ROH seat prices

[alison]

Ditto for me in the amphitheatre.  If there had been any £34 tickets left I might have tried it, but not £51.

[Dawnstar]

I should have also said in my previous post that the offer's no help in getting an upgrade in the stalls circle either. I already have a £70 ticket. There's such a big jump to the next price bracket, £112, that even with the 25% off it's still £84 for what would only be a marginal improvement in view. I wish I could just return my £70 ticket & re-purchase it at £52.50 but I suppose that wouldn't be ethical!

[JNC]

13 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Good question. Perhaps they're only sending it to people who haven't booked for any performances so far? If so, that's not actually fair. (They could incorporate some sort of rule against returning full-price tickets already booked if you booked a discounted ticket.) Mind you the tickets are so expensive now that even with a discount I wouldn't feel able to book any more tickets.

I think stopping people seeking the credit exchange if they purchased full price and then using the discount is actually more unfair! 

 

while I’m certainly not against a discount, one thing I liked about ROH is that it did tend to sell out and so discounts weren’t ever a thing or necessary. Discounts becoming a regular thing is a problem as it’s indicates a number of things:

 

- they have clearly priced things too high to start with

- penalises people who loyally booked earlier and had to in order to plan travel and other plans 

- raises the question of “fairness” (including around who receives these discounts, I am a friend and why didn’t I get one? It should be either everyone or at least friends, if it is those regulars/friends who haven’t booked yet again it feels unfair to those who have supported roh by booking early)

- risks becoming a self fulfilling prophecy with people not booking tickets at the outset/in advance if it’s known that ROH now do discounts (again doubly penalising those less flexible with dates, particularly those that don’t live in London) 

 

@LinMMwhile you’re correct in that friends have a first go at booking the highly desired SCS and balcony standing tickets (mainly the central ones though!), these are only about 50 tickets (fewer if you’re picky and don’t want restricted view to the extreme scs).

 

I am a friend and 9 times out of 10 those standing tickets are not available on friends booking as you are talking about 2% of “seats” so it’s simple supply and demand and there just aren’t enough! 
 

to be honest with the amount of times I’ve been able to get these tickets vs the cost of my membership, I’m probably financially better off putting my membership costs towards 2 (or even 1 at the way it’s going!) ticket, particularly if I’m going less due to overall price increases. 
 

It’s great the code has been shared on the forum as that feels as democratic and fair as it’s going to get, but I’m actually very disappointed and saddened to see this situation, and also a bit disgruntled that I and others (friends or not) who have loyally booked haven’t received it.

 

As it stands I probably won’t use the code as I’ve already booked my tickets and at the price point I’d be willing to spend, I’d only be saving around £3-£10 per ticket (factoring in the £4 admin fee). Although if I can get similar level of tickets within the band I may take a look as every little helps! 

 

I will await to see the 23/24 season announcement before making a final decision and I was already leaning towards cancelling my membership for next year due to the increased costs meaning fewer performances anyway but this is another thing that makes me think why do I bother to pay for friends membership! 
 

I understand it’s financially tough times for ROH but seems like they overplayed their hand with Beauty pricing that seems to be backfiring. 

[JNC]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I should have also said in my previous post that the offer's no help in getting an upgrade in the stalls circle either. I already have a £70 ticket. There's such a big jump to the next price bracket, £112, that even with the 25% off it's still £84 for what would only be a marginal improvement in view. I wish I could just return my £70 ticket & re-purchase it at £52.50 but I suppose that wouldn't be ethical!

It’s not unethical I don’t think - you aren’t breaking any “rules” and why should you be at a disadvantage for booking earlier? (And still at a disadvantage to someone who didn’t book at all but now will by the £4 exchange fee!)

 

I suppose if you consider it a “donation” to roh and you can afford it then you could keep your original seats and it would be a nice thing to do - but I certainly wouldn’t feel guilty about using the code - surely they would have known this was a possibility that people would do this!
 

Or you could alternatively see the £4 exchange fee as your “donation” giving that you’re paying more than others with the code! 

[jmhopton]

Well, I'm a Friend and didn't receive an email, though a non Friend kindly forwarded it to me. However, I had already booked for 2 of the 3 nights though ironically I had already made up my mind to cancel them and be refunded. I did debate briefly whether to do as Dawnstar suggested and return and re book at a discount but decided the other extras of hotel and train fare were still too expensive. I'm attending 3 other SBs and several Cinderellas so that will suffice. I think the ROH did miscalculate the prices for Jan in particular, for reasons Capybara already mentioned; too soon after Christmas and Nutcracker, and very few tourists. In addition there is also a cost of living crisis which couldn't have been anticipated when the programme/prices were agreed, possibly over a year ago. Also, something else that's probably played a big part in people's decisions (it did mine) is the potential problem of getting to the ROH, not to mention getting home afterwards, as there may be both train and bus strikes but nothing announced yet so you can't even plan ahead.

