket in the post, they don't even have to print a ticket - Johnny Theatregoer has to all the work himself these days.
I never charged booking fees, neither does my dentist or anywhere else I make an appointment. Why do theatres? They never used to.
But why do they have to add a £1.50 'booking fee'? They don't have to send me a ticket in the post, they don't even have to print a ticket - Johnny Theatregoer has to all the work himself these days.
I never charged booking fees, neither does my dentist or anywhere else I make an appointment. Why do theatres? They never used to.
I booked our cat by telephone into a catteey last week. They went through the charges that included, over the daily rate. A daily booking fee.
I had a bit of a discussion with the owner and decided it was not for me, so I declined and said I would book elsewhere. All of a sudden the booking fee is not chargeable and would I like to keep my booking. They wanted £15 a cat per 24 hours and a daily booking fee of £1.50.
I said OK and she confirmed that the fee per 24 hours was £16.50. Not the £15.
I declined.
I had a bit of a discussion with the owner and decided it was not for me, so I declined and said I would book elsewhere. All of a sudden the booking fee is not chargeable and would I like to keep my booking. They wanted £15 a cat per 24 hours and a daily booking fee of £1.50.
I said OK and she confirmed that the fee per 24 hours was £16.50. Not the £15.
I declined.
cliffords said:
I booked our cat by telephone into a catteey last week. They went through the charges that included, over the daily rate. A daily booking fee.
I had a bit of a discussion with the owner and decided it was not for me, so I declined and said I would book elsewhere. All of a sudden the booking fee is not chargeable and would I like to keep my booking. They wanted £15 a cat per 24 hours and a daily booking fee of £1.50.
I said OK and she confirmed that the fee per 24 hours was £16.50. Not the £15.
I declined.
In some respects its irrelevant how they ‘cut the cake’ with the price. All that matters is the total price you pay, and how comparable it is to a similar service or product.I had a bit of a discussion with the owner and decided it was not for me, so I declined and said I would book elsewhere. All of a sudden the booking fee is not chargeable and would I like to keep my booking. They wanted £15 a cat per 24 hours and a daily booking fee of £1.50.
I said OK and she confirmed that the fee per 24 hours was £16.50. Not the £15.
I declined.
I have read somewhere that for ticket agencies, the booking fee is the only profit they make - they pay for the tickets at face value, not some sort of trade price. But at the same time, I could go directly to the venue box office and buy with no booking fee, which backed that up. I tried it once, trekked down Oxford Road to the Manchester Academy box office to find that it was all closed up and there was no information on when it might be open.
droopsnoot said:
I have read somewhere that for ticket agencies, the booking fee is the only profit they make - they pay for the tickets at face value, not some sort of trade price. But at the same time, I could go directly to the venue box office and buy with no booking fee, which backed that up. I tried it once, trekked down Oxford Road to the Manchester Academy box office to find that it was all closed up and there was no information on when it might be open.
The key is the word 'agency'. There never used to be agencies sitting in the middle putting costs up. It's an internet thing, like booking.com and comparethewebsite and now even comparison sites about comparison sites. Every layer puts costs up.Back to theatres, can they simply not be arsed to sell tickets?
It's usually to pay for transaction fees and costs incurred in taking payments, sending tickets etc. £16 goes to the promoter / venue and the booking fee goes to the ticketing platform. Tickets would likely cost more if each venue / promoter had to build their own online ticket checkouts.
But I agree it can get quite expensive
But I agree it can get quite expensive
Screenwash said:
As long as us mug punters keep paying such fees they ll keep charging them and making up new ones!
How can you avoid it? If supermarkets started charging a £5 a shop shopping fee how are you going to avoid it?Just trying to book soft play for the nipper tomorrow.... yep £1 booking fee....
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 20th July 21:02
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 20th July 21:02
Whilst there's no legal requirement to add a booking fee there is a legal requirement to show it separately to the price if one applies.
The law also states that booking fees must be included in the advertised price and not added unexpectedly at the point of purchase.
Many of the larger venues and increasingly, lots of smaller regional theatres, are just empty 'boxes' until such time as a promoter hires it to put on a show. Outsourcing things like ticketing means that the overheads can be kept low because the service is used as and when needed. But it still needs to be paid for. For smaller venues, booking fees and bar takings are likely to be their only sources of profit.
It shouldn't make any difference though. If you're happy to pay £20 to see something, would you not go if you spotted £1.50 of that was for the booking fee?
The law also states that booking fees must be included in the advertised price and not added unexpectedly at the point of purchase.
Many of the larger venues and increasingly, lots of smaller regional theatres, are just empty 'boxes' until such time as a promoter hires it to put on a show. Outsourcing things like ticketing means that the overheads can be kept low because the service is used as and when needed. But it still needs to be paid for. For smaller venues, booking fees and bar takings are likely to be their only sources of profit.
It shouldn't make any difference though. If you're happy to pay £20 to see something, would you not go if you spotted £1.50 of that was for the booking fee?
Simpo Two said:
droopsnoot said:
I have read somewhere that for ticket agencies, the booking fee is the only profit they make - they pay for the tickets at face value, not some sort of trade price. But at the same time, I could go directly to the venue box office and buy with no booking fee, which backed that up. I tried it once, trekked down Oxford Road to the Manchester Academy box office to find that it was all closed up and there was no information on when it might be open.
The key is the word 'agency'. There never used to be agencies sitting in the middle putting costs up. It's an internet thing, like booking.com and comparethewebsite and now even comparison sites about comparison sites. Every layer puts costs up.Back to theatres, can they simply not be arsed to sell tickets?
HTP99 said:
I should imagine the cost for the actual theatre/venue to sell the tickets themselves; extra staff, various systems, legislation etc would add too much to the cost of a ticket, best to outsource it to a company who's geared up and sole purpose is, to manage and look after the sales process of the tickets.
I'm sure they used to manage to sell their own tickets; once upon a time they managed to post them as well. But no doubt 'progress' means that as you say, staff, technology and legislation are too expensive.In other news, buy a pair of shoes for £70 and get charged 35p for a carrier bag. Carrier bag charges were introduced to cut plastic waste. Then they charged us for biodegradable bags (never figured that out). And now that we're used to paying for plastic bags, they charge us for paper ones! Bah!
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