Saturday, November 21, 2009

Insider's Tip on Buying Group Tickets for Broadway Shows

If you are a group leader that purchases blocks of tickets for Broadway Shows, you may be interested in this blog post. The cost of theater tickets has gone up every year or two for the past many years. Depending on the Broadway Show your group has chosen to see, you may have even been given a discount for group purchases of 20 or more tickets.

All the Broadway Shows love selling group tickets. Firstly they get their money fairly far in advance of the performance date. Secondly, group sales fill up the theater quickly and if a show is very popular, group sales allows for investor payback to happen sooner than later. This all sounds great for the shows and the producers but what about the group leader, travel agency group excursion or church or school group outing that orders their tickets far in advance hoping they will need let's say 40 tickets or so for a show. What happens to them if they only end up needing 20 or 30 of the tickets?

The answer is simple really. They get stuck with tickets as group tickets once paid for are not refundable. So the group leader then has to figure out how they will get rid of the tickets they don't need. Will they need to stand outside the theaters and try to resell the tickets? Can they put them up for sale on the Internet, on eBay or Craigslist? Long story short, most of these groups get stuck with their tickets unfortunately.

So why not consider purchasing only the number of tickets for the people in the group that have paid their money and need the tickets? This way you can't possibly get stuck with tickets you do not need. In this economy, who needs to get stuck with tickets. Once the show starts, the tickets have no value.

Something to consider for those buying group tickets would be to get paid from everyone in your group before you commit to buying tickets for a show. Then also consider the show you want group tickets for. If it is one of the more popular shows that usually "sell out" all their tickets like Wicked, Jersey Boys, or Billy Elliot, then maybe buy a few extra which you can probably resell before the performance date. Or maybe just buy what you need and if your group numbers are increasing, just buy some " a la carte" tickets for the overflow tickets you need.

Being a ticket broker all my life, I can safely say that I have seen lots of group tickets "go dead" because of buying extra tickets that don't end up being used. The theaters don't really mind because they got paid but what about the group that ends up losing money?

One suggestion might be to consider contacting Applause Ticket Agency in New York. Applause Ticket Agency is a NY State licensed ticket broker for every Broadway Show playing. They are not a group ticket agent so their fees may be somewhat higher on certain tickets but they also offer their very unique BFV ticket deals. BFV ticket deals refers to buying below face value. Simply put, Applause gets discount tickets for many shows, adds on a small service fee but you get to buy tickets only when you need them and for exactly how many you need. There is no "getting stuck" with tickets with Applause.

When you buy tickets from group sales, you could lose considerable monies. When you contact Applause, you get exactly what you pay for, and with exceptional service. Just give these guys a call and see for yourself.

If this sounds like an advertisement, well, once in a while we do have to "toot our own horn" don't we?

I hope you find this information helpful. Wherever you buy your tickets, Applause would be happy to talk with you to help you and your group.

Cheers,
Rich Gladstone
Vice President
Applause Ticket Agency (License #71AP1001029)
311 West 43rd Street, suite 601
NY,NY 10036
local phone 212-307-7050
toll free 800-451-9930

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