Capping & Allocations

Attractions can enhance their revenue management strategies by managing inventory at a granular level, whether it involves admission, event, or journey products. This precise inventory control allows attractions to allocate specific amounts or percentages of their product inventory to various sales channels. Such flexibility ensures that budgeted revenue targets can be met efficiently while optimising sales across different channels.

By apportioning inventory, the number of tickets sold through less profitable B2B sales channels can be capped. This prevents an over-reliance on channels that might offer lower margins, preserving more inventory for direct sales channels where profit margins are higher. However, to avoid the risk of unsold inventory, rules can be established to release available tickets to these B2B channels a set number of days ahead if the sales rate via direct channels is slow. This approach minimises the risk of distressed inventory, ensuring that all available tickets are sold while maintaining optimal revenue levels.

For instance, commercial teams might allocate 70% of its tickets to direct sales channels (such as the website or walk-up sales) and 30% to B2B channels (such as OTAs or Tour Operators). If direct sales are underperforming, a rule could automatically release additional tickets to the B2B channels five days before the event, thus preventing unsold tickets.

This granular level of inventory management also extends to specific products like ferry sailings, dining experiences, special events, and shuttle bus journeys. All varying inventories can be managed separately, ensuring that each product category meets its revenue targets without cannibalising other offerings. For example, a heritage site offering both general admission and dining experiences can allocate 80% of general admission tickets to direct sales and 20% to B2B channels while reserving dining experience tickets for premium direct sales channels only.

Ultimately, this methodical approach allows attractions to balance their sales across multiple channels, optimise revenue, and reduce the risk of unsold inventory, creating a more efficient and profitable operation.