Maximizing the Value of Season Passes
-
by
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.
If you run a recurring event or attraction, offering season passes can be a game changer for your business. Not only can you encourage repeat customers, you can target them with higher-tier offers that drive even more revenue for your operation. With the right event ticketing system, offering tickets within the platform should be easy for both you and your customers.
What are the benefits of offering a season pass?
While season passes allow frequent visitors to save money on multiple visits, selling season passes also adds many benefits to your venue.
Season passes:
- Incentivize repeat visits
- Encourage attendance.
- Increase opportunities to strengthen relations with guests.
- Provide more chances to sell concessions or merchandise.
Season passes provide great peace of mind to your venues. Since the price is usually the cost of several single-day tickets, you can count on that revenue immediately.
Adding season passes to your ticket offerings also increases revenue for your facility in multiple ways.
Pass holders will usually buy concessions, merchandise, or gifts once in the venue. Also, since pass holders are not buying a ticket at the venue, they can feel as if they have gotten in for free, encouraging them to spend more money at your facility.
Season pass holders often want to bring friends along who will most likely need to purchase their own ticket.
Owning a season pass encourages these guests to visit your facility as frequently as they can, which provides extra opportunities for you to cash in on these opportunities.
Unfortunately, sometimes guests try to exploit the freedom of their season pass by sharing with friends and family members, allowing non-pass holders to attend for free. If this allowance is not explicitly outlined in your terms and conditions, offering a season pass can backfire as you lose revenue to visitors technically attending for free.
Event management software like SimpleTix requires season pass holders to upload a photo when they purchase their season passes. The photo can then be accessed from SimpleTix’s Event Organizer app, where you can verify that the season pass holder is the actual guest visiting. Since the photo can’t be changed without the pass holder notifying your facility, you can have peace of mind that the season pass is being respected.
Research shows that when guests buy memberships, it is because they want to support your institution. Season passes help you invest in the future of your institution. With each return visit, you have the opportunity to deepen the bonds with your guests and cultivate community at your facility.
How can we encourage season pass sales with event management software?
You should begin by using event management software that facilitates the sales of season passes. Your software should offer unlimited ticket types so that you can offer multiple tiers of passes with various prices, stipulations, and benefits. This will accommodate the diversity of your visitors’ wants and needs.
Exclusivity will encourage many regular visitors to research your season pass options. You can entice potential season pass holders with exclusive incentives, such as:
- Behind the scenes access
- Discounts on merchandise
- Early access to events or sales
- Limited edition member gifts
- Reserved seats
- Interactive activities
- Meet-and-greets
- Private tours
While potential guests will be interested in these perks, the biggest incentive will be the prospect of saving money. While season passes cost more upfront, they should provide a perceived discount for visitors the more they visit. With this in mind, carefully price your season tiers to account for this while also making sure your facility still makes a profit.
You can also offer discounted passes to senior citizens, educators, and military members, to name a few. Discounts on season passes throughout the year can also encourage purchases. Your facility could also partner with a local business or restaurant to give discounts to season pass holders, encouraging sales at both locations.
Managing the availability of these season passes will also help sell them. You could limit the number of passes or offer them only during certain times of the year. The scarcity of the tickets could encourage guests to buy passes while they can.
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 here.
Latest News
Related Articles
How Vala’s Pumpkin Patch Scaled to 100K+ Visitors with SimpleTix
-
by
How Vala’s Pumpkin Patch Scaled to 100K+ Visitors with SimpleTix If you run a busy fall attraction, you already know the pressure: ticketing has to keep up when demand spikes, guests arrive in waves, and lines move fast. That is exactly what Vala’s Pumpkin Patch faced as it grew into Nebraska’s premier fall destination with more than 100,000 visitors each season. Founded in 1984, Vala’s Pumpkin Patch now draws huge crowds across 50+ attractions and multiple food stands. However, growth exposed weak spots in its old setup. Peak-morning surges strained the system, one technical admin became a bottleneck, and layered tools made operations harder than they needed to be. For Vala’s, the move to SimpleTix was about getting one reliable system for admissions, season passes, bookings, and on-site sales. Why Vala’s needed better farm ticketing software Dan McDonald, MS, PMP, IT Manager at Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, put it plainly: “We originally used a ticketing platform that served us well in our early years, but as our guest volume grew, it could no longer scale to meet demand.” That issue showed up in a few clear ways. First, the system struggled during peak-morning ticket surges. In other words, the exact time the platform mattered most was the time it became risky. Second, operations depended too heavily on one technical administrator. As a result, routine changes and troubleshooting could pile up around one person. Third, the team had to work across multiple layered applications. That created extra steps, more training, and more chances for something to break during the busiest weeks of the season. Finally, outdoor hardware added another challenge. Farm attractions do not run in perfect indoor conditions, so tools need to work in real weather and real crowds. The bottlenecks were operational, not just technical Vala’s wasn’t just trying to...