[Amanda Liu]

I think only about half of the SCS tickets are available in the friends booking period while the other half are available in the public booking period…

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, JNC said:

It’s not unethical I don’t think - you aren’t breaking any “rules” and why should you be at a disadvantage for booking earlier? (And still at a disadvantage to someone who didn’t book at all but now will by the £4 exchange fee!)

 

I suppose if you consider it a “donation” to roh and you can afford it then you could keep your original seats and it would be a nice thing to do - but I certainly wouldn’t feel guilty about using the code - surely they would have known this was a possibility that people would do this!
 

Or you could alternatively see the £4 exchange fee as your “donation” giving that you’re paying more than others with the code! 

 

I'm not sure if it'd be worth the stress of returning it then having to keep refreshing the ROH's website for hours until the ticket pops up on there. I might see if the offer works when the Friday rush tickets are released, buy one of those then return my original seat. I've done that several times this season already, having found the rush tickets are giving a better viewing angle than the seats available for advanced booking. In fact, given I've been able to get a rush ticket every time I've tried this season, I'm thinking about not doing advanced booking for all the Cinderellas & just getting rush tickets for some of them.

 

22 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

I think the ROH did miscalculate the prices for Jan in particular, for reasons Capybara already mentioned; too soon after Christmas and Nutcracker, and very few tourists.

 

Although ENB's Swan Lake is virtually sold out. I know their circumstances are different, as it's a much shorter run, but I can't help wondering if the £95 top price for SL vs the £170 top price for SB may have something to do with it....

[LinMM]

The reason I stopped being a Friend after being one for many years is that it got more and more hierarchical so by the time it got to ordinary Friends booking the tickets for things I really liked like master classes etc were already sold out. Also because I had moved out of London I was going less often so the priority booking was not as useful as previously. 
I was not aware any standing tickets are held over for public booking I assumed they were all bought by the layers of Friends before public booking opened. They are occasional still available for non Friends usually when it’s a triple bill!
I am not sure this discount scenario is going to happen that frequently I just think they have massively over charged for Beauty so have now got the problem of lots of un sold seats to deal with.
It might also help with sales if Beauty was to start at 7pm as it is so long and later trains are more likely to get cancelled at the moment. I can only plan to see Ballets like Beauty if I can stay over that night. 
You can’t blame people who don’t live in London for not booking too far in advance with the way the trains are right now. 

[zxDaveM]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

I was not aware any standing tickets are held over for public booking I assumed they were all bought by the layers of Friends before public booking opened. They are occasional still available for non Friends usually when it’s a triple bill!

 

there are some some SCS places kept for public booking, especially for things like Nutcracker and the long runs of Beauty, that are not too difficult to get hold of. Just have to sharp out of the blocks on booking morning 🙂

[bridiem]

9 hours ago, LinMM said:

It might also help with sales if Beauty was to start at 7pm as it is so long and later trains are more likely to get cancelled at the moment. I can only plan to see Ballets like Beauty if I can stay over that night. 

 

Even though I live in greater London, I wish all performances but especially the long ones would start at 7pm. Even a shortish train journey home makes for a long total journey when you factor in getting to the station, waiting for the relevant train (which may be quite infrequent late at night, especially since Southern reduced the number of fast trains on my line by half a few months ago!), the journey itself, and maybe a significant walk at the other end. (Guess who wishes they hadn't moved off the tube last year?!). I think quite a lot of single women go to ballet performances (don't know about opera) and it means very late walks home which gets a bit wearing and doesn't always feel very safe. (Maybe men on their own also feel this - I don't know.) I suppose others like a 7.30pm start because it gives more time for a meal before the performance, but I'm not someone for whom ballet is 'a night out' - it's a serious business!! 

[zxDaveM]

7pm starts for the 3-hour ballets would be my ideal too. Ending at 10.30pm is always a mad rush to connect with my last 'local' train home from London Bridge. Miss that, and it's a trip to the hellhole that is East Croydon 😞

 

[LinMM]

I so agree with your above posts Bridiem and Dave…….as most people don’t live directly at the train station!!  I’m four miles out of Brighton so then dependent on last buses …and then a 10 min up very steep hill walk …though am not so nervous of walking out late down here …..or it’s an expensive taxi fare ….so there is a sort of cut off time I have to guarantee being able to be back in Brighton to make the whole trip doable. 
Even if I do stay up  in London I’m much more nervous these days of walking from the bus stop really late at night (after 11pm) in London.   I suppose this is because am getting older so generally feel more vulnerable now. Sometimes I’ve given in and got a taxi back after late performances which is then an added cost. 
Id much rather everything finished by 10pm. I think end times have got later over the years as at ROH the intervals have got that much longer …but I might be imagining this…I probably didn’t notice the end times that much when younger! In fact once after a Fonteyn and Nureyev performance I walked all the way from the ROH back to my bed sit at the time near Gloucester Rd tube ……just unthinkable now. 


