ROH package booking

[jmhopton]

On 03/07/2019 at 14:42, capybara said:

What seats/sections are available? 
Each type of package will be made available in an Orchestra Stalls (inc. Stalls Circle) and Amphitheatre package, where the best seats will be on offer. You can choose any seats within the available price types and sections using our select your own seat functionality or best available option. Our packages will usually contain Orchestra Stalls Rows C-W Centre, Stalls Circle Rows A-C Centre and Amphitheatre Rows B–F Centre and B–E Sides.

 

More details are here: http://www.roh.org.uk/help/package-faqs

 

 

 

I was confused about the packages information given on the ROH FAQs and emailed the ROH Customer Services today. I did get a very prompt reply. Here are my queries and their reply.

 

"I just have a query re booking a ballet package. As I'm not a ROH Friend I realise the package booking doesn't apply until the 1st August. I am interested in attending all the ballets in the autumn period. However, how many tickets can I book? The website says 

A flexible package allows you to build your own series of performances according to the dates that suit you, letting you choose the seats for each performance.

 

Can I book multiple dates for the same production? #
Our packages are configured to offer a selection of productions and so you cannot buy multiple performances for a production within one package.

 

The first quotation seems to contradict the second.

Does that mean I cannot book more than one performance per ballet per package. So if I wanted to book 3 performances per ballet would I have to book 3 packages?

Also as I book side stalls circles what seats are available in the packages? On your website it says only higher priced stalls circle seats are available for package booking but people who have actually booked said most stalls circle seats are available. Finally do you keep some side stalls circle seats in reserve for when public booking opens?"

 

Their reply was

"Please be advised that you can book up to a total of 9 tickets per performance within a Package.  The number of tickets has to be exactly the same for every performance within the package.  You can only have one performance of a particular ballet/opera production within a single package (i.e. you cannot double/triple up on the same ballet production within the same package).  If for example you wanted to see a performance of Manon twice then you would need to book at least two different packages.  The seats offered in the Stalls Circle will include all but the very lowest price categories (i.e. the bench seats, restricted view and standing positions).  We have slightly relaxed the restriction on only being able to book the top two price categories for the forthcoming season, however I cannot guarantee that this will be the case for every season going forward.  We do not hold back any seats in the main auditorium for public booking".  

 

So it looks like you can book up to 9 tickets per performance but not multiple single tickets for different nights of the same production (which is what I want). So if I want to book 3 tickets for all 4 ballets I will have to book 3 packages. Also I was rather surprised no tickets were kept back for public booking. I thought a certain percentage was kept back and that was one reason I decided not to opt for becoming a ROH Friend.

 

 

[bridiem]

They surely must keep some seats back for public booking?? And they certainly keep some back for Friday Rush.

[Dawnstar]

26 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

 

So it looks like you can book up to 9 tickets per performance but not multiple single tickets for different nights of the same production (which is what I want). So if I want to book 3 tickets for all 4 ballets I will have to book 3 packages. Also I was rather surprised no tickets were kept back for public booking. I thought a certain percentage was kept back and that was one reason I decided not to opt for becoming a ROH Friend.

 

That fits with my first attempt to book packages yesterday. I selected a ticket for each of the 4 ballets then tried to repeat the process for a second set of single tickets, only to find that had then removed the first set of tickets, even though I thought I'd clicked the Book Another Package button. I ended up paying for the second set to be on the safe side before going back & re-selecting the first set, which fortunately were still available. I found the seat availability varied considerably between performances & assumed that was because more seats were being held back at some performances than others. (I find it hard to believe that otherwise a Magri/Corrales Coppelia could be considerably more heavily booked than a Nunez/Muntagirov Sleeping Beauty when the latter are arguably currently the RB's biggest stars.) Prior to that, having only ever done general booking, I'd assumed that the same selection of seats were held back for it for each performance but my first booking attempt as a Friend has changed my opinion. Does this fit with what others have observed over time?

