ROH pricing survey

[zxDaveM]

7 hours ago, FionaE said:

The standing tickets are great value!  Let’s not have those changed 🤞

 

shhhh! mum's the word

[Lizbie1]

I'm not happy about the increase but the ROH is between a rock and a hard place and 10.9% isn't far off being in line with inflation. My own level of membership (Friends+) is going up by just over 13% but at the end of the day it's my decision as to whether it continues to provide sufficient value to me - it helps that my renewal is timed for after the season announcement.

 

It's difficult to see what room there is to strip anything from "basic" friends membership.

[Emeralds]

12 hours ago, alison said:

What really got me was the early-on question of at what price would you think something would be so cheap as to be not worth seeing.  Given the price of standing tickets I certainly didn't want to suggest that those were too cheap, so I put £0 or some such!  It's a ridiculous question, given that the ROH must have a wider range of price bands than just about anything else.  So, a standing ticket at around a tenner or so might suggest that something wasn't worth seeing, whereas a Grand Tier ticket at maybe £200 for the same performance would suggest that it was?  Ludicrous.

Yes, it was another example of a very ludicrous and frankly disingenuous question.....or perhaps assuming we’re quite prejudiced and ignorant folk. We’re not talking about buying knockoffs from a roadside stall of dubious provenance here. I think all patrons who have bought tickets from ROH more than once and gone through all the rigmarole of getting bags searched, printing tickets or remembering to bring one’s phone to get tickets checked, remembering to return to one’s seat/standing place before the interval ends, etc etc, are going to have some degree of intelligence to know that ROH performances are of a high standard and price is not necessarily a proportional reflection of quality.

 

After all, Vadim Muntagirov may be able to sell out seats priced at £170 now, but there was a time when you could see him dance (at Soloist level with ENB), with similar levels of mastery and elegance, in Swan Lake or Nutcracker, on tour where tickets in good (maybe not the best but good unobstructed sightlines) seats were no more than £40. And Jonas Kaufmann may cause £200 seats at ROH to sell out within hours and arguments about whether everyone got equal chances to buy, but there was a time in Germany when he sang to houses where top price tickets were were half that and the productions were still of a good quality.

 

I also know brilliant musicians, dancers and singers who have given free performances in foyer events or “welcome days” that were as excellent as something costing £70 to watch than on a stage (indeed, some of them were actually on stage an hour after performing at the “freebie event”) so I would never ever agree with the notion that free events must be inferior to ones we pay for. I wanted to write “this is an utterly stupid question and insulting to audiences and performers” but didn’t have time then, so I typed “50 pence” (just in case they misunderstood 50p to mean 50 pounds) as that figure is so unrealistic (it’s not worth hiring staff to check the tickets as 50p won’t cover costs) that they could never charge that. I’ve helped subsidise ROH (as have other taxpayers) so that standing places, lower slips and upper slips can still be affordable for those who work but have very low incomes, or those with onerous financial burdens, and would be cross if they raised prices of those so high that some fans or interested newcomers were priced out of ROH altogether. I sat in upper slips for the first time (last minute change in schedule) this season, and depending where it is and what the show is, it was surprisingly not that bad-view wasn't as restricted as I feared (although it is definitely restricted), and some very nice and pleasant fellow patrons in our row.

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Emeralds

[EVWS]

Perhaps someone should send the ROH powers that be a link to this thread and they might get more of an accurate understanding of people's feelings on pricing! 😉

[alison]

Not with Fiona mentioning that standing tickets are good value!  

[JNC]

I haven’t received this survey and I’m a friend and have attended roh fairly regularly this season (maybe 1-2 times a month on average) so I’m not sure why I didn’t receive the survey. Maybe they’re not bothering with friends as they think we already support roh and would be willing to pay higher prices if we can “afford” membership (not true for many…)

 

I would think they would want as much feedback so would want to send it out widely to email subscribers and friends. Bit annoyed I haven’t received it to be honest. But I agree with many comments reflected here so glad these are being fed back. 

[JohnS]

Being generous it may be that the ROH has selected a random sample of attendees although I too feel slightly miffed not to have been given the opportunity to offer my views. I’ll make some enquiries.

[JNC]

1 minute ago, JohnS said:

Being generous it may be that the ROH has selected a random sample of attendees although I too feel slightly miffed not to have been given the opportunity to offer my views. I’ll make some enquiries.