 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by LinMM

[capybara]

As far as the ROH is concerned we’re never going to get earlier starts as they want to maximise the eating and drinking time. 

The very welcome  7.00pm starts are usually associated with some kind of dinner event after the show.

[Linnzi5]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Even though I live in greater London, I wish all performances but especially the long ones would start at 7pm. Even a shortish train journey home makes for a long total journey when you factor in getting to the station, waiting for the relevant train (which may be quite infrequent late at night, especially since Southern reduced the number of fast trains on my line by half a few months ago!), the journey itself, and maybe a significant walk at the other end. (Guess who wishes they hadn't moved off the tube last year?!). I think quite a lot of single women go to ballet performances (don't know about opera) and it means very late walks home which gets a bit wearing and doesn't always feel very safe. (Maybe men on their own also feel this - I don't know.) I suppose others like a 7.30pm start because it gives more time for a meal before the performance, but I'm not someone for whom ballet is 'a night out' - it's a serious business!! 

Totally agree. I live in East Herts, on the border of North London. Door to door, ROH is about an hour. However, I don't like coming back too late. Waiting at Tottenham Hale for National Rail can be a bit daunting!

 

I did laugh about the 'night out' bit. Going to ROH IS my night out!  

[bridiem]

18 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

I did laugh about the 'night out' bit. Going to ROH IS my night out!  

 

Well yes, it's mine too really! I just meant that for me it's not a big rare occasion also involving eating/socialising etc, which it is for some people (and that's fine). I just want to get there and back as quickly as possible.

[JNC]

Given I don’t live in London a 7pm start time probably doesn’t help non London/SE viewers, but I agree 7pm would make sense - given if you work till 5 and factoring in travel time, there’s not much time to have a proper dinner before a 7.30 start anyway, so getting home earlier helps!

 

what I would like is for the double Saturday performances to be doable in one day, so when they did Giselle at 11.30 and then 5pm that was perfect for me as it meant I could get two performances in one day! The crucial thing would be for on the weekend if performances started by 6pm, that would facilitate people getting trains by 9/9.30pm. 
 

I appreciate many wouldn’t like a 5/6pm start though, although it means for those who do like a late European supper (in Spain they often don’t eat until very late) it facilitates that! 

[Emeralds]

On 06/01/2023 at 11:42, bridiem said:

So it seems that if you're a 'Friend' you don't get offered discounts that others get offered. Doesn't seem very Friendly to me.

I agree it doesn’t sound friendly nor Friendly! It should have been offered to all Friends.

 

Am not a Friend this year but have made donations, booked Beauty plus a whole host of other performances for that booking period, and not been emailed/offered the discount. 

 

(The fact that I’m busy on those nights and can’t attend and take advantage of any discount  is besides the point, and if the box office did know my plans, that’s a bit creepy! 😮😆 Besides, if the offer is good enough, we regulars might find ways to rearrange our schedules  and go to Sleeping Beauty instead.)

Edited January 7, 2023 by Emeralds

[Linnzi5]

6 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Well yes, it's mine too really! I just meant that for me it's not a big rare occasion also involving eating/socialising etc, which it is for some people (and that's fine). I just want to get there and back as quickly as possible.

Ditto!  

[Dawnstar]

On 06/01/2023 at 22:35, Dawnstar said:

I might see if the offer works when the Friday rush tickets are released, buy one of those then return my original seat.

 

Well, they evidently decided to guard against people doing that as the offer is not working for the Friday rush tickets, which are showing up as £70. I did check & the offer is still working for £70 tickets elsewhere in the auditorium so it isn't that the offer has expired. Oh well, I'll be sticking to my original ticket then.

[alison]

It didn't apply to the first night, did it?

[Dawnstar]

No, it was 17th, 18th & 19th I think. I was looking for 19th.

[Blossom]

Also didn’t get offered the discount but already booked for 17th and 19th (alone tomorrow night if anyone is there). 
This morning there were an extraordinary amount of unsold seats but suddenly they all became sold out. I can only assume that these have been offered at a much lower price (including the most premium seats) to Young ROH or similar, as how else could they disappear so suddenly?