[Lynette H]

For packages, if you are booking single (or double or whatever) tickets, select the seats for each item in the package, add to basket, then go to checkout and pay. If then you want to buy another set of tickets ( i.e. another package, for the same or different dates/ casts) start again and put the selected dates / cast in your basket, checkout and pay.  That works. So if you want say 3 x Manon, 3 X Beauty,  3 x Coppelia, etc you need to buy 3 separate packages.  But you don't loose your place in the queue. 

[onemouseplace]

2 hours ago, jmhopton said:

The seats offered in the Stalls Circle will include all but the very lowest price categories (i.e. the bench seats, restricted view and standing positions).  We have slightly relaxed the restriction on only being able to book the top two price categories for the forthcoming season, however I cannot guarantee that this will be the case for every season going forward. 

 

 

 

 

This has annoyed me hugely as, as far as I'm aware, was not indicated to Friends prior to booking.  I've booked the cheaper Stalls Circle seats because they were what I could afford, without even looking at the packages first (a) because of the meltdown on the Friends+ booking morning as when I eventually got onto the website I didn't want to waste time navigating the website further and (b) because you don't automatically get booked onto a package if you book seats within a package but have to go through the separate packages channel, which is virtually impossible to find on the new website.  If I'd know this, I would have looked at the packages as I suspect the packages discount would have brought the slightly higher priced ticket within the price range I was prepared to pay.

[daisydance]

10 minutes ago, onemouseplace said:

 

This has annoyed me hugely as, as far as I'm aware, was not indicated to Friends prior to booking.  I've booked the cheaper Stalls Circle seats because they were what I could afford, without even looking at the packages first (a) because of the meltdown on the Friends+ booking morning as when I eventually got onto the website I didn't want to waste time navigating the website further and (b) because you don't automatically get booked onto a package if you book seats within a package but have to go through the separate packages channel, which is virtually impossible to find on the new website.  If I'd know this, I would have looked at the packages as I suspect the packages discount would have brought the slightly higher priced ticket within the price range I was prepared to pay.

I had exactly the same experience. Massively annoying.

[Geoff]

7 hours ago, onemouseplace said:

 

This has annoyed me hugely as, as far as I'm aware, was not indicated to Friends prior to booking. ... If I'd know this, I would have looked at the packages as I suspect the packages discount would have brought the slightly higher priced ticket within the price range I was prepared to pay.

 

6 hours ago, daisydance said:

I had exactly the same experience. Massively annoying.

 

How frustrating. Just because ROH people (perhaps) understand what is going on, that does not mean they have made things clear to those who actually use the system.

 

Might I suggest you both write to CustomerServices@roh.org.uk (the more information they have about what is not working, the greater the chance that they might just do something)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, Geoff said:

How frustrating. Just because ROH people (perhaps) understand what is going on, that does not mean they have made things clear to those who actually use the system.

 

Which is a bit of an indictment, isn't it? Who are packages there for other than for those who actually use the system?? Another example of the ROH's lack of care for its 'customers'.

[jmhopton]

11 hours ago, bridiem said:

They surely must keep some seats back for public booking?? And they certainly keep some back for Friday Rush.

 

I think Friday Rush is different as we were both discussing tickets kept back before public booking opens though I was certainly surprised to hear no tickets were kept back for public booking as I'm sure I've read several times on this Forum that a certain percentage of tickets were kept back for public booking.

 

Like Onemouse above I would find it impossible to find the packages page on the new ROH website but I have now bookmarked it courtesy of a post from the Forum. It is 

http://www.roh.org.uk/help/package-faqs You can click on whichever of the FAQs is applicable to what you want to know eg booking dates etc.

[capybara]

I am very grateful to people on here for raising this issue, eliciting 'clarifications' from the ROH and, thus, saving  me a significant amount of money.

The mindset of staff who decide to amend the system in a way which is helpful to regulars and then fail to promulgate the good news unequivocally is beyond my comprehension.

