Rant: Booking fees for purchasing movie tickets via app?!

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Kookoo

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#293043 23-Dec-2021 21:57

I saw a thread on the exactly same topic from 10 years ago - nothing has changed. Hoyts charge $1.50 extra per ticket for booking a movie ticket using their own app. How do they get away with this?

The idea of "pay for the privilege of skipping the line" just doesn't stack up. As of 10pm the entire movie theatre is available, for a screening tomorrow 10am. Exactly ZERO tickets have been sold. What line am I going to be skipping?

Hello, Ground!

Linux

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#2837545 23-Dec-2021 22:03

I would refuse to book online!

rugrat

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#2837555 23-Dec-2021 22:59

Last time I went to Hoyts to see Dune, they had machines before you lined up. Booked the same as online, got to pick my seats etc on machine, there was no line when I was there, machine printed tickets and no booking fee rubbish.

insane

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#2837562 24-Dec-2021 00:04

That's the business model of the booking software they use (presumably from Vista Group). Essentially costs the venue nothing to implement as all costs are factored into the booking fees paid by end users.

Goes some way to explain their crazy global market share...

Martin_NZ

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#2837586 24-Dec-2021 08:20

And they are one of the cheaper ones. Ticketek charge anything from $5.50 for sending a txt booking to $9.50 for a "mobile ticket" to well over 10 bucks for actually posting out a ticket.

That's on top of their usual "booking fee" the whole online ticketing industry seems to be getting away with these high "fees" and I just don't understand why they are so high.

Paul1977

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#2837739 24-Dec-2021 11:36

It's a cost of doing business which ultimately will always be passed onto the customer, but it should be spread across all purchases my opinion so a ticket costs the same regardless of how it's purchased. It's similar to retailers who have a credit card surplus, which I also hate.

If companies insist on this sort of thing, they should at least be smarter and frame it differently. Creep all the prices up, and then offer a "cash" or "purchase at premises" discount. This at least frames it so that people think they are getting a discount for choosing one option, rather than penalised for choosing another. Obviously it makes no actual difference, but I guarantee fewer people will complain about a discount than they will a fee!

l43a2

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#2837743 24-Dec-2021 11:46

Hi,

Thought I could provide a little insight into why there are booking fees, most of the time these would cover things like transactional costs as customers are likely to use a credit card (the small cinema I worked at used PayPal for their payment gateway so the booking fee we charged used to cover PayPal fees). The Cinema doesn't make a ton of money on movie tickets, Spiderman for example for the first 2 weeks the cinemas will be making only 45% before tax.

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rugrat

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#2837885 24-Dec-2021 14:33

l43a2:

Hi,

Thought I could provide a little insight into why there are booking fees, most of the time these would cover things like transactional costs as customers are likely to use a credit card (the small cinema I worked at used PayPal for their payment gateway so the booking fee we charged used to cover PayPal fees). The Cinema doesn't make a ton of money on movie tickets, Spiderman for example for the first 2 weeks the cinemas will be making only 45% before tax.

45% sounds a good mark up to me. When I paid at the machine it was all credit card payments, no extra charge added.

When was in a dairy most things marked up around 33% plus GST.

Also pay by credit card at movie counter.
I don’t use credit card at places with credit card surcharges.

floydbloke

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#2837983 24-Dec-2021 16:45

l43a2:

Hi,

Thought I could provide a little insight into why there are booking fees, most of the time these would cover things like transactional costs as customers are likely to use a credit card (the small cinema I worked at used PayPal for their payment gateway so the booking fee we charged used to cover PayPal fees). The Cinema doesn't make a ton of money on movie tickets, Spiderman for example for the first 2 weeks the cinemas will be making only 45% before tax.

All add-on fees suck. Consumers hate them. They should be built into sell price rather than advertising fake lower prices.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

Kookoo

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#2838025 24-Dec-2021 18:45

insane: That's the business model of the booking software they use (presumably from Vista Group). Essentially costs the venue nothing to implement as all costs are factored into the booking fees paid by end users.

Goes some way to explain their crazy global market share...

I didn't know that - makes sense in that context but still makes no customer sense to be honest.

The kids had an amazing experience this morning. I bought the tickets at the counter and the two of them had the entire theatre for themselves. Ended up playing tag in the middle of watching "Encanto".

Hello, Ground!