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Plan Your Haunted House With This Square-Integrated Ticketing System

  • Riley Manning
    by Riley Manning • June 22, 2022

Riley Manning has worked as a travel and entertainment writer for more than 10 years. Today, he writes about unique events and the technology that helps make them happen.

A spooky looking haunted house for all the tips we have about planning your event, including an eventbrite alternative.

With over 4,000 paid Haunted House events in the nation, it is easy to see that these attractions draw serious crowds—and revenue.

Haunted houses can be complex attractions. Operators should strive to engineer every part to add to the spooky ambiance and raise the tension. But friction in the ticketing process, lines at the gate, and bad logistics can kill the vibe for visitors.

With the right ticketing platform, you can solve several problems with one convenient tool.

Reducing friction with this Eventbrite alternative

an eventbrite alternative.

Make ticketing simple

The ability to buy tickets online is a game-changer for any attraction. It’s not uncommon for haunted house proprietors using SimpleTix to wake up to several hundreds of dollars in overnight sales. But it’s great for customers too. They can buy at their convenience when they’re in the mood to buy, and if they need to change their day or timeslot, they can do it right within the app.

Streamline the line

While anticipation is a vital element of a spooky experience, long lines can stall the excitement. Mobile tickets can be scanned in a blink, whether they’re on a phone, a print-out, or even a smartwatch. If tickets were bought in a group, your gate staff can scan part or all of the group in with just one scan.

Hype up your haunted house

With SimpleTix,  you can dig into the analytics of your ticket purchasers and send them waivers, promo codes, and survey questions from inside your ticketing platform. You can also keep them informed about things like parking, weather updates, and other information.

an eventbrite alternative.

Early Bird Tickets and Instant Payouts

Haunted Houses tend to see a large volume of early bird tickets. SimpleTix, unlike other Eventbrite alternatives, will pay those purchases out instantly. With this instant remuneration feature, event organizers have cash in hand to pivot to other expenses associated with the Haunted House. This financial flexibility is a great value add for the event planner and reduces the hassle of dealing with banks or other lending institutions.

Maybe you would like to leverage this financial flexibility for more marketing and advertising campaigns? Paying upfront for those aforementioned web-based services will give you a better idea of where you stand in your P&L books before the start date of the event rolls around.

Or perhaps you could start making your merch purchases? Concessions, t-shirts, hats, other apparel, art, and take-home trinkets can all be sold and purchased through your ticketing application. This saves you time and hassle by not having to administer multiple, redundant systems during your haunted house event, and your event staff will not have to be trained on different systems. The final result is a happier customer presented with more opportunities to spend money on your platform.

All of these optimizations are easily rolled into one ticketing solution. The Haunted Field of Screams is a Colorado-based Haunted House that leveraged the SimpleTix platform as an Eventbrite alternative for festival ticketing. With a scary carnival, a haunted corn maze, and a paintball battle with rotting zombies, this festival had several different activities wrapped up in their ticketing platform.

With over 20,000 attendees, they found SimpleTix to be flexible to their needs and robust enough to handle that high volume of sales. Like any other SimpleTix event, the organizers were able to use the platform to track sales and contact ticket purchasers with event details. The platform’s integration with Square technology allowed for on-site, day-of-event ticket sales.

SimpleTix has offered an affordable, premium event ticketing platform that outperforms Eventbrite and similar apps for over 12 years. Compared to the competition, SimpleTix offers better options at a better price point. To learn more, call us at +1 (855) 550-3670 or email us at support@simpletix.com.

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A spooky looking haunted house for all the tips we have about planning your event, including an eventbrite alternative.
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Eventbrite Is Being Acquired. Here’s What It Means for You.