 

[Incidentally, one of the replies from the ROH is possibly inaccurate insofar as the 'autumn' booking period is not, as I now understand it, the first time that packages have applied to all but the very cheapest seats. They just didn't tell everyone!]

[ninamargaret]

I was surprised to find, quite by accident, that most stalls circle seats seemed to be available as part of a package. I booked and emailed the Friends Office to ask if this was a new feature.

Please see their response to my query about the availability of Stalls  Circle seats for those buying packages. Would have been nice to be told! Wonder if there's any change in amphi seats?

 

"Thank you for your email. There has been a change in the range of seats available to book as part of a package. I will pass on your feedback regarding sharing this information. "

 

[JNC]

I too am annoyed at this lack of information on packages. 

 

I was very much on the fence about deciding to be a Friend, and being able to book packages of a slightly cheaper nature than in previous years would definitely have swung it for me. In this day and age with websites able to be instantly updated as decisions are made, it is frustrating that most of the ROH website is still out of date. For example the Young ROH page is still advertising the Within the Golden Hour mixed bill and Billy Budd from earlier this Spring. 

[ninamargaret]

And it's not just the web site. My latest Friends mailing which gives information about winter booking ( Onegin etc) tells me that the available seats are top price orchestra stalls, stalls circle or amphitheatre.  Maybe they don't want to sell them?

[bridiem]

27 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

And it's not just the web site. My latest Friends mailing which gives information about winter booking ( Onegin etc) tells me that the available seats are top price orchestra stalls, stalls circle or amphitheatre.  Maybe they don't want to sell them?

 

Maybe they don't, indeed. Maybe they know they have to offer some kind of 'discount' scheme but deliberately make it so unattractive/difficult to find/misleading that very few people actually use it.

[Richard LH]

5 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

Wonder if there's any change in amphi seats?

 

Here is an example of what is available for packages in the Amphi. The prices  in these cases reflect a 5% discount for the  Design Your Own packages...is 10% in the Amphi if you can go for the Total ballet option. 

[bridiem]

And those prices are with a 5% discount?! Strewth.

[ninamargaret]

24 minutes ago, bridiem said:

And those prices are with a 5% discount?! Strewth.

Makes my stalls,circle at £88 almost a snip!

[JohnS]

I think the annoyance about the lack of information is shared by Box Office staff - they must find it extremely dispiriting not to have information to hand so that they can answer questions from audience members.

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

And those prices are with a 5% discount?! Strewth.

 

Sorry, I picked the most expensive for the example. For the other 3 ballets, there are 4 equivalent price options rather than 3; for Manon the range is £28.50 to £63.65, Triple £19 to £43.70, and Coppelia £31.35 to £69.35. Those, again, are after a 5% discount.

 

The much wider choice is very welcome in my view. It was kindly flagged up on the Ballet Co Forum by JohnS when booking for Premium 2  Friends opened, albeit not by the ROH itself it seems!

Edited July 13, 2019 by Richard LH

[Lizbie1]

It is a welcome step in the right direction, but why not extend it to the Amphi? I think not to do so sends a confusing message about who these packages are aimed at: the Stalls Circle seats in question seem to me to be as popular with regulars as the Amphi seats which are still not included; I’d previously understood that the packages were designed to shift some of the slower-selling, most expensive tickets, but unless I’m mistaken the newly eligible seats in the SC generally get snapped up relatively quickly anyway.

[MargaretN7]

www.roh.org.uk/packages

Also, at the foot of each production's list of performances there is (at the moment anyway) a variety of links including the package one. 

[Dawnstar]

4 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

Makes my stalls,circle at £88 almost a snip!

 

I thought the stalls circle prices were pretty ridiculous for SB. In fact I ended up going for the outer edge of the stalls instead as the cheapest side stalls circle sets available in a package for the performances I wanted were £94.30 (discounted from £115), the same price as the cheapest stalls seats. The (relatively) cheaper £82 & £66 side stalls circle seats weren't available as part of a package so in order to get the discount on the other 3 ballets I had to pay quite a lot more than I'd wanted to for SB. Twice over.