Rather miffed to be paying a premium and assume that the seats next to me and a large proportion of the top price seats will have gone for a song. Essentially I get penalised for being loyal.  As a result I am sticking with my one Cinderella seat and will take the risk and hold out to see how it sells.

Had a brief conversation with someone at the ENB Swan Lake rehearsal who says with rising prices she just won’t go anymore - I think people are already starting to vote with their feet. Thinking about new audiences and preserving the future for ballet, it was wonderful to see a diverse and heaving audience at London Coliseum over the weekend and a sterling performance delivered. 
 

Editing to add that in reality, happy with the seat I have but it’s another example of an unfair system without equal access to all and is going to result in some unhappy loyalists and my concern is that rather than building on what they have, the ROH is going to have to start from nearer scratch. Genuinely concerned that tweaking ticket prices too far as they have done will make the fragile house of cards topple. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Blossom
Because it reads like I am having a toddler tantrum

[Dawnstar]

4 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Rather miffed to be paying a premium and assume that the seats next to me and a large proportion of the top price seats will have gone for a song.

 

I completely agree with this sentiment. If they'd priced the seats more reasonably in the first place then I might have paid a bit more for a better seat. Instead I'll be sitting in a seat which I consider to be overpriced for the restricted view it offers while knowing much of the audience have paid less for better views.

[Shade]

Well I am not a Friend but did get the offer. I wonder if it’s because I haven’t booked for any recent performances? If so, it seems v unfair to the regular audiences who have bought tickets!

I am saving my money for Cinderella, which I haven’t seen since 2012.

[Blossom]

I’m wondering where all of the tickets for tonight disappeared to yesterday - spoke to a Young ROH member and doesn’t seem to have gone to them…

[alison]

I imagine the ROH has multiple offer lists  

[Scheherezade]

2 hours ago, alison said:

I imagine the ROH has multiple offer lists  

It might help if Friends were included in the multiple offer lists. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Scheherezade

[San Perregrino]

Seems it's not just the ROH having to discount tickets, i've received this offer from Paris Opera:

 

OfferSpecial offer: 5 000 seats from €50 to €90

 

5 000 seats at the special rate from €50 to €90 are being offered on a selection of performances at the Opéra Bastille, in seat categories Optima to 4.
Don’t delay, book your seats now!

To benefit this offer, select the desired production and choose the dates indicated in red: "Limited offer: seats from €50 to €90."

[Blossom]

13 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

It might help if Friends were included in the multiple offer lists. 

I am in 2 minds about this....I was a bit miffed to have issues at the ROH last night given I was there on a pricey ticket at full price too.

But then I considered a bit more selflessly  that for the ROH, the value exchange of reduced ticket prices to bring new people into the theatre to see ballet at an affordable price, regardless of age (ie not young ROH, open to older people and families) is greater in terms of building audiences. Even if only a small percentage of visitors consider coming again, engage with their online content or cinema broadcasts who wouldn't have before, they can help secure the future of ballet. The question I have for Alex Beard (and have shared) is whether they have a relevant communication plan in place (also considering permissions required!).

 

[alison]

10 hours ago, PeterS said:

Seems it's not just the ROH having to discount tickets, i've received this offer from Paris Opera:

 

OfferSpecial offer: 5 000 seats from €50 to €90

 

5 000 seats at the special rate from €50 to €90 are being offered on a selection of performances at the Opéra Bastille, in seat categories Optima to 4.
Don’t delay, book your seats now!

To benefit this offer, select the desired production and choose the dates indicated in red: "Limited offer: seats from €50 to €90."

 

Have you added it to the Ticket Offers forum, Peter?

[Candleque]

On 03/01/2023 at 20:26, Diandri said:

In my email inbox this evening was a ROH marketing blast regarding a 25% discount for Sleeping Beauty for shows 17, 18 & 19th Jan so it looks like they've overpriced this run as there are lots of empty seats & the code appears to apply to any price bracket (but I haven't tried the really cheap seats).  Code is AURORA25.

 

 

I want to thank @Diandri again for sharing this Sleeping Beauty code 🙏. Because of the discount, I was able to see Frankie + Alex this week, as well as Mayara + Cesar  (previously booked full price). I don't usually go two nights in a row so it was a real treat, plus a learning experience sitting in different areas to watch such a visually sumptuous show. 

If anyone has tips on how to get on these email lists, I'd be grateful.
(I'm a ROH Friend+ but have never ever gotten any ticket offers from them) 

[alison]

I'm pretty certain they don't send them to anyone who has already booked for that programme.  Unless anyone knows differently?

[Guest oncnp]

7 minutes ago, alison said:

I'm pretty certain they don't send them to anyone who has already booked for that programme.  Unless anyone knows differently?

That's what the box office told me when I asked. Only those who hadn't booked got offer