Mitigating the Effects of COVID

Clearly, during this crisis, the maximum number of persons in an attraction is limited due to safety and social distancing measures. As the Leader of the Attraction/Experience, you have to be able to maximise the opportunity for revenue through admissions, but also through other means:

Some questions to consider with your Senior Team:

- Is the Attraction at peak capacity at certain times of day?

• How can I spread this demand into the hours which are not at peak? 
• How can I use my marketing output to ensure I am at    

- Can I service more demand through longer opening hours? 

• Is this a viable commercial option with staff costs etc?
• Where in the calendar can I add to my capacity – days/weeks/Months
• Can I extend my season or enable the attraction to operate longer – will you consider temporary structures etc. (NB – indoor safety measures will apply – PPE etc).   

- Can I change the way the visitors flow through the attraction?

• How can I enable increased but safe capacity?  Routeplanning/wayfinding
• What is the art of the possible – challenge what has always been done.
• Can I mitigate any risk through increased supervision by staff and maintain ride or experience capacity?

Many businesses (not necessarily hospitality or Attractions businesses) have ‘pivoted’ in the fact they are providing goods and services to the market in a different way in order to maintain revenues.  An attraction or Experience provider may not be able to do this in the same way, however can leverage pricing and product content to maximise income.  One US Theme Park provider restricted Water Park entry to paying hotel guests only – thus maximising the possible income from every paying visitor.  This – of course – may not be possible in your business, but the idea can be leveraged in alternative ways.

Some questions to consider with your Senior Team:

- Is my Pricing Correct? 

• Should I change the product to an ‘Added Value Product?
• What could potentially ‘add value’ to the guest experience? E.g. personal service, including a VIP or premium service, including merchandise or a meals combination to glean additional revenue.
• How would this be received by our customers/visitors/guests?
• Do I need to increase or decrease the standard pricing – For what reason would/should I take this course of action?

- Should I move to a more ‘Dynamic’ Pricing model?

• Many systems (e.g. Gateway) allow you to easily change your pricing according to theday/session/week/month/season.  Ensure you have a full consideration as to what the demand will do before you consider this course of action.
• If I did this – how would it be received?  Short, Medium and Longer term impact?

If you do decide to change the products you are selling in the proportions you predict, do ensure that the cost of sale of that item has been considered.  For instance, by increasing a price for a VIP service you may find that the labour costs and the reduction in capacity or potential visitor numbers combine to make the price of the product unattractive, or you are selling the experience at a net loss.

Average Ticket Price (ATP) Spend Per Head (SPH) /Average Transaction Value (ATV)

These KPIs combine with the visitor numbers to deliver profitability.  Understanding these levers is key to ensure that your Attraction or Experience is operating at a commercially viable business model.

ATP = Total Ticket revenue (solely for ticket/admission) Divided by total visitor numbers

SPH = Revenue stream (e.g. Merchandise sales) Divided by total visitor numbers

ATV = Revenue stream (e.g. Total Admission revenue) Divided by transactions*

* number of transactions in a time period – e.g. daily/weekly etc

All of these KPIs can be levered to maximise the commercial viability.  Ask yourself these questions:

ATP = Why is this the way it is?  What are my discounts?  Are they viable?  Are we trying to sell the most profitable tickets first? 

SPH = Why is this the way it is?  Looking at the SPH in EVERY revenue stream – what are the opportunities?  What will I need to do in order to increase the SPH in a particular area – e.g. merchandise, Food, Ancillaries, Upsells

ATV = Why is this the way it is?  Looking at the average transaction value in each revenue area, does this solely depend on group size?  Why are people going to that location to spend on merchandise? 

Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do

Make your visitors want to spend money with you = value and experience is key

Much has already been written about the Pandemic and the impact on HR and the Human element.  Trends and insights are listed above, and Senior Leadership teams within the attraction need to consider how every element of change and responding to the Pandemic will affect the employees and the visitors alike. The most important ‘People’ focused areas of response are:

• Leadership
• Communication
• Company Culture & Values
• Training

Staff Enagament is key to the delivery of a great guest experience for a visitor Attraction. If you have not already run a Staff Engagement Survey in your organisation, now is the time to do it.  You need to identify what small or large changes are needed, and make immediate plans to address these as part of your Covid-19 pandemic response. A training needs analysis will also determine what you need to focus on for the development of your people in this disconcerting time for many.

Help and support is available for identifying VALUES and running a Staff Engagement survey, and also going through the process of a training needs analysis.

Small details are even more critical in giving guests/visitors a proper experience.  A clean hotel room or a great experience can so easily be overshadowed by smaller issues and annoyances.  After the pandemic, these may be heightened, certainly around the Health and Safety/Risk side of the guest experience.

The trends listed above will affect guest expectations and you should tailor your organisation’s response in order to maximise the opportunity.  The Trends in the Digital space around experience will mean much work needs to be done in every attraction to capitalise on trends.

The Guest expectation bar is now set so high that operations who do not respond will be left behind.  It is more important than ever to examine every Guest or Customer touchpoint to ensure that you identify frustrations or inefficiencies in your customer journey, for instance Queues, or Parking process.

Once within an attraction the external marketing tools are useless, and this is where new technology is now available – and expected – for today’s Experience-seeker.  Attractions must explore opportunities to smooth and enhance the visitor experience using new technology. 

Opportunities lie in digital technology:

• Ticketing – checkouts and upsells
• Ease the ‘Pain Points’ of the user journey
• E-commerce is streets ahead of the Attractions and experiences in maximising spend/ancillary suggested purchases etc.
• Increased Conversion rates/Transaction Value/Average spend

In order to grasp these opportunities, you must have the data upon which to base your decisions and therefore shape your strategy.

Guest experience metrics must be measured, and guest feedback is vital.  Whether you do this yourself, by asking for guest feedback proactively on a survey platform, monitoring guest feedback – compliments and complaints, use Trip Advisor, or use a company such as Avius (who provide the smiley face feedback you see at many outlets and Experiences), you must use this information to then shape your decision making at first for the product and then – as you progress, to shape and tailor your experience for the best possible Guest experience, and make an outstanding comeback after the Covid-19 crisis. 

Due to the turmoil of 2020, the response from Hospitality, F&B, Visitor Attractions and Experience providers in NI has been shaped by the Covid Guidelines and other advice and support from organisations in the UK and Ireland.  Due to this, Operational Procedures and Standard Operating Manuals will have already been reshaped and reborn to comply with the Guidelines and the Law.

As a next stage response, once all procedures have been reshaped in accordance with the Guidelines, Business Owners and Operators must identify opportunities within the procedures to respond to the trends and Guest expectations, in order to maximise the business success.

Questions to consider:

For every opportunity that the trends above present, think.

• Do I need to change anything more in my operation to meet the guidelines?
• What are my guests telling me about the new experience?
• What are my Team telling me?
• What areas need to change? Is this permanent?  Does it need to be?
• Why do it? Purpose – Short/Medium and Long term
• Will any changes still comply with the Covid-19 guidelines?
• How does the SOP for each need to change?
• Will this cost any money?
• If so – is it worth the investment?

All changes should be based on data and information, fulfil your strategic direction, your Mission, Vision and Values, and must be implemented by a project plan.

A review process should be put in place also, in order to ensure that all changes have happened as planned, and have fulfilled the brief and the purpose of the change, with a clear understanding that continuous improvement, and a nimble response to further change can be accommodated.