[Rob S]

Tomorrow I shall be attempting to buy a package for the first time, can someone tell me whether the booking procedure is just the same as normal but with a performance in each ballet needing to be bought before you can proceed to the payment screen? Anything else I should be aware of?

[Mary]

Good luck Rob

You can't mix the numbers of tickets- it has to be 1 or 2 or whatever, tickets for each ballet in the package.

 

You obviously can't mix seating area either- decide that first.

 

You need to start from the Packages page, not the production page.

I am sure others will think of other hints....

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

Tomorrow I shall be attempting to buy a package for the first time, can someone tell me whether the booking procedure is just the same as normal but with a performance in each ballet needing to be bought before you can proceed to the payment screen? Anything else I should be aware of?

Rob, you only pay for your package once you have selected your ticket, or tickets, for each performance. So for the total ballet package, for example, until you have picked a performance in each of the 4 Autumn ballets, you are prompted that "your package is not yet complete". When you have selected all, a time limit starts (about 30 mins) for you to go to your basket and pay.

Hoping you get what you want!

[JohnS]

You need to book a full package and put it in your basket before moving on to a second package if you’re wanting more than one package.  I ‘lost’ my first package this Autumn when trying packages fur the first time but fortunately was able to rebook pretty much the same seats when I realised what I’d done.  There’s a great deal of flexibility about packages - seats don’t need to be in the same price category for each performance in the package (although they’ll need to be in either stalls/stalls circle or amphitheatre).

[Rob S]

Thank you all, that was unbelievably straightforward and hassle free....I'm even thrilled with the seats.

[jmhopton]

Yes I tried booking a package today. I wanted the total ballet package as that gives the best discount and for the first time ever I want to attend all the ballets in a season. I've got used to stalls circle recently and hoped the discount would offset the fact that the cheaper bench stalls circle seats weren't on offer. However one look at the prices for Sleeping Beauty and Manon had me rapidly switching to the amphi package! I just booked one package with three seats on front row of the amphi and hope I can pick up some of the cheaper stalls circle tickets when public booking opens next week. 

 

[alison]

I actually considered doing an amphi package until I realised that all the least-exorbitant seats for Sleeping Beauty appeared to have gone already  

[Richard LH]

7 hours ago, alison said:

I actually considered doing an amphi package until I realised that all the least-exorbitant seats for Sleeping Beauty appeared to have gone already  

 

Not so much "gone", as never in this particular  package option in the first place. For The Sleeping Beauty, amphi packages are limited to the three highest brackets  - the cheapest of those possible being £ 59.40 (£66 less a 10% in a total ballet package). 

If you don't want to go down the package route,  for The Sleeping Beauty the Amphi  currently includes  plenty of seat choices priced at £8, £11, £21, £30 or £45. 

 

Incidentally for the other three ballets, the amphi packages  extend to the four  highest price brackets , so for Manon for example you could get seats for £27, £33.30, £45, or £60.30 (in a total ballet package). 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Richard LH

[alison]

That's what I meant: I'd assumed there was a fourth band for Sleeping Beauty too, and that the tickets had all gone for it already.  No way I was paying £50+ for a ticket.

 

Oh heck, you mean the prices shown already included the discount?  Oh well, that would have ruled me out then anyway.  I'd been thinking I might just stretch over £25 if I had to for a cast I particularly wanted to see.

[capybara]

I've had a very courteous response from Alex Beard admitting that the information sent to Friends about ticket packages was unclear and that not all staff were fully briefed.

Hats off to him for that and for the action taken and ongoing to put matters right.

[JNC]

Can a ROH friend tell me if package booking for Winter is the same as Autumn?

 

I.e. I'm interested if £66 is the lowest price band for Swan Lake (amphi), and also wondering what the lowest price bands are for Onegin/The Cellist. 

(I am hoping it is the £39 for Onegin and £26 for the Cellist?) 

 

Many thanks!