Best Eventbrite Alternatives for 2026: Lower Fees, Better Support, and More Control
-
by
Eventbrite Alternatives for 2026: Comparing SimpleTix, TicketSpice, Ticket Tailor, and TicketLeap If you’re looking for Eventbrite alternatives, you probably have a pretty specific problem: the fees feel too high, or the platform just doesn’t fit the way you actually run events. You don’t need more software for the sake of it. You need a ticketing platform that fits your event setup, works for your staff, and makes sense for your budget. This guide compares a few commonly compared options for 2026: SimpleTix, TicketSpice, Ticket Tailor, and TicketLeap. Instead of doing a feature dump, we’ll look at which type of organizer each one may fit best. What to look for in an Eventbrite alternative Before comparing platforms, get clear on what matters most for your event operation. For most organizers, it comes down to five things. 1. Fees that don’t eat your margin If you run low-cost tickets, fundraisers, seasonal events, or family attractions, fees add up fast. A platform can look fine on paper and still become expensive once volume picks up. SimpleTix keeps pricing straightforward: $0.79 + 2% per ticket, with no contracts, no subscriptions, and no fees on free events. You can also pass fees to attendees or absorb them yourself. 2. Ticketing that fits how you run events You may need more than basic GA tickets: timed entry, reserved seating, memberships, season passes, promo bundles, or waivers. That’s where differences between platforms start to show. Some are built around simpler setups. Others are better suited for venues, attractions, or recurring programs. 3. Easy check-in for staff On event day, check-in needs to be simple. Fast scanning, offline mode, and clear staff permissions can make operations smoother. 4. Tools for in-person sales If you sell at the gate, box office, or front desk, you’ll want to know whether...
Farm Ticketing Software: How to Set Up Spring Events, Season Passes, and...
-
by
Farm Ticketing Software for Spring Events, Season Passes, and Fall Admissions Spring setup gets hectic fast. School field trips, baby animal days, tulip weekends, strawberry openings, sunflower dates, pumpkin season planning, corn maze admissions — it all stacks up. If you’re looking for farm ticketing software that can handle seasonal traffic without adding complexity, SimpleTix gives you the tools farms actually need: timed entry, season passes, waivers, online and on-site sales, and same-day payouts — all for $0.79 + 2% per ticket. No contracts. No subscriptions. No fees on free events. Get started — $0.79 + 2% per ticket Built for farms that sell more than one kind of admission Most farms don’t run one simple event. You’re usually managing a mix of: Spring festivals and flower events School and homeschool visits U-pick reservations Summer camps or family activity days Fall admissions for pumpkin patches and corn mazes Photo sessions and specialty weekends Season passes for repeat local visitors That’s where basic ticketing tools start to break down. SimpleTix supports seasonal operations with timed General Admission, Season Tickets, Flex Passes, and in-person sales without juggling disconnected systems. Sell timed entry without creating bottlenecks at the gate Timed entry can help farms spread arrivals across the day. With SimpleTix, you can use General Admission with timed entry and capacity management to help: Reduce long entry lines Control parking and staffing pressure Avoid overcrowding in high-traffic areas Improve the arrival experience Keep peak weekends more manageable This matters in spring when weather windows are tight, and it matters even more in fall when everyone shows up at once. At the gate, staff can use the SimpleTix Organizer mobile app on iOS or Android to scan tickets quickly. If connectivity is spotty in the field, offline scanning mode helps keep the line moving....