Ticket sales, a reservation system and an event app for a theatre festival

The organizer of a theatre festival needed a solution that would cover both ticket sales and capacity management for individual performances.

The client's brief

• sales of full-festival passes as well as tickets for individual performances,
• a mobile app with the festival programme and information about the performances,
• a reservation system for holders of full-festival passes,
• the option to reserve a seat for only a limited number of performances,
• tracking the capacity of each performance separately,
• splitting capacity between reservations and individual sales,
• selling tickets directly at the box office during the festival,
• entry control for all ticket and reservation types.

Our solution

1️⃣ A festival app for visitors

For visitors we built a festival app that included:

• the complete festival programme,
• detailed information about the performances,
• the option to buy tickets for specific performances,
• a reservation system for holders of full-festival passes.

The app became the main communication and organizational tool for the entire festival.

2️⃣ A reservation system for full-festival passes

Holders of full-festival passes had access to a reservation system, which they logged into simply by scanning the QR code on their ticket.

They could then:

• choose the performances they were interested in,
• reserve a seat,
• manage their reservations.

Each participant was allocated a certain number of credits that they could use to reserve performances.

3️⃣ Managing performance capacity

The organizer was able to split the capacity of each performance into:

• a portion reserved for the reservation system,
• a portion set aside for individual ticket sales.
  
  

This meant they always had a clear overview of:

• how many seats were reserved,
• how many tickets were sold,
• how much capacity still remained.
  
  

Capacity could be adjusted dynamically based on current demand.

4️⃣ On-site ticket sales too

During the festival there was also a box office connected directly to the system.

This means that:

• on-site sales worked with the same capacity as online sales and reservations,
• performances were never oversold,
• the organizer had a single, unified overview of all sales.

5️⃣ Communicating with visitors

Thanks to the app, the organizer could easily keep visitors informed about:

• changes to the programme,
• the availability of performances,
• or highlight performances that still had free capacity.
  
  

6️⃣ Entry control at the performances

At every performance, entry was checked using professional QR scanners.

The system recognized:

• purchased tickets,
• reservations made in the app,
• tickets sold at the box office.

One particularly interesting feature was that:

👉 if free capacity remained, then 15 minutes before a performance started, visitors holding a full-festival pass without a reservation could also be admitted – up until the capacity was full.

The system evaluated and monitored this situation automatically.

The result

✔️ a clear overview of both ticket sales and reservations in a single system

✔️ efficient capacity management for every performance

✔️ easy reservations for holders of full-festival passes

✔️ unified sales online and at the box office

✔️ better communication with visitors through the app

✔️ smooth, error-free entry control

➡ Throughout the entire festival, the organizer had full control over the programme, capacities and attendance at each individual performance.