Seat Holds

Should you want to provide a customer access to a specific seat/s, the Seat Holds feature will allow you to hold these seats in a Session and Section for the ticket buyer, ensuring they can't be booked by others. The ticket buyer is then provided with an Access Code for booking. When they enter the code on the homepage, they are taken to those particular seats to complete their booking.

This article covers:

• Use cases
• How it works for the Ticket Buyer
• How to set up Seat Holds
• Editing or removing Seat Holds and their Access Codes

If you are not needing the customer to book their seat, consider using our Reserve Seats option of an more simple approach. See: Reserving Seats on a Seating Plan

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Use Cases

How does this feature differ from the standard reserved seats?

Standard reserved seats can only be booked by the event organiser. They are not accessible for the customer that they have been reserved for, allowing them to select and book themselves.

Seats holds not only reserves the seat for the customer, it allows them to access the reserved seats to complete their booking.

Outlined below are a few uses for this feature (not limited to).

Allowing VIPs or special groups to secure their reserved seats
Keep attendance records accurate by not just reserving out seats for VIPs, Staff, Friends and Family etc.
Not only will this ensure they are seated in the correct area/seats and have a ticket issued for entry, it allows you to free up any of the "reserved" seats that don't get booked.

To achieve this, set up a Access Code that has all seats selected for the group you wish to reserve them for. This allows you to share the code with this group, so that they can then choose their seats within the seats put on hold for them.

No payment required for these customers? Provide them with a Promotion Code to discount the ticket price by 100% (see: Promotion Codes and Discounts). You are welcome to use the same code as set for the Access Code.

Moving a booking to accommodated additional attendees
You have a customer that is needing their booking moved so that they can be seated with new attendees they wish to book for. You will be able to move their booking to the desired seats (see: Moving customer tickets) and use the Seat Holds feature to reverse the additional seats they wish to purchase, ensuring that they are not snapped up by other customers before this customer has had a chance to book them.

Season Pass Renewals
Sports clubs using the platform for managing entry to their games, may choose to have an event for the sale of season passes that give the customer entry to all games. If it is a requirement for these members to keep their seat for consecutive seasons, then they could use Seat Holds to facilitate this process, and allow for new season passes to be purchased at the same time.  

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How Seat Holds Works for the Ticket Buyer

With Seats Holds set up on your event, you will be able to provide your customer with a unique access code that will allow them to access a specific set of seats. 

The Ticket Buyer does not have to book all seats that have been assigned to their access code. The access code will simply give them access to the seats set, and they can then choose from those seats to complete their booking.

They can make multiple bookings on the one access code, until the seat allocation on the code is exhausted. Once exhausted, the code will no longer be valid.

If the 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets' setting is enabled, then the Book Now button is removed from the Homepage and a Password/Access code field is displayed:


If the 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets' setting is not enabled, then both a Book Now button and a Password/Access Code field is present:


The Book Now button will allow those without an access code to book and select seats that have not been assigned in Seat Holds. Seats that have been selected for Seat Holds will show as Unavailable for these customers. 

The booking journey for a ticket buyer that has been provide with an access code is outlined below:

1. On the homepage of your event the customer will enter the access code that has been provided to them in the Password/Access code field, and click Enter
   
   
2. The ticket buyer is then take to the ticket selection screen for the Session Time and Section that the seats in the access code has been set to. Here they will need to indicate how many tickets they wish to purchase
   
   They will not be able to select more then the number of seats assign to the access code
3. With the tickets selected, the seating plan will appear, displaying only the seats assigned to the access code as available for Booking. From the seats available, the ticket buyer will then select the seats they wish to proceed with booking
   
4. With the seats select, they click Next to be taken to the custom form or check out to complete their booking

 

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How to set up Seat Holds

There is no limit to the number of Access Codes for Seat Holds you can set up.  

You will have two options for adding Access Codes Seat Holds:

• Add in manually
• Upload a list via csv file

Add Seat Holds/Access Codes Manually

This allows you to add in an Access Code for Seat Holds one at a time.

To add an Access Code:

1. From your Dashboard, under the Manage Events Overview, click on the name of your event
2. From the left menu, under Allocation, select Seat Holds
3. If you want only those with an access code to book for your event, enable the field 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets'
   
   If you want bookings to be open to those with access code AND those without, keep this field disabled
4. Click Add a Seat Hold
5. With Add a Single Access Code selected, fill in the following fields:
   
   • Access Code: Enter in the code you want them to use to proceed with booking their seats. This can be any combination of characters and is case sensitive
   • Session: Select the session for the seats you wish to hold for the customer
   • Section: Select the section for the seats you wish to hold for the customer
   • Seats: Click on the seats you wish to hold for the customer
   • When can the access code be used: Determine whether you want the seat hold/access code to be active for the full duration of your sales period or only within a specific date range
     If 'As long as the booking window' is open is selected: the seat hold/ access code will remain on your event for the duration of your Booking Start and End date and time
     If 'Specify a date and time range' is selected: You will need to enter in a 'From and To date and time' for the access code to be active on the event. Out side this date range set, the access code will not be active. Should you have kept 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets' disable in step 3, the seats selected for the access code and not booked will be release to the general public for booking.
     