  • Vikram Bodas
    by Vikram Bodas • December 10, 2025

On December 2, Eventbrite announced it's being acquired by Bending Spoons for ~$500M, down from a $1.7B peak valuation. The deal takes Eventbrite private and puts it in the hands of a firm known for aggressive cost-cutting and price increases. If you're an Eventbrite customer, this is worth paying attention to. Who is Bending Spoons? Bending Spoons is a Milan-based tech company that acquires underperforming software brands (Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Meetup, AOL) and restructures them for profitability. Their playbook is consistent: cut headcount (often 50-75%), raise prices, and streamline operations. That's not speculation. It's their stated model. What This Likely Means for Eventbrite Customers Higher fees. Bending Spoons is explicit about monetization being a priority. Eventbrite has already experimented with pricing over the past two years. Expect that to accelerate. Reduced support. Major headcount reductions typically mean fewer experienced support reps and longer response times, especially during the transition. If you run complex events (reserved seating, multi-day festivals, timed entry), this matters. Product stagnation. Ownership changes usually mean roadmap resets and internal focus on cost savings. Don't expect new features anytime soon. Questions to Ask Yourself You don't need to panic. But you should treat this as a prompt to evaluate your options: What are you paying in total fees today? How sensitive is your margin to a 10-20% increase? How critical is hands-on support to your events? Can you afford slower response times mid-season? What's your contingency plan if pricing or policies change after you've already committed to your event calendar? If any of those questions give you pause, now is the time to explore alternatives, not after new pricing is announced. Why SimpleTix Is Different SimpleTix was built for organizers who care about margins, flexibility, and responsive support. A few key differences: Transparent pricing with a hard fee...

A spooky looking haunted house for all the tips we have about planning your event, including an eventbrite alternative.
Uncategorized

How SimpleTix Used Surveys & Auto-Scheduling To Streamline A Property Insurance Event

  • Vikram Bodas
    by Vikram Bodas • June 12, 2025

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2" css=".vc_custom_1480416839073{padding-right: 20px !important;}"][vc_column_text]Pacesetter Claims Service is a trusted property claims service that offers coverage across the U.S. They provide daily insurance claim services, catastrophe services, water damage mitigation, and other insurance adjustment offerings. Pacesetter ultimately provides homeowners and renters with essential insurance services. When Pacesetter chose to launch their 2nd Claims Conference using SimpleTix, we were thrilled to handle the event registration process for them. SimpleTix offered Pacesetter custom features like surveys and auto-scheduling to ensure they would make the most of their property insurance event.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="26758"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vcex_spacing][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text] [caption id="attachment_26750" align="alignright" width="288"] Image: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Conference Location)[/caption]By integrating Pacesetter's event registration portal with a survey feature, Pacesetter can ask event attendees important questions. More specifically, Pacesetter can now request the workshop/break-out session schedules of attendees. This helps Pacesetter determine the specific tracks that people plan to attend at their event. It also makes it easier for Pacesetter to interact directly with the insurance industry professionals who attend their conference. Pacesetter's event attendees are also able to automatically schedule classes that are "grouped" together. For example, if a conference attendee chooses a "Part 1 class" to attend, that attendee would automatically be scheduled for the corresponding "Part 2" class as well. This auto-scheduling feature prevents people from signing up from too many "part 1" classes. It also prevents people from skipping the corresponding "part 2" classes when those classes are deemed necessary.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_single_image image="26755" title="Attendee Workshop Selection"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In other words, auto-scheduling makes it easy for conference-goers to receive the full experience of events. Not to mention, it also helps companies like Pacesetter attract many more attendees at their events! And best of all, the custom survey and auto-scheduling features that are available to Pacesetter are also available to companies and individuals across the U.S, Canada, Australia, U.K, New Zealand and elsewhere. SimpleTix is used all around the world, and is...

A spooky looking haunted house for all the tips we have about planning your event, including an eventbrite alternative.
Event Planner

Religious Organizations

  • Vikram Bodas
    by Vikram Bodas • April 24, 2025

Overview Religious organizations have unique event needs—from weekly services and fundraisers to High Holy Day events. SimpleTix offers a comprehensive, affordable event ticketing system that simplifies registration, integrates online donation options, and enhances communication with your congregation. This lets you focus on your mission while managing events efficiently. Onboarding Process Create Your Account & Connect Your Payment Processor: Sign up for SimpleTix and integrate with Square, Stripe, or Authorize.net. Create Your Event: Enter event details, select ticket types (General Admission, Member, Guest), and add donation options. Customize Your Event Page: Reflect your organization’s branding and mission using logos, images, and compelling narratives. Integrate Communication Tools: Connect Mailchimp to automate email updates and engage your congregation. Download the Organizer App: Use the Organizer app for efficient on-site check-in and sales. Run a Test Event: Validate the complete process before going live. FAQs Can free events be managed? Yes, free events incur only a nominal fee. How do I handle reserved seating for High Holy Days? Use the seating chart designer for accurate seat assignments. How are donations processed? Donations are integrated directly into the ticketing flow. What if an attendee forgets their ticket? Check in attendees manually using the Organizer app.

Sell More Tickets—More Easily

Attractions, seasonal events, performing arts centers and festivals love SimpleTix because it makes selling tickets… Simple!

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