Season passes

A season pass is a pass in a name with which the same person may come in for a whole season. This article explains how that differs from an ordinary ticket, how you sell such a pass in your shop and at your desk, what the holder gets, what your scanning staff see at the door, and when you renew instead of selling again.

Ticket, season pass or subscription: which is which

Those three words are used interchangeably. In Passavo they mean this.

	Ticket	Season pass
Applies to	One day, or one time slot	A period, usually twelve months
Used up after	One scan	Nothing. It is scanned again on every visit
In a name	Not necessarily	Always
What you measure	Passes sold	Passes sold and visits
Product type	Admission ticket	Season pass

So in this screen Season pass is simply the technical name of the product type. You call the pass that comes out of it whatever you like on the outside.

Three examples of the same thing under a different name:

• A museum's friends' card. Fifty euros a year, in as often as you like, and an invitation to the opening of every exhibition.
• A swimming pool's season ticket. Runs from September to June, and the pool wants the same person to be allowed in several times a day — lengths in the morning and with the children in the evening.
• A local history society's supporter card. Really a donation with a benefit attached to it: the holder gets free access to the permanent exhibition and the yearbook.

In all three cases you create one product of the Season pass type.

Why a season pass is always in a name

At the entrance a nameless pass cannot be checked. Whoever has it in their hands may come in. One friends' card in a family of five then becomes five friends' cards, and after a year it becomes a whole street.

That is why every season pass is in a name: at the desk the till asks for it, and in the web shop the buyer fills in the name (see step 1). That name is on the pass. Your staff can then put the name next to the visitor. Keeping that name is also, at once, a processing of personal data; what you have to say about that is under Privacy and terms.

What you need beforehand

• The Owner or Administrator role: only those may manage products and season passes.
• A decision about the term: twelve months from the sale, or a different number of months.
• A decision about the number of visits per day: one, a different number, or unlimited.
• A working payment method if you want to sell the pass online, see Connecting a payment provider.
• A scan app at the entrance, see Scan app and scanning staff.
• About a quarter of an hour.

Step 1 — Creating the product

1. In the menu on the left, go to Products.
2. Click New product at the top right.
3. Under Type, choose Season pass.
4. Give it the name your visitors know: Friends' card, Season ticket, Adult season pass.
5. Set the price. If you sell different rates (adult, child, family), make those separate products. Every product has its own price and its own name on the pass.
6. In the The season pass block, fill in the two settings that are particular to this type:

Setting	What it does
Valid in months	How long the pass runs, at least one month. Empty = twelve months
Visits per day	How many times the same pass lets someone in on one day. Empty = once; nought = unlimited

7. Switch on Name on the ticket. Without that switch a buyer cannot fill in a name per pass in the web shop, and the buyer's name ends up on every pass.
8. Click Create.

Note: with visits per day nought means unlimited and not nought. If you want one visit a day, leave the field empty.

How the term is counted

The validity runs from the sale and not until the end of the calendar year. Somebody who buys in November should not get a pass for six weeks.

A pass sold on 1 March runs up to and including 28 February of the following year. The last day is in there once, not twice. If the new pass began on 1 March and the old one ended on 1 March, a day would shift with every renewal, and after ten years that would be noticeable.

If you do work per season — from 1 April to 31 October, for instance — set a shorter validity in months on the product, or issue the passes by hand with fixed dates (see What if … further on). The dates of a pass that has already been sold cannot be changed afterwards.

One visit per day is the safe default. A season pass that lets somebody in twice on the same morning is a season pass that is passed on at the door: one person goes in, comes out, passes the phone on. For a swimming pool or a brewery do feel free to set it higher, or to nought for unlimited.

Step 2 — Selling in the ticket shop

There is nothing special to do. The pass sits among your tickets and is bought like all the rest. One difference: on the checkout page the buyer fills in the holder's name per pass. If they buy three for their family, they fill in three names and get three passes.

That name goes onto the pass and can be adjusted afterwards, see below.

Step 3 — Selling at the desk

Ring the season pass up like any other product. The till asks first for the visitor's name and only settles up afterwards.

That order is deliberate. On a pass that has already been printed or already emailed, no name can be added. So ask for the name while the visitor is still standing in front of you, and type it in correctly straight away — see the common mistakes below.

What the holder gets

After payment the pass is on the confirmation page and in the email, with:

• a QR code that is scanned at the entrance;
• buttons to put the pass into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet are the apps that are on just about every phone by default and in which people keep their bank cards and boarding passes. One tap on the button and the season pass is in there; the visitor then no longer has to search back for an email. More about that is under Wallet passes.

The wallet version of a season pass is a generic pass and not an event card. That is deliberate: an event card slides to the back in Apple Wallet as soon as its date has passed, and a season pass should stay at the front for a whole season.

At the entrance

The scan app does not have to learn anything new: a season pass carries the same kind of code as a ticket. What the app shows does differ.

Message	What is going on	What you do
Admit	In. The visit has been counted	Let the visitor through
Already scanned	This pass's daily allowance is used up. With one a day: this person has already been in today	Ask whether somebody else has already used the pass
Wrong day	A genuine pass, but outside its period: not started yet or expired	Check the dates in the admin screen
Cancelled	The pass has been cancelled or stopped	Refer them to the desk
Invalid	Passavo does not know this code	Ask for the confirmation email

A cancelled pass is still in the daily manifest, the list the scan app fetches in the morning. Without that entry the app would say "unknown code" to somebody who simply has a withdrawn pass, and at the door that is a much longer conversation than "this pass has been cancelled, do go to the desk".