I did wonder this as if it’s a comment box proper survey I appreciate thousands of responses may take a while to trawl through and sort. I suppose without this forum those who didn’t receive a survey would be none the wiser so the risk of annoying or excluding people is minimal in their view. 
 

would be good to get some insight into who got it and how many people were talking about. If there are large numbers that sent it - given from the link it appears they’ve contracted a third party to compile and analyse they should have been able to accommodate all friends plus subscribers receiving it - I imagine lots of people wouldn’t bother completing it! 

[Dawnstar]

I've now done the survey. I'm on the train home from Sleeping Beauty & having just spent 3 hours in a significantly restricted view & not very comfortable seat that set me back £70 did not make my survey responses any more charitable! Unfortunately the price questions did not cover the side stalls circle, the only area I'm both just about able to afford to sit in & prepared to sit in, so with the sole exception of an £80 stalls ticket for an Ashton Mixed Bill there wasn't a single other ticket option they offered that I would have been prepared to buy. I fear this may pressage reality... (The ballet pricing was so depressing I declined repeating the exercise for opera pricing.)

 

Aside from the pricing, I found the question about ranking which artforms you're most likely to attend rather difficult. I go to opera, ballet, musicals & plays. Which I'm most likely to attend depends on which operas/ballets/musicals/plays they are!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Dawnstar
Added 2nd paragraph.

[Diandri]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I've now done the survey. I'm on the train home from Sleeping Beauty & having just spent 3 hours in a significantly restricted view & not very comfortable seat that set me back £70 did not make my survey responses any more charitable! Unfortunately the price questions did not cover the side stalls circle, the only area I'm both just about able to afford to sit in & prepared to sit in, so with the sole exception of an £80 stalls ticket for an Ashton Mixed Bill there wasn't a single other ticket option they offered that I would have been prepared to buy. I fear this may pressage reality... (The ballet pricing was so depressing I declined repeating the exercise for opera pricing.)

 

Aside from the pricing, I found the question about ranking which artforms you're most likely to attend rather difficult. I go to opera, ballet, musicals & plays. Which I'm most likely to attend depends on which operas/ballets/musicals/plays they are!

 

Hi Dawnstar - your first paragraph had me wondering whether the ROH front of house staff currently get any negative feedback from disappointed customers in such seats having paid a goodly sum of cash, at the intervals or end of show? If I was a new ROH customer I don't think I'd return or even be tempted to splash more cash on a more expensive seat & if prices increased even more in future do management expect the hourly paid ushers to placate angry punters who may have been expecting a 'world class performance' instead of a restricted view. 

 

The artform rankings question is so sad in so many ways I despaired into a glass of wine. As you say it depends on which opera, ballets, plays etc & also venues, casting, creatives, conductors, distance to nearest tube or train(!) Pondered telling them that I've booked opera tickets on the basis of Paule Constable doing the lighting or plays at the National designed by my fave designers, but thought it probably wouldn't compute with their algorithms...

 

[AnneMarriott]

5 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I've now done the survey.  (snip)

 

Unfortunately the price questions did not cover the side stalls circle, the only area I'm both just about able to afford to sit in & prepared to sit in, so with the sole exception of an £80 stalls ticket for an Ashton Mixed Bill there wasn't a single other ticket option they offered that I would have been prepared to buy. I fear this may pressage reality... (The ballet pricing was so depressing I declined repeating the exercise for opera pricing.)

 

Aside from the pricing, I found the question about ranking which artforms you're most likely to attend rather difficult. I go to opera, ballet, musicals & plays. Which I'm most likely to attend depends on which operas/ballets/musicals/plays they are!

Exactly my experience!  What a very strange set of scenarios to choose from.  I always go for side stalls circle (not standing any more these days, sadly) and there were no options so I finished up with the Ashton mixed bill at £80 as my sole choice - although in reality I'd have to think quite hard about it.  As I don't like being too far from the action I never choose the amphi and wouldn't be tempted by any programme at any price.

[AnneMarriott]

To add to the discussion about who got the survey, I got the email a couple of days ago and deleted it unread, then retrieved it when  I saw others' comments about it.  I was a friend for years until the business about the PR person being so dismissive about the "regulars".  I didn't renew membership after that and I pointed it out in a comments box.

[alison]

I'd have been interested to know whether we all got the same seat/price/production suggestions, or whether they differed "dynamically" according to what we'd written.  I was fascinated to see the suggestion of £250 for (I think it may have been) for the new opera Innocence (for which the top price appears to be £150 in real life), which I think was for somewhere in the amphi, although I could be wrong.  Frankly, I generally didn't pay attention to the production, but only to the pricing, as I discarded most suggestions based on pricing alone.  I did accept the Ashton bill at £40 for front amphi, though, as I thought that was a generous offer by today's standards, albeit still above my price threshold.

