Festival Event Online Booking Costs

Changes for 2012 - Festival Event Registration Fees & Online Booking

In 2012, we will be changing the way that consumers will purchase tickets to your Festival Events. Following a very successful trial in 2011, it will now be compulsory for all Festival Events to sell at least 80% of their ticket inventory via the online booking engine on VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com. In 2011, approximately 50% of the VWOAP Festival Events utilised the booking functionality on VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com and the feedback overwhelmingly indicated that this is the quickest ‘route to purchase' for your customers and provides you with a painless and seamless booking process.   

The Benefits of Online Bookings to YOU:

There are many. Specifically, the benefits to YOU, the Festival Event organiser are:

• All your ticket inventory management and ticketing will be taken care of
• You will be set up with a login and will be able to manage all your inventory (at the backend) so you will be in complete control of your ticketing
• You will be able to refer all purchasers to VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com rather than having to deal with their enquiries when you are busy
• A BOOK NOW button will be added to your VWOAP Programme Guide and VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com listings indicating that customers can book tickets online direct from your listing
• The event booking engine is real-time. You will be able to see how many tickets have been sold and how many are still available for sale at any time, live
• You will be paid for all tickets sold on the Thursday following the bookings being made, so you will have regular cashflow
• You will be provided with the full list of all ticket purchasers (i.e. a database)
• The VWOAP team will also be able to see what’s happening at the backend and will be able to profile Festival Events that aren't selling well - we will be able to see what Festival Events need some help with ticket sales
• Once a Festival Event is sold out, this will be automatically updated on your listing on VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com – you won’t need to tell us, as we will already know!
• You do not need to invest in printing tickets as all tickets will be an email voucher, a bit like plane tickets
• All confirmation vouchers will include details of your Festival Event, your Festival Event logo and clear ticket cancellation policy details
• Significantly reduced administration time required by you to coordinate tickets sales, production and postage
• You can add new dates or times for Festival Events if you choose to run your Festival Event again

The Benefits of Online Bookings to YOUR CUSTOMERS

• Customers will be able to pay for their tickets to your Festival Event on VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com using their credit card
• Tickets/Vouchers will be issued to the purchaser instantly via email (just like an e-ticket for flights)
• Customers can ‘shopping bag' their event tickets, i.e. purchase tickets to more than one Festival Event in the same credit card transaction
• Avoids the frustration of missing out on tickets as customers will be able to see in real time if there are tickets available to the Festival Events that they want to attend

What does it cost to run a Festival Event?

Like all online booking engines, there is a cost to operate this system. You are strongly advised to consider this when setting your pricing and build the commission into your Festival Event ticket price.

There will no longer be a one-off registration fee for Festival Events, except for Free Events.

To register a Free Event, there will be a one off charge based on attendee numbers:

Less than 50 attendees $75
50 - 100 attendees $150
100 - 200 attendees $250
200 - 500 attendees $350
500 + attendees $550

Please Note:

1. Market Day, which is free to attend but has stallholders from which customers buy produce etc, will be charged at the fee levels as noted above
2. a wine or coffee tasting that has no commercial element and for which no ticket is required, will have no registration fee
3. all Free or Charity Events, that are required to be booked in advance by attendees, will still be required to pay the Online Booking Engine operational costs as detailed below to cover all administration and transaction fees.
4. all fees are GST exclusive.
5. all Free and Charity Events are subject to the terms and conditions of the Festival Events Cancellation Policy as previously noted.

Please Note: The 2012 Festival Event participation fees are due no later than FRIDAY 30 MARCH. Any event organiser that does not provide their payment by this date will automatically be removed from the 2012 Festival Event programme, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Festival Event Online Booking Engine Fees

A per ticket fee of 7.0% (incl GST) will be charged to cover all credit card and ticketing administration fees, for example:

Consumers will be charged an additional 2% at the time of purchase to cover all credit card fees.

Please Note: By signing the Memorandum of Understanding, you agree that in the unlikely event of you required to cancel your Festival Event, you will forfeit 20% of the ticket price of each ticket sold to cover the administration fees of processing the cancellation of that Festival Event.

What do I get for my participation fee?

• In return for your successful application and signed Memorandum of Understanding, your payment of your Festival Event participation fee covers:
• A profile in the VWOAP Programme Booklet, featuring your Festival Event (distribution: 115,000 copies)
• A listing on VisaWellingtonOnaPlate.com, featuring your Festival Event including a direct link to purchase tickets to your Festival Event
• Point-of-sale collateral (including posters) to show your involvement in VWOAP
• VWOAP logos for promotional use
• Staff briefing document
• A Media Kit with media contacts and tips for doing your own publicity including how to write a press release
• A profile on the VWOAP mobile website on m.WellingtonNZ.com
• Invitation to attend information briefing meetings
• Exposure as part of a $400,000 Festival marketing campaign, including:
  • Nationwide television and online marketing campaign (commencing June 2012)
  • Street Flags around the city and greater Wellington region
  • Radio advertising
  • WellingtonNZ.com profile (NB: this website gets over 1.7 million visitors a year!)
  • Know e-newsletter, goes out to 48,000 Wellingtonians
  • Consumer e-newsletter, goes out to 31,400 out of towners
  • Australian e-newsletter, goes out to 63,800 Australians
  • Promotions and competitions
  • Updates on Facebook and Twitter, social media presence on Flickr and YouTube

Frequently Asked Questions may help you with any queries, otherwise don't hesitate to email us at Info@WellingtonOnaPlate.com