FACILITIES SHARE IDEAS ON HOW TO EARN EXTRA REVENUE
by Juliana Gilling
If you want to convince customers to spend more with you, it’s a good idea to think about the service you’re offering rather than the sale.
“Start with an excellent and high-quality base offer, which everyone can enjoy and which provides real value for money. You must deliver on that promise and, where possible, exceed visitors’ expectations,” says Mark Fisher, Merlin Entertainments’ managing director of Resort Theme Parks. “Only when you are sure that a standard ticket provides a great day out on its own can you then successfully upsell.”
Upselling at attractions can cover everything from premium parking, VIP experiences, and specialty tours to season passes, hotel, food and beverage, and event packages. “Many theme parks are offering front-of-the-line upgrades for visitors willing to pay extra to skip waiting in queues,” says Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com. “At the Six Flags parks, you can pay anywhere from around $30-$100 for various forms of their Flash Pass, which allows guests to skip certain lines.
“Disney is the master at creating special-occasion experiences, including everything from character meals at its hotels to in-park tours,” he says. “The SeaWorld parks are well-known for their animal encounters, which can run from $100-$200 per person. That might look steep, but how many chances in life do you have to get in the water with a dolphin or a beluga whale?
“Meal plans have become popular upsell options, too,” adds Niles. “They allow parks to bank revenue for meals in advance and help to ensure that people stay in the park for longer, to get full value from eating the meals they paid for up front.”
Upselling approaches designed with visitors’ needs and dreams in mind are most likely to find favor. “Universal Orlando’s front-of-the-line access to all rides and shows for on-site hotel guests completely won over my family the last time we visited,” says Niles. “Even though we have family in Orlando, we will stay in a Universal Orlando hotel at least one night each time we visit those parks, just for the easy access to the parks and the ability to skip the queues.”
There is still room for improvement, believes Niles: “I think parks could do a better job with upgrades for birthday celebrations. Some parks offer party packages, but you need to have a large group of people. Others offer upsells that are so trivial in value as not to be worth it. I’d like to see more parks offer special-occasion meal packages that include a dining reservation at a preferred table, a meal, a cake, a character visit, photo, and front-of-line access. And make it available for parties as small as a couple.”
It’s all about giving your guests a solution or an experience that adds value. “We’re always looking for ways to deepen the experience for visitors,” says Ken Peterson, communications director at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. “For returning guests, we also want to offer new things that show them more of the story.
“We’ve created a suite of programs called Aquarium Adventures—some for adults, some for kids, some for families,” says Peterson. “They include family sleepovers in the aquarium galleries, behind-the-scenes tours, Underwater Explorers SCUBA experiences for kids, Morning Rounds where guests can feed some of our animals, and Sailing Adventures on Monterey Bay.
“All of our Aquarium Adventures help us connect more closely with visitors and help connect visitors more closely with the oceans,” says Peterson. “There’s definitely an element of visitor service in these programs—filling a need for people to feel like aquarium ‘insiders.’ And at $12 a person for our behind-the-scenes tours ($10/person for members), the price point is very affordable.”
As part of its commitment to “enhance the guest experience and deliver outstanding service,” Hersheypark introduced 27 private cabanas to its Boardwalk area last year alongside its new wave pool and lazy river attractions, says public relations manager Kathy Burrows. Guests who stay at the park’s two resort properties, The Hotel Hershey and Hershey Lodge, have “first dibs” on renting the units for the day. Each waterfront cabana comes equipped with a refrigerator, table, chairs, and ceiling fan.
 “Our rental fees are tiered,” says Burrows. “Mid-May through mid-June is a $200 base fee and then the rest of the season, which runs through Labor Day, is $250. So you have four people in the cabana at that cost, and you can add three more guests for an additional $25 per person. Every guest gets a beach bag with towels, suntan lotion, souvenir cups, water bottles, complimentary soda fountain service, use of an all-day locker, a private changing room and restroom for that area only, and a grill where you can purchase food that is exclusive to cabana guests. There’s also exclusive entrance to the ‘Intercoastal Waterway’ lazy river,” she says.
“But whether or not people go to a cabana or want to upscale their trip in any number of different ways, we have a great product at our standard gate rate admission,” says Burrows.
According to Fisher, much of Merlin’s upselling activity supports its strategy of developing its theme parks into shortbreak destination resorts. “Merlin now has six hotels—with three more in planning—and two holiday villages at our parks around the world,” he says. “This means that a lot of our upselling activity is centered around encouraging two- to three-day stays or multiple visits through special tickets, hotel packages, and events—both on the parks and linked to the hotels.” In 2010, for example, Pink will appear at Alton Towers, and visitors can take part in “Pink weekends” at the hotels. “Packages built around themed and special events are of growing importance, and we also offer packages for visitors’ special occasions,” he says.
Creating tailor-made packages and services requires close contact with visitors; it’s a golden opportunity for companies and consumers to hear from each other. “It’s most important that we provide what visitors want,” says Fisher. “Everyone is different and different things make our day out special. Our choices about whether or not to buy an extra service or package may depend on who we are with, as well as what is on offer. It isn’t just about income or economics. We listen to visitors constantly and build all our new products and initiatives around what they tell us. The heart of upselling is to deliver on the promise and never disappoint.”
The Anti-Upsell
While the new and varied profit streams from upselling are commercially attractive, some parks like Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari believe it’s important to get their “hands out of people’s pockets” once they’ve paid for entry. “We are a ‘pay-one-price park’ and we believe that ‘pay-one-price’ means what it says,” says owner/president Will Koch. “We provide many free ‘add-ons’ within our parks, such as free parking, free sunscreen, and free unlimited soft drinks. We have made a very intentional decision that we will not add any attraction that requires an additional charge over and above the gate entrance fee. We price our food, merchandise, and games very reasonably, as well.
 “Our strategy is built on delivering a highquality experience, and our approach is respectful of families’ limited budgets,” says Koch. “While the obvious upside to upselling is building percapita revenues, perhaps the downside is that an aggressive upsell strategy may hurt repeat business and word-of-mouth. Our goal is that customers will leave with huge smiles on their faces—and that they’ll not only come back themselves, but they’ll tell their friends to come too.”
Holiday World’s generous policies have become a “great selling point” for the park, says Niles. For operators who still prefer the upselling business model, however, “Timing is everything,” he says. “Frankly, in the park is a lousy place to upsell—you run the risk of making your park look like an airline where everything is an extra fee. People hate that. But if you can get to people during their planning process, you can frame upsells as money-saving, time-saving options that will make their vacations more enjoyable. Pull that off, by advertising smartly and hitting the right price points, and you can enjoy a huge revenue boost.
“Just remember to make the extra offers extra,” says Niles. “So long as people can come into your park, ride all they want to ride with reasonable waits, and buy and eat what they want at reasonable prices, those folks will walk away satisfied. Even if they never buy a single upgrade.”
Juliana Gilling is a specialist attractions journalist. E-mail: julianagilling@gmail.com. |