[Guest oncnp]

Didn't get the survey (American - they probably don't care) but for those who did.....was it all pricing/production? Was there any mention of being willing to pay more for a certain performer?  There are dancers I would pay more to see and a lower price might motivate me to buy a ticket for a production I might otherwise skip because I don't care for the casting. 

[San Perregrino]

From Membership:

”

Thank you so much for your email enquiry about the recent ticket price survey. We understand that this was only sent out to those who had opted in to receive marketing emails.  You can check your Contact Preferences on your Royal Opera House account page.

 

There is survey that will be going out to all Friends' approximately towards the end of the month, sorry we don't have an exact date yet, and in which you will be included.

 

We do hope the above information is helpful, but if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

[Guest oncnp]

6 minutes ago, PeterS said:

From Membership:

”

Thank you so much for your email enquiry about the recent ticket price survey. We understand that this was only sent out to those who had opted in to receive marketing emails.  You can check your Contact Preferences on your Royal Opera House account page.

 

There is survey that will be going out to all Friends' approximately towards the end of the month, sorry we don't have an exact date yet, and in which you will be included.

 

We do hope the above information is helpful, but if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Interesting - I am subscribed to all available options on the Contact Preferences page (which does not include "marketing e-mails") and did not receive the survey. 

[capybara]

The current prices for Sleeping Beauty have caused me to move to row B (sides) of the Stalls Circle.

Commenting on a performance (not last night), a friend said, “Weren’t the fish dives wonderful?” My reply, “I only saw one of them” sums up the undeclared restricted view issue.

The cost of my seat? £112

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by capybara

[EVWS]

16 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Interesting - I am subscribed to all available options on the Contact Preferences page (which does not include "marketing e-mails") and did not receive the survey. 

 

Me too! 

[San Perregrino]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

Interesting - I am subscribed to all available options on the Contact Preferences page (which does not include "marketing e-mails") and did not receive the survey. 

Just because it is said doesn’t mean it’s correct. I checked my preferences and I’m signed up for mailings too. 

[alison]

If they thought specific performers, I suspect it was only for opera, where they have in the past charged a premium for certain big names.  But no, there was no option - and I suppose really there couldn't be: would you really ask if someone would be prepared to pay more (and how much) for something featuring, say, Bryn Terfel? 

[Emeralds]

5 hours ago, alison said:

I'd have been interested to know whether we all got the same seat/price/production suggestions, or whether they differed "dynamically" according to what we'd written.  I was fascinated to see the suggestion of £250 for (I think it may have been) for the new opera Innocence (for which the top price appears to be £150 in real life), which I think was for somewhere in the amphi, although I could be wrong.  Frankly, I generally didn't pay attention to the production, but only to the pricing, as I discarded most suggestions based on pricing alone.  I did accept the Ashton bill at £40 for front amphi, though, as I thought that was a generous offer by today's standards, albeit still above my price threshold.

I said yes to all the ballets, so I got shown options to all 5 of them (I think I kept being offered £200 tickets for Nutcracker!) but said no to Faust (seen it before and dislike the RO production) but the survey still insisted on trolling me with offers for £300 Faust tickets, so I am guessing we got shown the same ones. I do remember getting that £250 option for Innocence and the £40 front Amphi for Ashton.

[Emeralds]

4 hours ago, oncnp said:

Didn't get the survey (American - they probably don't care) but for those who did.....was it all pricing/production? Was there any mention of being willing to pay more for a certain performer?  There are dancers I would pay more to see and a lower price might motivate me to buy a ticket for a production I might otherwise skip because I don't care for the casting. 

Nope, they didn’t do it for the survey.

[Emeralds]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

The current prices for Sleeping Beauty have caused me to move to row B (sides) of the Stalls Circle.

Commenting on a performance (not last night), a friend said, “Weren’t the fish dives wonderful?” My reply, “I only saw one of them” sums up the undeclared restricted view issue.

The cost of my seat? £112

 

 

 

😮😢(shocked and sad expressions, for those whose devices do not show emojis).

[Blossom]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

The current prices for Sleeping Beauty have caused me to move to row B (sides) of the Stalls Circle.

Commenting on a performance (not last night), a friend said, “Weren’t the fish dives wonderful?” My reply, “I only saw one of them” sums up the undeclared restricted view issue.

The cost of my seat? £112

 

 

 

This is exactly the point I made in the comments at the end of the survey, using the words ‘daylight robbery’.

[Emeralds]

The survey also didn’t stipulate whose production, so I answered according to whichever version they currently perform. (Admittedly this is more of an issue with RO rather than RB).

