Best practices - sale of wheelchair spaces
Selling tickets for wheelchair users and their companions can be complex, as requirements may vary from venue to venue. Therefore, we propose several options, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Reservation by phone or email
With this approach, the seats in the venue that are reserved for wheelchair users are not available online. These seats can only be reserved through the box office.
During the online sales process, a clear message is displayed asking wheelchair users to contact the box office.
An important advantage of this approach is that each request can be handled individually. If necessary, specific questions can be asked and additional actions can be taken to ensure that the wheelchair user's visit runs as smoothly and comfortably as possible. This minimises the risk of misunderstandings.
To guarantee the available capacity, the relevant seats can be marked with the blocking type ‘Blocked’. These seats can then only be released through the box office. In a flexible venue, for example when seats can be removed, the box office can also choose the available seats themselves without using fixed blocks.
Advantages
- Personal communication with the customer, helping to ensure a smooth and pleasant visit.
- Simple configuration, without the need for additional pricing settings.
- No fixed capacity for wheelchair spaces is required.
- Lower risk of misunderstandings.
Disadvantages
- The customer cannot purchase tickets online through the regular sales process.
Online reservation
With this approach, wheelchair users can select one or more predefined spaces during the online sales process.
This can be configured in several ways.
Option 1: Configure a category
A separate category named ‘Wheelchair’ is created for the event and the associated seating plan. During the online sales process, the category selection clearly indicates that these are wheelchair spaces. Price conditions can also be used to configure the number of tickets so that they can only be selected in multiples of two (for the companion or to remove the two theatre seats required to accommodate the wheelchair).
After selecting the desired number of tickets within the ‘Wheelchair’ category, the customer can choose the specific spaces within this category.
Advantages
- The customer can purchase the tickets entirely online.
- Price conditions can be used to require the purchase of two tickets.
Disadvantages
- More complex configuration, as a separate category with its own pricing settings needs to be created.
- A fixed capacity for wheelchair spaces is required.
- Greater risk of misunderstandings, as the customer selects the spaces themselves without personal assistance.
This option can also be configured in combination with option 3.
Option 2: Visual indication on the seating plan
With this approach, no separate category is created for wheelchair spaces. The wheelchair spaces are treated as regular spaces on the seating plan and can be selected by any customer.
Advantages
- The customer can purchase the tickets entirely online.
- Limited configuration: only the seating plan needs to be visually adjusted and/or additional spaces need to be added.
Disadvantages
- It is not possible to require the purchase of two tickets.
- This approach has the highest risk of misunderstandings, as the customer can only identify the wheelchair space based on a visual indication on the seating plan. There is no explicit confirmation during the purchasing process.
Option 3: Configure a ticket type
With this approach, a new ticket type ‘Wheelchair’ or ‘Wheelchair + companion’ is added. This makes it possible to maintain a clear overview of the number of wheelchair spaces sold, for example through the ticket counts.
Advantages
- The customer can purchase the tickets entirely online.
- The number of available wheelchair tickets can be limited using the ticket limit in the price conditions.
- Price conditions can be used to configure tickets so that they can only be purchased in multiples of two, for example for a wheelchair user and a companion.
Disadvantages
- The configuration can become complex when multiple discount systems apply, for example ‘Wheelchair – regular’, ‘Wheelchair – Uitpas’, ‘Wheelchair – student’, etc.
- When using a seating plan, the customer can select any space, including spaces that are not suitable for wheelchair users.
- Manual follow-up may be required to correct or relocate incorrectly selected spaces.
This option can also be configured in combination with option 1.
Option 4: Order note
During the ordering process, after selecting the tickets and during checkout, an additional field can be displayed where the customer can indicate that they are a wheelchair user.
Advantages
- The customer can purchase the tickets entirely online.
Disadvantages
- There is no control over the number of available wheelchair spaces.
- The ordering process may be unclear to the customer, as the question is only asked during checkout.
- Manual follow-up may be required to correct or relocate incorrectly selected spaces.