Originally posted by Keith One idea that many professional venues do is through ticket donation, whereby patrons call before a production and "donate" the tickets for that particular show back to the theatre.  The benefits are mutual: the theatre gets to resell the seats and the subscriber gets a tax deduction on the value of the one ticket.

Interesting idea -- I'm forwarding this one on to our Board. Thanks!

Okay - a long answer:

No-Shows: We operate a dinner theater, so when a ticket holder does not show up, we have food that goes unserved. Because our tickets for dinner shows are generally more expensive than other theaters, we have few no-shows for those tickets. Also, dinner tickets must be purchased at least the night before to lock in a count for meals, so there are no "last minute" dinner tickets.

As for season ticket (ST) holders: We produce five shows that run between four and seven weekends. Our ST holders buy a 5-show ticket and we require them to call us to set their reservations. Our newsletter goes out prior to each production, which acts as a reminder for the show. At the theater, our season ticket holders get priority seating (our box office sets up a reserved space for them), which is then filled in afterwards with general tickets. The reservations are released 15 minutes prior to performance so we can fill the spaces up front. This ensures benefits for the ST holder and alleviates fear of holes up front. Late ST patrons know the policy and are still pleased when we get them to the best seats available upon arrival. We also sell "show only" tickets on space available basis on the night of the performance who fill in any spaces that are left.

Occassionally we find a ST holder who waits too long or who never makes a reservation. Because our shows are popular, we tell people at the time of purchase that they need to reserve early. Those who don't come for a show forfeit the ticket. To date, I have never heard of someone being upset by this policy.

I guess the key is that no perfect system exists. We have taken the philosophy that patrons are important, but also are not children. We give them opportunities and reminders, but they must be responsible for their own schedules.

We had simular trouble and we also had troubles with people taking reservations and not writing them down etc and over sold events so we went to the following system. First of all we went to GA first come first serve. We stopped taking reservations at the theatre and went to an online ticket agency for presale tickets (which has worked wonderfully). Then we open the box office two hours prior to the show for in house sales. The season ticket holders get 10 tickets at a discounted rate that they can use in any way they see fit 10 people to one show or one person for 10 shows etc. They then show up like any other customer whenever they want. It has opened up the seats and our season ticket sales have not dropped because of it.