The visit counter

With every successful scan that pass's counter goes up by one and the time is noted. That gives you three things:

1. A check at the door. The app knows how many visits are already on this pass today, and compares that with the visits per day setting.
2. A conversation with a holder. "You have been eleven times this year" is a much better argument for a renewal than a general email.
3. A decision for next season. If you sell a hundred passes that are used a hundred and fifty times between them, your season pass is too dear or your offering too thin. You will not see that figure anywhere else.

The counter only counts scans that resulted in Admit. If the pass is set to one visit per day, a second scan on the same day does not count: it gives Already scanned. If it is set to unlimited (nought), every successful scan counts as a visit.

Management

Under Season passes you search by the holder's name or by email address. Filters are ready on Status, Valid today and Expiring soon (within thirty days). That last filter is your renewal list.

Open a pass and you see the period, the status, the number of visits and the last visit. Below that, every visit appears as an entry of its own, with the device it was scanned on alongside.

Action	What it does
Renew	Creates a new pass that follows on from the old one
Change the name	Puts the pass in a different name (and possibly a different email address); the QR stays the same
Cancel	The pass no longer gives access. The visits stay stored
Reactivate	Reverses a cancellation

Beyond that a pass cannot be edited: the dates and the visits are fixed.

Renewing versus selling again

This is the part most questions come in about, so here it is separately.

Renewing is what you use for somebody who wants to keep their pass. You open the existing pass, click Renew, and a new pass appears that follows on from the old one. The old one stays in place with its visits and its own code.

In the Renew window you can choose two dates. Leave New pass valid from empty and the new pass starts the day after the old one ends — or today, if the old one has already expired. Leave Valid up to and including empty for the product's standard term.

Renewing does not create a sale: charge for the renewal however you agree with the visitor, at the desk for instance.

Why a new pass and not simply move the end date? Two reasons. First, last year's visit counter would count towards this year, and then you would never know again how many visits a season produced. Second, a QR code from last season would suddenly work again, including the one from the pass somebody lost and that you thought was dead.

Selling again is what you use for somebody who has been away for a while, for a new holder, or when the renewal button does not fit what the visitor wants (a different rate, a different kind of pass). You then simply ring the product up again, at the desk or in the shop.

Situation	What you do
Holder wants to carry on, same rate	Renew
Holder comes back after two years	Sell again
Holder moves from adult to senior	Sell again, with the other product
Name was spelt wrongly	Change the name, do not sell again
Pass has been stolen	Cancel, and issue a new pass

Changing the name leaves the code in place. So a pass that is already in a phone keeps working. That is what you want with a correction ("Lies" should have been "Elisabeth") or with a transfer within a family. If you do want the old code to stop, cancel the pass and issue a new one.

Common mistakes

Creating a season pass as a ticket with a long validity. The pass is then used up after the first scan and your visitor is left outside the second time. Choose the Season pass product type.

Forgetting to switch on Name on the ticket. The buyer cannot then fill in a name online, and you are left with passes bearing the buyer's name instead of the holder's. Particularly awkward with families.

Setting visits per day to nought because "nought will surely mean one". Nought means unlimited. Leave the field empty if you want one visit a day.

Deleting a pass instead of cancelling it. Deleting is not possible, and with good reason: the visit figures would disappear along with it. Cancel the pass.

Renewing the old pass by moving the end date. Use the Renew button. Otherwise last season's counter counts towards this one and an old QR code works again.

What if …

… the holder has lost their pass?

Find them by name or email address in the Season passes overview. The pass is still there. If it was sold online or at the desk, open the order under Orders and click Resend the ticket email: the pass is in that email. If you suspect misuse, cancel the pass and issue a new one.

… two people are using the same pass?

That is what the visits per day setting is for. If it is set to one and the second person tries to come in the same day, the scan app shows Already scanned. If it keeps happening, you cancel the pass and issue a second pass, possibly against payment.

… the pass has expired and the holder is at the door?

The scan turns them away with Wrong day. The pass does stay in their phone as a reminder. At the desk you renew the pass; that creates a new pass with a new code, which they can put straight back into their wallet.

… you want to issue a pass by hand, without a sale?

Go to Season passes → Issue a season pass. Choose the season pass (the product), fill in the Holder's name and optionally an email address, and choose Valid from and Valid up to and including yourself — empty means the product's standard term. Click Create. Handy for an honorary citizen, an exchange with a fellow organisation, a pass won in a competition or a member of staff.

… you want a season that does not last twelve months?

Set Valid in months on the product to the right number (seven months for a season from April to October). Those months count from the day of the sale. If you want the same end date for everybody, issue the passes by hand with fixed dates; whoever buys late then gets less, so consider a lower price for late buyers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I issue a pass by hand? Yes, through Season passes → Issue a season pass. The pass then exists without an order against it.

Can I delete a pass? No. The visit figures would disappear along with it, and that is precisely the figure on which you decide whether to sell season passes again next season. Cancel the pass: it then no longer gives access and the visits stay stored.

What happens when a pass has expired? It stays in the holder's phone as a reminder, but the scan turns it away with Wrong day. Renewing creates a new pass.

Can a season pass also give access to a time slot? No. A season pass gives access at the door and does not count towards the capacity of a time slot. If your capacity is limited, let holders book a free ticket for a time slot, so that you know how many people are coming.

How many visits has a pass had? That is on the pass itself, at the top next to the counter, with every visit below it as an entry of its own with date, time and device. In the Season passes list you see it in the Visits column.