[JNC]

I think it is a very dangerous path to go down to charge different prices for different dates/times, and or different prices for different casting.

 

For ballet, casting is important to many of us and so the date/time becomes less important for many, so it would be difficult to have a consistent pricing approach around this (unless you had the same dancers always dancing the same nights each performance which is silly). 
 

and then pricing off casting alone is problematic. As someone already mentioned, do you then refund if casting changes? And also I imagine it wouldn’t feel nice for certain dancers if their performance was worth less than another principal. 
 

The survey was bonkers with the prices they were suggesting, much higher than current I think in the whole. I will await the friends survey with interest. 

[Jan McNulty]

30 minutes ago, JNC said:

I think it is a very dangerous path to go down to charge different prices for different dates/times, and or different prices for different casting.

 

 

Prices at Birmingham Hippodrome and The Lowry for BRB can differ depending on the day of the week (weekends being more expensive).  This has been the case for some years now.

[Silke H]

12 hours ago, PeterS said:

From Membership:

”

Thank you so much for your email enquiry about the recent ticket price survey. We understand that this was only sent out to those who had opted in to receive marketing emails.  You can check your Contact Preferences on your Royal Opera House account page.

 

There is survey that will be going out to all Friends' approximately towards the end of the month, sorry we don't have an exact date yet, and in which you will be included.

 

We do hope the above information is helpful, but if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Well, I am opted in to receive all of the available tick-boxes yet I haven't received the survey.  Therefore, the Membership's response is incorrect.  😞

[Dawnstar]

21 hours ago, Diandri said:

Hi Dawnstar - your first paragraph had me wondering whether the ROH front of house staff currently get any negative feedback from disappointed customers in such seats having paid a goodly sum of cash, at the intervals or end of show? If I was a new ROH customer I don't think I'd return or even be tempted to splash more cash on a more expensive seat & if prices increased even more in future do management expect the hourly paid ushers to placate angry punters who may have been expecting a 'world class performance' instead of a restricted view.

 

I don't generally complain because I know I'm going to get a restricted view. My choice is between a restricted view & not going at all. However I did complain at the first interval of the first Mayerling I saw this season. I was sat in stalls circle C96 and discovered that the already restricted view had become even further restricted due to a curtain being drawn over the outer edge of the orchestra pit. Not only could I not see much of the stage further back, as expected, but I couldn't even see the entire width of the front of the stage, with the proscenium arch & several feet of stage in from it being hidden. When I spoke to the FOH manager he very kindly moved me to a seat in the Grand Tier for the rest of the performance. I imagine the seat would have cost well over £100 but it confirmed to me that it's only worth my attending if I can sit close to the stage as because as I couldn't see the facial expressions I wasn't moved by the performance. As the curtain is still there I am now avoiding C96 like the plague & suspect it might also be a bit of an issue for C95. C92 and C93 are both okay, as I've sat in both of those since (NB when I say "okay" I mean not restricted by the curtain, they still have the usual view restriction).

 

12 hours ago, capybara said:

The current prices for Sleeping Beauty have caused me to move to row B (sides) of the Stalls Circle.

Commenting on a performance (not last night), a friend said, “Weren’t the fish dives wonderful?” My reply, “I only saw one of them” sums up the undeclared restricted view issue.

The cost of my seat? £112

 

I managed to, just about, see all 3 fish dives last night but I felt like I spend quite a lot of both Bracewell & Richardson's solos either not seeing them at all or seeing briefly appearing/disappearing arms & leg as they did turns beyond my field of vision! I could also only see the sleeping Aurora from the knees downward so I assume she got kissed awake...

[alison]

4 hours ago, JNC said:

I think it is a very dangerous path to go down to charge different prices for different dates/times, and or different prices for different casting.

 

Nevertheless, it's a policy that has been applied frequently in the past, certainly for the former, and (mainly for opera) for the latter.

[JohnS]

For many years matinees used to be discounted compared to evening performances - by up to 20% if I recall. When the matinee discount ended, I thought there was a fair bit of criticism on Ballet Forum.

[Lizbie1]

2 hours ago, JohnS said:

For many years matinees used to be discounted compared to evening performances - by up to 20% if I recall. When the matinee discount ended, I thought there was a fair bit of criticism on Ballet Forum.

 

The way it's going, I wonder if we'll end up with Saturday matinees being sold at a premium - they're certainly very popular.

[Lynette H]

For a few years back in the 90s I think, Monday to Thursday performances were priced higher than Friday and Saturday. I recall that the thinking was that these weekday audiences were more "corporate" and would be ready to pay more.