6. Click Save
   

Upload a list via csv file

If you have a number of Seat Holds that you wish to add to your event, using the Upload a list (csv) option allows you to upload all in one go.

To upload a list of Access Code for Seats Holds using a csv file:

Step 1: Prepare your csv file

1. The data needs to be prepared into a csv file. Open a new csv. spreadsheet document
2. Enter the following headings in the corresponding cells
   
   • Access Code in cell A1
   • Session Time in cell B1
   • Section in cell C1
   • Seats in cell D1
     
3. In column A, starting at row 2 (i.e. cell A2) enter in a access code of your choosing
   
4. In column B, starting at row 2 (i.e. cell B2) enter the Session Time for the Access Code. This needs to be entered in the format of  d/mm/yyyy h:mm (e.g. for the session time 27 January 2024, 5pm enter it as 27/01/2024 17:00) 
   
5. In column C, starting at row 2 (i.e. cell C2) enter the Section for the Access Code
   
6. In column D, starting at row 2 (i.e. cell D2) enter the Seats for the Access Code. If they are entitled to more the 1 seat, each seat needs to be included in the same cell separated by a semicolon
   
7. Continue working down the rows of the spreadsheet until all access codes and their criteria have been entered
   
8. Save the file down to your device 

Step 2: Upload your Seat Holds csv file

1. From your Dashboard, under the Manage Events Overview, click on the name of your event
2. From the left menu, under Allocation, select Seat Holds
3. If you want only those with an access code to book for your event, enable the field 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets'
   
   If you want bookings to be open to those with access code AND those without, keep this field disabled
4. Click Add a Seat Hold
   
5. Click Upload a List (CSV)
6. Select the file from your device and click Open
   
7. Indicated when can the access code can be used
   If 'As long as the booking window' is open is selected: the access codes will remain on your event for the duration of your Booking Start and End Date and Time
   If 'Specify a date and time range' is selected: You will need to enter in a 'From and To date and time' for the access codes to be active on the event. Out side this date range set, the access codes will not be active. Should you have kept 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets' disable in step 3, the seats selected for the access code and not booked will be release to the general public for booking.
   
   
8. Click Save
   
   

Having difficulties uploading your csv file? For some help troubleshooting see: Troubleshooting CSV file uploading errors

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Editing or removing Seat Holds and their Access Code

Once your Seat Holds have been added you will have the option to:

• Edit Seats Holds and their Access Code
• Deactivate Access Codes
• Delete Seat Holds and their Access Codes

Edit Seat Holds and their Access Code

Should you need to edit the actual access code that has been entered, the session, section or seats assigned, or date and time the access code can be used:

1. From your Dashboard, under the Manage Events Overview, click on the name of your event
2. From the left menu, under Allocation, select Seat Holds
3. Locate the Access Code you are wanting to edit
   Tip: if you have a large list of access codes entered, use the search field to search by access code
4. Click on the Action Icon to the right of the access code, and select Edit from the menu
   
5. Make the desired edits to the access code, and click Save

If you have a large list of access codes entered and you need to edit a large number of these, consider using the Download button to have them downloaded to a csv. file. From here you can edit the file, click Delete All in the portal and re-upload the new file with the edited data. 

Deactivate Access Codes

Should you no longer wish to have a access code or Seat Hold in play, you have the option to deactivate that access code. Deactivating the access code allows you to still keep a record of what access codes were initially set.

If a user attempts to use a access code that have been deactivated, they will get the message of "invalid code" when attempting to book with it.

Should you have the setting 'Only allow access code holders to purchase tickets' deactivated, once a access code has been deactivated, the seats select will be made available for others to select.

To deactivate an access code:

1. From your Dashboard, under the Manage Events Overview, click on the name of your event
2. From the left menu, under Allocation, select Seat Holds
3. Locate the access code you are wanting to deactivate
   Tip: if you have a large list of access codes entered use the search field to search by access code
4. Click on the Action Icon to the right of the access code, and select Edit from the menu
5. Click on the Active toggle to deactivate
   
6. Click Save

The Seat Holds list will then update indicating that the access code is no longer active:

 

Delete Seat Holds and their Access Code

Access codes that have already had booking activity recorded against them, can not be deleted. If you are wanting to delete an access code that has booking activity, consider deactivating the access code.

To delete an access code:

1. From your Dashboard, under the Manage Events Overview, click on the name of your event
2. From the left menu, under Allocation, select Seat Holds
3. Locate the access code you are wanting to delete
   Tip: if you have a large list of access codes entered use the search field to search by access code
4. Click on the Action Icon  to the right of the access code, and select Delete from the menu